Champions of the Apocalypse

by Michael G. Thomas

  “Of course, my brother Ulric trains all of our forces,” replied Synne.

  Thrax walked away from the two and disappeared inside one of the small rooms running along the perimeter of the open training area. Lots of noise came from his direction, as he pulled and dropped various items as he searched for whatever it was he was after. As he carried on, Synne looked about the training area and examined it in greater detail. It reminded her of the accounts she had read about in Ancient times where an open space was used for combat to the death. The floor was covered in sand and the columns that ran all around the outside were carved with figures. She approached the nearest column and was surprised to notice the detail in the stone.

  “Jonas, take a look at this?”

  He wandered over and the two stared in awe at the detail and the objects shown. On one section there were six machines flying through the air. Each one carried a number of men wearing unknown armour and carrying various projectile weapons, much like the powder weapon she had seen the one Raider using on the train.

  “What are they?”

  “I have no idea. They look a bit like the machines in the War of the Worlds book, but these are being used by men. Look down here!” she said excitedly as she moved to the next column.

  This one was very different. It showed hundreds of men all standing in close formation and marching with large rectangular shields in a box formation. The group of men were marching up a steep ramp that led to some kind of fortified settlement that had much in common with many of the settlements Synne had visited, when travelling with her father. She looked carefully at the men defending the barricades. They used a mixture of spears, slings and stones.

  “Okay, show me what you can do,” came the booming voice of Thrax as he returned to the training area.

  Synne turned to see him holding a number of weapons under his arms. He dropped the bundle to the ground with a clatter and stood staring at them. Jonas stepped back, indicating he wasn’t particularly keen to get involved in some kind of demonstration with Thrax.

  Synne looked at the weapons, most she recognised, a few she didn’t.

  “I’ll take the sword,” she said as she stepped forward.

  Before she could reach the weapons, Thrax lifted one and tossed the wooden sword over to her. She caught it neatly and with a gentle flourish positioned it out in front but not too far ahead. The point of the weapon aimed directly to Thrax’s head. He grabbed a similar sword and held it low and to his right side as though uninterested.

  “I see you like the shorter weapons,” he said with a snarl.

  Jumping forward he struck a feint to the right and then pulled his body around to his left, neatly avoiding the counter cut by Synne and brought his weapon down towards her head. Spotting the danger at the last moment, Synne did the only thing she could think of, and stepped into his attack and push her own sword high. At this range, she caught the blade just above the crossguard and twisted off to her right. As her sword started to lower under the pressure, she punched Thrax in the stomach and then tried to strike him in the face. Thrax easily grabbed her right elbow in his left hand and twisted her around, neatly depositing her on the dusty ground, unhurt, apart from her pride. As she wiped the dust off her loose clothing, the old warrior started to laugh. She lifted herself up and raised her sword, ready to attack.

  “What’s so funny?” she demanded.

  “I have trained with all kinds of people before but never have I seen such violence from a lady at such a short range!” he laughed.

  Unsure whether to be please, or annoyed at his comments, Synne simply went on the attack. She cut fast and each time it looked like her front was exposed she brought her weapon back into position and delivered another strike. Thrax moved slowly but with perfect timing and precision. As Synne’s attacks piled in, he neatly avoided them using the minimum of effort whilst delivering the odd light cut himself.

  “Your speed and timing is good but you fight with too much passion. Calm your anger, slow your breathing and look for the openings.”

  Synne stepped forward and managed to clip his forearm with a light cut and then jumped back to avoid a cut to her head.

  “Calm yourself, I see the openings and there is one on your head!” she shouted.

  Leaping forward she cut high and hard for Thrax’s head. It looked like the perfect cut but Thrax knew a feint when he saw it. Synne had already overplayed it by telling him and the cut was too powerful drawn out to ever realistically work. He acted as though he was going to parry it and then she did the expected changed in direction. Landing short she bent down and lashed low in a horizontal cut that would have struck him in the rib. Thrax simply dropped his point and intercepted the cut before neatly twisting his wrist and striking her with the back of the sword on the forehead. She stumbled back, a light trickle of blood running down her face.

