by Helen Allan
“Click, tick, boom,” was how Etienne had described it.
Now, making their final goodbyes, supplies and weapons on their backs, Sorrow turned once more to her Sin lover.
“Khalili, I think Han should stay,” she said, for the third time.
“Silence woman,” he said, tightening the leather straps around his swords.
“If you fall, he is the next best thing to lead the Sin. He can help promote harmony between Sin and humans. Their child will be a bridge between the races – the first of many.”
“I said no,” he grunted.
Sorrow threw her hands into the air. Khalili no longer acknowledged his son as his heir because of his relationship with the human girl, Jess. Her pregnancy was the final nail in the coffin for their father-son relationship.
“Does the term hypocrite mean anything to you?” she tried again. “I mean you sleep with me. What difference does it make if your son sleeps with a human?”
Etienne, standing within earshot, snorted, shuddered and rolled his eyes.
Khalili gave him a hard stare and bared his teeth but did not reply.
Sorrow sighed and walked away to talk to John. He had perhaps the most difficult and dangerous job of the mission. He was to identify which gate the lizards were entering Heaven through and blow it up.
“Are you OK, John?” she asked quietly as he checked and rechecked the pod engine.
“Sure am, ma’am,” he gave a mock salute.
“John, I know you want to go home to your wife and child. I have no problem at all with you blowing the gate and then jumping out and through the Earth gate.”
“I appreciate the offer, Sorrow, but one mission at a time is my motto. All going well we will all blow this joint next February after the lizards are stopped and peace reigns. My baby girl and my wife already think I’m dead, missing in action, one more year ain’t gonna make a lick of difference – and if your ma can manage to send me back earlier through time travel, well then, win-win.”
Sorrow smiled and rested her hand on his shoulder for a minute before leaving the pod for the last time. She hoped he would make it home this year.
The difficulty with the time period humans landed in, if they were successful in gaining access to the Earth portal, had been solved by her mother in a brief call during a lull in lizard hostilities. She and the other bearers of the scarab time transmuters could manipulate time on earth and take people as forward, or backward as they desired. The humans just had to make it to Earth first. John and others who had come from modern times could be reunited with their families, others who were taken from ancient times would be sent to those times. A secondary reason for guaranteeing this was to ensure no one could mess with time by being taken where they did not belong.
“Don’t worry about the refugees when they get here,” Megan reminded Sorrow during the call, “the hard part will be making it in one piece through the portal. Ceda and I plan to run through and help you get out of there.”
“No, Mum,” Sorrow gasped, “You can’t. It is too dangerous; please trust me, I know what I am doing, you arriving here will just give me something else to worry about – if anything it will make it more likely I will miscalculate and get hurt or killed – I can’t have that worry on my mind. I need you to stay there and help the survivors who get through.”
“Love, we have fought many battles, I want to be by your side.”
“Mum,” Sorrow frowned, “I am not a little girl any more. Please. You have to believe me when I say I don’t want you here.”
“You promise me you will jump through?”
Sorrow gulped. Her mother had always been able to tell if she was lying.
“I’m going to do everything I can, Mum,” she said, swallowing hard, “but right now, I have a group of people to lead, I love you. Promise me you will stay where you are.”
“I promise, honey. I don’t want to give you anything else to worry about. And I’ll be waiting here for you when you jump through. But if you don’t jump through,” she lowered her voice ominously, “I’m coming to get you.”
Sorrow shook her head and pressed her hand to the screen momentarily before leaning back and blowing her mother a kiss.
Megan caught it mid-air and transferred it to her cheek, just as they had always done, and Sorrow turned from the screen and left the pod before the tears could start. She knew her mother would feel betrayed when she did not jump through. But that was a bridge she would cross when she came to it. In her heart, she felt that staying and facilitating peace on this planet was what she was meant to do. She just prayed Ceda had sense enough not to allow her mother to get into the portal and pursue her.
Now, shrugging off those fears, she prepared for her role in the grand plan. She and the army would be marching, at a run if possible, non-stop to reach the gates; they only had a few days to reach them, and hours from there in which to use them, or destroy them, before they closed for another 12 months – she couldn’t waste another second. John was to fly ahead as reconnaissance and land regularly to report lizard or Earthborn movements. He had yet to fly to the Capital because he was needed at the bailey in case of further lizard attacks. Consequently, Sorrow’s group still knew no firm news of the fate of the city other than the hysteric ramblings of the Earthborn who had been evacuated.
Making her way over to Joella and Newto, she embraced them both. They would ensure the township continued to man the walls and protect those humans, Earthborn and Sin who remained. About 100 Sin, mostly wounded, women and children, stayed within the town walls. Newto was feeding them goat and trying to maintain a separation between the races until they were firmly in hand. Any who had not agreed to eat goat had been warned they would be expelled out the gates, or executed, but so far that had been less than one in fifty. Others trickled in day by day, Earthborn, human, and Sin as the lizard invaders wreaked havoc on the planet.
“Stay safe you two,” Sorrow whispered as she embraced them goodbye, “look after your daughter. Don’t forget Dr Maggie when her time is due.
