The 9th Fortress

by John Paul Jackson

  "Yes, it's me…How are you?"

  "Beat it,” he snarled, wiping his face of any fever.

  Glancing back, Harmony implored me to continue, thus I shrugged off Kat's objections and did just that. "I want to talk,” I started, hearing his growl as I took my seat next to him. "We're all concerned about you."

  Agitated, Kat searched over his shoulder to witness Harmony's caring smile and Eddinray's thoughtful nod; he then returned his sight to the slabs.

  "You're our friend,” I said.

  Appearing slightly embarrassed, Kat deflected his face from my mine.

  "Are you in pain?" I asked, pointlessly, for if Kat were in excruciating agony, he would hardly express it, let alone share. I prepared myself for a night of this, but the man surprised me by asking a question — an easy question with a difficult answer.

  "What happened?"

  "What," I stuttered, "do you mean?"

  Words teetered on the edge of Kat's lips, his mind searching for precious moments and misplaced memories. Like a child with learning difficulties, he was profoundly frustrated, and I became careful.

  "What don't you remember Kat?"

  "Fox," he hissed, leaning closer. "I do not remember that labyrinth. Not a thing."

  His armor coated in a dry blood, the disturbed samurai had no idea how it got there, no notion either why his body was so thoroughly exhausted, why his sword wielding palm was raw from overuse; and no possible explanation for the hideous new scar covering a large portion of his face.

  "We…ran into some trouble,” I said. "Rodents, hundreds and hundreds."

  He did not respond, so I continued to refresh his memory. "It was insane. Mad. Swords flung threw the air and blood everywhere. We made it to the centre of the labyrinth when you were stabbed by…" I found myself stalling.

  "By?" he pressed me.

  "By…one of the rodents. It came out of nowhere and got lucky. There was just too many — even for you."

  Kat dabbed three fingertips over the rough red scar. "Then?" he asked.

  "Then we put you into the well; the two of us went under the water. It was unbelievable Kat. I could breathe under the bubbles; hands scrubbing me clean surrounded my body. Somehow, it rejuvenated your body and restored my sight. The rest…was a fucking fight."

  Adequately content by this fact, he grunted. There was a reason I didn't inform him of the Wisp and wizard running him through with a spear. If aware of the facts, Kat would no doubt seek his vengeance, and in doing so would rob me of mine. I had unfinished business with Scarfell, and I alone would settle it.

  Allowing my boiling emotions to cool at one side, I wandered a frown over the lonely and haunted samurai warrior. "Maybe it's a good thing you don't remember Kat. I'm sure you've plenty memories of…slaughter."

  "I do,” he replied, barely audible.

  "Will you sit with us?"

  "Why?"

  Again, I struggled for the words. "It is not nice being alone — you'll have plenty memories of that too. We all care about you…That is all I have to say."

  Kat suddenly delighted me with a novel expression for his rugged face — the hard edges of his lips softened slightly, and his black eyes were no longer hostile, but grateful. He may well have been appreciative of my words, company or friendship, but his mouth wasn't ready to express it.

  "Leave me be,” he said. I slapped my dusty thigh in submission then joined a more talkative pair.

  "Is he okay?" asked Harmony, hopeful.

  "He is…himself,” I said, sitting.

  "Did you see him with those swords?" whispered Eddinray. "Never seen anything like that, and I've seen it all!"

  "Kat has a gift,” Harmony added. "God help anyone who wants to see it."

  "Thirty?" mused Eddinray. "Forty? How many did he slay?"

  "Enough,” I snipped. "The man doesn't need reminding."

  Eddinray slunk apologetically, then silently and for some time, we three watched the broad back of our vanguard.

  ***

  "The second door will lead you the quickest and safest route to the 9thFortress."

  "Have to choose one?" said Eddinray, watching the rising suns this morning. "Sooner or later."

  "Can't go back the ways," added a bored looking Harmony. "Certainly can't split up."

  "We take the second,” said Kat, at last. "Yes. The second."

  "You trust the ghost's advice now?" I asked him; and failing to disguise his anxiety, Kat bit his bottom lip then grimly replied — "I do not trust my own."