Joella smiled. “Don’t worry; we won’t forget anything you have told us. But I’m sure you will be here to deliver Jess when the time comes. You just have the pre-battle jitters, is all.”
“I know,” Sorrow gave them a reassuring smile, “but just in case.”
She turned from them to give Jess a quick squeeze goodbye and a pat on the stomach. The night before she had examined the girl and given her last-minute instructions.
“You will need a caesarean; the child will be too big for your body otherwise.”
“I know,” the girl shuddered.
“You will be OK, Jess, Dr Maggie is staying behind with the other humans, she can safely deliver you. And Jess,” she pulled the girl’s worried face up by the chin and looked her in the eyes, “I believe you and Han are the future of this world, don’t forget that. Here, I want you to have something.”
Jess gasped when she saw the little kitten ring Sorrow slipped onto her finger.
“No, Sorrow, I can’t take this, your mother gave it to you.”
“And I give it to you,” she smiled, “so you won’t forget me, just in case something happens at the gates. Don’t forget my vision for a united Heaven.”
Now, making her way to the head of the column, Etienne fell into step with her as they left the safety of the town walls and the great timber bailey doors closed with a loud bang behind them.
“So, you had sex with the monster,” he said conversationally as they walked, “and lived to tell the tale.”
“Etienne,” she rolled her eyes.
“Tell me, did you think he would turn into a prince after a few kisses. A real beauty and the beast fairy tale?”
“No,” she laughed, “Mum told me I’d have to kiss a lot of frogs before I found my prince. I’m only just getting started.”
“Well if it is frogs you are interested in…,” he cocked his head to one side and winked.
She burst out laughing a
s they left the open area around the gates and led their small force into the forest, their banter setting them both at ease.
The march was relentless, jog for ten minutes, walk for ten minutes, sprint for ten minutes, repeat.
Sorrow was fit and protected from the constant light drizzle by her Earthborn battle gear, but the forced march, after nine hours, was making her breath come in gasps, her chest tight.
“Etienne,” she said as she loped along beside him, “call a halt for rest will you?”
He raised his hand and signalled for the army behind them to take a break.
Khalili, teeth bared, jogged up to where they had promptly fallen into a heap on the ground.
“There is no time for rest,” he growled.
Sorrow shook her head and adjusted her weapons belt. She was wearing a skin-tight grey battle suit with white and dark blue leather weapon straps. In her holster, she had a laser chainsaw and handguns. On her back she carried a modern crossbow and strapped to her legs were an array of blades, big and small, some for throwing, some for stabbing. The combined weight of the weaponry seemed to her to be unbearable at this stage of the march, but she knew the heavy-set Sin in their black leather would be suffering more.
“Just ten minutes, Khalili,” she muttered, “I need a drink, a short rest, and then we can keep going.”
“I like not this place,” Khalili said, casting his eye around the conifer forest they had stopped in. There was very little understorey, unlike the woods closer to the mountain, but the trees were so tall they blocked out the sun and combined with the overcast day and intermittent heavy downpours, it made visibility poor.
Etienne nodded his agreement and rose, offering a hand to Sorrow, just as the sound of screams and lasers filled the air.
Swearing, Sorrow drew her laser and raced towards the commotion at the rear of the group, where the Sin had overpowered two stray lizards. As she watched, one lost its head, but she called out before the second could be decapitated.
“Wait.”
Running to where the Sin held the creature pinned to the ground she knelt down.
“Who sent you? How many of you are there?”
The creature laughed, a yapping sound, like a small terrier.
“I know you can understand me,” she said firmly, “your kind understood when I called for the gate to be opened at the bailey – I saw it.”
The lizard made a snapping sound with its jaws and rolled its eyes.
“How many of you are there?” Sorrow repeated.
“Millions,” the thing yapped in its strange language, “millions we Gharials, millions, millions.”
“What is it saying?” Etienne frowned, staring down at the lizard as it snapped its teeth at those who held it pinioned.
“It said they are Gharials, and they number in the millions.”
Sorrow considered the creature and took a deep breath. Knowing how to speak any language was a gift she was born with. On Earth, she only needed to hear a person speak once, no matter their language, and she could converse with them. It had been something that had scared the hell out of her mother when she first learned of it. Sorrow vividly remembered that day, she had been five and had accidentally changed the television channel from Sesame Street to World News. The news presenter was speaking in Hindi.
“Honey, what are you watching?” Megan had asked, pausing to stare at the screen as she walked from the laundry to the lounge room carrying a load of folded washing.
“There was a big earthquake in India,” Sorrow answered, “they say more than 2500 people don’t have homes, Mummy, we need to send them help.”
“How do you know this?” Megan had asked quietly, dropping the laundry.
“That is what the lady said.”
“You understand her?”
“Yes.”
Megan had walked to the television and changed the channel to an Arabic news station.
“What are they saying?”
“They say there have been more Palestinian uprisings and reprisal against a synagogue. What is a synagogue?”
Megan had turned the television off then, sat down heavily on the couch and buried her face in her hands.
Sorrow was enrolled in karate, kick-boxing, crossbow training and horse-riding lessons the following day. Her mother had later explained that it had been at this moment that she had been gripped by a horrifying premonition that one day, she didn’t know when, but one day, Amun would come for his daughter – and she wanted her girl ready to fight for her life when that time came.
Now, refocussing on the Gharial, Sorrow stepped back and nodded to Khalili to dispatch the creature. With its head cut off, she leaned down and, using her small throwing knife, cut open its torso from the neck to the groin.
“What do you do?” Khalili asked, frowning.
“I want to understand its physiology,” she muttered, sticking her hand into its chest and withdrawing a sticky green mass. “As I thought, one heart.”
“What does this mean?” Etienne asked, holding a handkerchief to his nose against the pungent smell that emanated from the lizard’s innards.
“It means it is not half-God, it is an alien in its own right, just under secondment to this mission. If it had two hearts, I would suggest it was another little genetic fuck up on behalf of the Gods – but it isn’t.”
“Is it edible?” one of the Sin soldiers asked.
Etienne gagged, but Sorrow straightened up and offered the creature’s green heart to the soldier.
“Let’s see.”
The soldier took a bite and chewed thoughtfully.
“It is meat,” he said, nodding.
The word passed quickly through the ranks and the soldiers began tearing at the bodies of the two Gharials.
“Excellent,” Sorrow said, grimacing as blood and guts flew left right and centre, “pass the word along, Khalili, that the Sin are OK to eat these things – tell Han to let everyone know. This should make them more than happy to kill a few more.”
Khalili smiled, picked up the scaly taloned hand of one of the creatures and took a bite, his teeth tearing into the flesh as he headed off.
Etienne and Sorrow shared a brief look.
“I know what you are going to say,” she shook her head ruefully, “you are going to ask how the fuck I could have sex with something that just nibbled on alien lizard fingers.”
“No,” Etienne said shaking his head, “I was going to say that Han is not here.”
“What? Where is he?”
“Khalili told him to stay behind, something about him being the future of the race.”
Sorrow gasped and looked to where she could see Khalili’s broad shoulders as he walked through the Sin, talking to them here and there.
“Is that so?” she murmured.
12
The plan had been to leave the bulk of the army in the dense part of the forest and have a small force lead a reconnaissance mission forward to the gates – but there was no chance of that.
John, zipping forward and back in the pod informed Sorrow and her fighters that a full-scale battle raged around the gates between the Earthborn and the Gharials. The explosions they could hear were the small pod bombs the Earthborn were dropping on the lizards as they swarmed out of the gates, but many of the pods had been shot down, and the bombing was becoming intermittent.
Sorrow’s army, hearing the reports, began to speed up their march, but they were still at least 24 hours away from the gates. She and Etienne privately feared that the gates would be overrun well before her army made it.
“But the Capital can’t be the only place the Earthborn are?” Etienne puffed as they jogged at the head of their company, “surely they will call for reinforcements.”
“Yes,” Sorrow replied, frowning, “there are other cities of Earthborn on this planet. Some are heavily fortified, harking back thousands of years to the original Sin wars. But I don’t have any idea what the exact population is, and besides, there have been
no real threats to the domination of the Earthborn for millennia – they are not prepared for war.
“Still,” Etienne suggested, “there must be a few thousand Earthborn warriors. And if many hail from ancient Egyptian times, war was a part of their lives.”
“True,” Sorrow puffed, “but it doesn’t take long to get soft, Etienne. In my time with the Earthborn in the Capital the only time I ever saw any physical activity was when the Earthborn rose to their feet to cheer and toast someone in The Games, or when a few, like my husband, went on their hunts.”
“Yes, the hunts,” Etienne frowned, “these Earthborn at least are used to some form of battle.”
“It was pretty one-sided,” Sorrow said, slowing to a walk and wiping the sweat from her brow, “I accompanied Anhur twice, and each time he and his friends shot from the sky down to the Sin. The only time they left their craft was to hit the ground to kill women and children.”
“Charming,” Etienne sneered, “real warriors.”
“Yes,” Sorrow nodded, “and even the Sin, Etienne, they fight among themselves, true, but they are not what I would call exemplary warriors.” She lowered her voice so others might not overhear their conversation. “They too mostly attacked small farming communities and isolated families, no real opposition there – and they rarely managed to do any actual fighting against the Earthborn, mostly they hid in the forests, melted away into the greenery. I mean Mum managed to single-handedly kill 15 of them when she was here – she said it was a piece of piss.”
“Mmm,” Etienne laughed, “your mother,” he shook his head, “what a woman. Still, now the Sin have a reason to fight. Firstly, they seem to be always hungry, and we have established these Gharials are food, and secondly, their tribes are being destroyed by both Earthborn and the lizards. So, unless they take the fight to the invaders, guerrilla tactics are no longer going to ensure the survival of their race.”
“I know,” Sorrow chewed her lip, “and I’d like to say the humans we have with us, and the human slaves the Earthborn will throw into the fight, are tough. But between you and I, the humans we have with us are mostly farmers or modern humans – neither of which are particularly well-trained in war, except for the odd lucky find, like John. And the humans the Earthborn will force to battle have neither the will to fight, the resources, or the training.”