  Advancing to the second slab reaching near ten feet tall, Kat placed both of his palms flat on the slate and beckoned me to help push. The slate screeched inward like an ancient hinge as we shoved it, and the escaping air reminded me of Bludgeon's many doors and dangerous surprises.

  Rejoining Harmony and Eddinray, we surveyed the ominous entrance. Thankfully no bogeymen leapt from the dark and smoking gap, but we did expect one.

  "What will come of it?" Harmony sighed.

  "There's a way to find out,” I returned, finding my nerve and venturing first through the portal.

  It was cramped inside. Badly. The suns orange revealed walls of soil rubbing against my arms, the shimmer of a ledge by my feet. Beyond that ledge was a hair-raising slope to a deep and swarthy void.

  "Surely not?" said Eddinray, cramping in behind. "Erk! Where is the broom in this cupboard? Dash! It is simply one wretched trial after another!"

  The rising suns uncovered more of this sticky chute — it was almost vertical, with fat boulders strewn over a surface that appeared to be moving at an upward slither toward us. It was in-fact an incline of squirming worms, now wiggling over our feet and out through the slate door.

  "Get them off!" cried Harmony, kicking. "Can't stand it!"

  "Calm her,” said Kat, bending for a better look at the slope. "We mustn't allow weight to settle here."

  "Or else?" I asked, and Kat duly demonstrated. He sat perched on the ledge, set one of his boots down onto this clambering hill then watched that foot sink without trace into the worms. "Or else Fox," he said, pulling his boot free, "you will be suffocated."

  As he flicked off the many worms already climbing his shins, I shuddered at a brief image of them clogging every orifice.

  "Hold tight to your weapons,” he ordered, calmly. "Roll quickly. Do not stand. Do not stop."

  "I can't!" said Harmony, hyperventilating. "Not in the dark! Not down there! There's too many! I refuse! I'll find another path."

  "We've seen worse,” I said. "Harmony you can do this! You can!"

  "She's shaking!" said Eddinray, concerned. "Kat I suggest we find another course!"

  Kat's response was straightforward. Irascible and unscrupulous, he stood to push Harmony, sending her tumbling down the slope, alone, and screaming.

  "Harmony!" yelled Eddinray, grasping at thin air as she slid out of sight. Without hesitation, the knight dived ungracefully after her — his mail skimming atop worms like butter over porcelain.

  "You pushed her!" I bawled in Kat's face. "You complete bas — "

  His sturdy push on my chest knocked the wind out of me, and before I knew it, I was over the ledge and sliding like garbage down the chute. My descent was lucky, avoiding the rocks whilst the rest of me was lost in a dizzying larva of gunk and squiggles. Speed increasing, my ears heard the cries of my friends below but nothing from Kat above. I could not prepare my body for what came next — spat like used chewing gum out from a tiny mouth on the side of a black loaf mountain.

  I soared through a scarlet sky screaming — arms and feet flailing. Suddenly, my face smashed dull sand, and I rolled head over heels down a steep ridge. My skin grated on this surface as I fought to stay on my back; and eventually coming to a halt, I lay in an accumulating dust cloud, hearing the groans of Eddinray somewhere beside me.

  "Worms in my pants,” he moaned. "The worms! The worms everywhere!"

  Tender all over, my entire being was smeared over in a colorless
muck. Sitting up, I instantly caught sight of something peculiar racing toward me — a rocketing sled descending the same ridge I just did. Clearing the specks from my eyes, I noticed that this accelerating object was none other than a samurai warrior, whose battering ram of a body readily knocked me out like a prize-fighter.

  Some time later, surrounded by a swarm of dirt, I placed my head between my legs and searched for the brains inside it.

  "No!" Eddinray wailed, his shattering tone waking me from concussion. The knight nursed over Harmony, who lay coiled and broken on the sand. Head pounding, I gagged when I noticed the crooked condition of her right arm — the bone mush and the skin black.

  "Thank goodness!" cried Eddinray suddenly, as the angel spluttered back to us. "Thank goodness!"

  "Give me your canteen,” Kat said to me, ordinarily composed.

  I passed him my well water without question, and he crouched to Harmony's parched lips. She took a tiny sip of the light in the bottle, but baulked upon realizing what liquid she was drinking.

  "It is…black magic,” she muttered, turning her mouth away. "I won't ever drink it."

  "Suffer then,” replied Kat. "Your fleece, Fox. Give it to me."

  "My fleece?"

  "Now!"

  I took it off and passed it over, leaving me in a creaky old shirt. Methodically fast, Kat took an arrow from Harmony's quiver as a disturbed Eddinray observed.

  "Samurai this is beyond barbaric!" he gasped. "There's a sickness inside you man!"

  Kat grunted back, fit the arrow sideways into the angel's mouth then took hold of her damaged arm. "Bite down,” he said. "Hard."

  Harmony's eyes glistened over as she focused herself into a trance. Unusually benevolent, Kat waited for her mind to reach that tranquil state, before placing his foot fully on her armpit, and jerking her wrist back with a sickening crunch.

  Howling like a wounded animal, Harmony's front teeth snapped the arrow in her mouth and she fell unconscious. That revolting click of connecting bone made me stagger, but I remained standing. Despite her spiritual objections, Kat doused Harmony's wound with the water flask, cut my fleece into ribbons then wrapped her arm securely in a sling. Once the primitive procedure was complete, he stepped back to breathe, then felt the poke of Eddinray's finger into his back. "This is your fault samurai! Time to learn you some manners!"

  With a grouchy skull still splitting, Kat provoked the knight with his own push. "Teach me knight…Teach me good."

  "Enough!" I cried, positioning myself between them. "What's done is done! Harmony needs rest…not our stupid bickering!"

  "No rest!" said Kat. "The knight can carry her!"

  And dispassionately he walked on ahead, clearing his ears of gunk and leaving Eddinray and me to mirror resentful expressions.

  "I'll carry her Eddinray. Your mail is enough of a burden."

  "I will be responsible for Harmony,” he returned, as if a duty. "You've carried us long enough already Danny."

  With respect, I nodded, bearing weapons instead of the angel. Touchingly, I noticed that Sir Godwin Eddinray had, for the first time, lost his carefree shield. No longer was he the intermediary with no emotional investment — now he had something very precious to lose. With great struggle then, he picked up that sleeping beauty, and carried her on his way.

  27. Breakneck

  A storm was coming. The wisest option would be to wait this torrent out, but Kat had other ideas.

  "In Hell!" he yelled back, "the storms wait you out! We will barter the canteens!"

  "Barter?" I cried; "to a storm?"

  "That town!" he stressed, pointing ahead.

  A staggering clash of dark clouds concealed any sign of the town, but Kat was adamant. "All realms have their civilisation,” he remarked. "Their damned civilization…"

  ***

  The dry landscape reminded me of a John Wayne movie, the vast plains of the old west with oddly shaped boulders and standing columns of rock.

  “Can we stop?" begged Eddinray. "Just a little while?"

  Harmony heavier in his arms, her limp feathers coiled around his feet and dragged behind him.

  "We should stop,” I agreed, taking pity.

  Kat spared a moment to look over the fatigued knight, and unmoved, he not only resumed his pace, but increased it…

  Not ten minutes later, Eddinray's legs expectantly gave way, and he buckled to the dust with Harmony. I went to him and he drank from my canteen, clenching his thirst and returned some colour to his cheeks.

  "You're fine,” I told him, glaring at Kat, who pigheadedly upped his gears toward a town growing clearer. "Hey!" I yelled, furious. "Get your ass back here! You hear me?"

  That second, the red mist came over me. I picked up the nearest rock and threw. It struck its target, impressively bursting over the back of the samurai's head. Eddinray's eyebrows sprung up in surprise, as did mine to observe Kat stumble, but not completely fall over. He rubbed the back of his skull, dabbing his fingers at the blood accumulating there, and when he eventually turned, his livid face demanded the one responsible. "Who…?"

  "Right here!" I announced, unafraid. "It was me! So what! I've had it with your mood you tetchy son of a bitch!"

  Kat returned — not walking, but striding.

  "What?" I moaned, my heart racing. "Come on you bastard!"

  I grappled another rock and threw, but it was batted away like a baseball by Kat's katana. Aware that I would lose any sword fight, I threw down mine and readied my fists. "I fight like a man! Let's go! I'm going to knock you the fuck out!"

  Kat placed his swords on the ground then charged like a bull. We dove into each other with a thud, trading high punches and low blows on the dirt. Eddinray paced like an old woman over our scuffle, biting his nails as I rolled over my protector, pummelling him with my clenched fists.

  Kat yelped like a puppy when I planted my knee deep into his groin. He came back stronger however, and with his teeth, he tore a chunk of skin from my neck. I yelped too, pulled my hand free from our ball then punched Kat's face, feeling my knuckles break against his jaw.

  "Okay men!" said Eddinray, deciding now was the time to break it up. "Point is made! I will not referee such rambunctious behaviour!"

  We didn't stop — we couldn't. I placed my hands around Kat's neck and throttled him stupid. He meanwhile gouged his thumb into my eyeball.

  "God's blood!" announced Eddinray. "This is your final warning men! Dare you provoke me to intervene!"

  With his cheeks full of hot air, Eddinray leapt between us with prying arms. Unfortunately, his well-meaning interference only fed Kat's fire. He punched the knight full in the teeth before resuming his wrestle with me.

  "Stop! Stop!" exclaimed Harmony, at the top of her voice. "What…is the meaning of this?"

  The three of us paused now, inter-weaved, bleeding and breathless under the angel. She looked weak on her feet, but her anger toward us seemed to give her strength.

  "They started it!" Eddinray complained, cradling a cut lip.

  "You are all accountable!" she yelled back. "How dare you have me wake to this! I am absolutely appalled! Ashamed!"

  We bruised men began to separate while she berated us further. "Godwin, Daniel — disgraceful! And Kat I expected more from you — a man of your wisdom scrapping like a schoolchild!"

  Showing us the harshness of her clamped wings, we each took a good look at ourselves. How could I have allowed myself to get so frustrated? Especially after Newton's plea to have patience with Kat, not to mention my trials with Bludgeon. Like Harmony, the scientist and centaur would be ashamed.

  "I'm sorry Eddinray,” I said, assisting him up. "I'm sorry…Kat."

  Patting the dust from his armor, Kat looked at me; then, without reluctance, he apologized. The humble word sorry left those thin lips of his, and I was gob-smacked.

  "And me?" jabbered Eddinray. "Do you apologize for smacking my lip, samurai? Well? Let me hear it…"

  The knight did not get his
apology. "Charming!" he scoffed. "Are you well Harmony, dear?"

  "Still pains in my arm,” she answered, with an amiable nod. "I'll be fine, I'm sure. Who is responsible for the sling on my arm?"

  “That was Kat's work,” I said, and Harmony thanked him.

  Preparing to move again, we suddenly caught sight of two black angels in the sky overhead, carrying three struggling strangers toward the advancing storm and town.

  ***

  We pushed against the wind, using every bit of energy to stay on our feet. Sharp specks of hellishly blowing sand ate into any flesh exposed, and in our battle against the gale and glass, we could hardly gather intelligence on this town — a town called Breakneck.

  The thoroughfare was deserted during the blizzard, but we could hear the rowdy cheers and a tuneless piano coming from the most popular building in town. There, a tempting yellow light blurred from smeared over windows. We fought our way toward it, passing a hitching post with no horses, and a wagon with no wheels.

  Kat squeaked open those classic saloon doors to a generously spaced room, packed to the rafters. I expected a great hush and turning of heads to greet us newcomers, but our arrival did not stir more than idle curiosity. My hands and face were scored with cuts, as if someone went mad with a razor. My friends also wore the unsightly marks of the storm. I took my canteen and prepared to drink these cuts away, when Kat pressed his palm over the lid. "Not here,” he said, carefully. "Superficial wounds will heal before morning."

  With that, I sealed the canteen and observed our surroundings. The saloon needed a new word for rotten — the staircase, the banisters, the tables and chairs looked a moment from collapse. Floorboards were covered in two or more inches of grime, and the weird and wonderful customers were no cleaner. There was a large pile of sugar on the bar counter, and a fly the size of my head snorted greedily into it. Causing offence, a lonely figure made of compacted manure sat on a stool, swatting at the smaller flies around him. One drunkard slouched on the floor, and at his shoulders grew the leathery head of a shark, biting any legs within range of its teeth. "What complete and utter riff raff,” gawked Eddinray. "Be on your guard, angel."