  “I told you, calm yourself,” he said, though she looked less than impressed with his words of wisdom.

  “I’ve seen how you move with the single blade, let’s try something with a bit more bite,” he said with relish.

  Bending down he picked up a wooden spear. It was a good six feet long, so short by any standard, but perfectly suited for one on one combat. As before, he tossed the weapon over to her before picking up a weapon of his own. Though the weapons were entirely made of wood, they both had a lump of dense fabric tied into a ball on the tip.

  “Now, the spear is the simplest and most effective weapon ever used by man. It can be tipped in iron, or simply cut down to a point and burnt in a fire to harden the tip. Have you used one before?”

  Synne nodded and with her left foot forward, she lowered the spear to belly height and pointing towards Thrax. She held onto the spear with both hands about a foot apart.

  “Good,” said Thrax as he watched her move.

  They started to circle each other, Synne looking for opportunities to attack whilst Thrax studied her moment and intentions with fascination.

  “Remember to move when it gives you a tactical advantage or when you are looking to create one, don’t just move for the sake of doing something. Movement creates tempo and tempo makes you practicable.”

  With great speed, he stabbed forward, releasing his left hand so that just his right hand remained near the base of the spear shaft. The weapon covered a distance and would have struck Synne, if not for the fact she brought up her own spear to deflect it. No sooner had she pushed it away that Thrax pulled it back, moved his hands and then swung with the back end, neatly catching the back of her leading knee and sending her to the floor. Before she could get up, he was on her, the tip of his spear pointing directly at her heart. She shook her head, wiping the dust and sand away from her body and looked up at him.

  “Okay, I get it, you’re the Master, are we done here?”

  Thrax held out his hand and helped to pull her up.

  “Have a wash and rest for a while. When you are ready I want to show you some of the materials I have discovered over the years, I think you will find some of them very interesting,” he said mysteriously.

  All this time Jonas was standing to the side and watched intently, but also kept well out of the way.

  “Come on, young man, you might not want to but you’re going to have to fight. Pick up the spear and I’ll show you some basics.”

  Synne left the two of them as Jonas tried to talk his way out of getting bruised. She returned to the room she had slept in, but with her head clearer she noticed items that she would never have expected to find in a mountain hideout. On the one shelf were a number of knives. Each one was made of hard iron and steel. Some had different colour wood and metal whilst one sported several beautiful stones. She picked up the most lavish and was amazed at the lightness and quality of its construction. She placed it back on the shelf and moved further into the room. A rack on the wall was covered in all kinds of clothing, most of it combat related and a surprising number of items looked like the kind of gear worn by the Raiders. S
he lifted what looked like an old-fashioned corset from the wall and was taken aback by the hardness of the black leather material. It felt like it would probably protect against a sword cut, possibly even a thrust from a spear. Holding it up in front of her, she tried to imagine wearing it and then almost giggled at the sight of so many straps.

  “Weird,” she muttered to herself before returning it.

  Back in the arena, the sound of wooden weapons striking each other brought a smile to her face. It sounded like Jonas had failed in his attempts to avoid Thrax. She could only hope Thrax didn’t go too hard on him. He might have a reasonable amount of training, but was in a different league to an experienced warrior like Thrax.

  Moving a little further on she came to the many armoured helmets and jackets that hung under sheets to protect them from the elements. Some of the jackets were simple hide affairs, whilst others were adorned with metal studs, reinforced plates of metal or strips of thick rubber. This was the kind of gear she had seen the warriors bringing back from battle with the Brotherhood or the Raiders in the last few years. Next to the clothing were weapons and they really caught her imagination. There were all kinds of gear, but the single most interesting one was a large sword. It looked massive next to her and yet something told her it was more than just an oversized piece of metal. The sword was fitted with a blunt section towards the hilt, probably designed so it could be held. It was also fitted with small hooked points sticking out about an inch from each edge of the sword. The design reminded her of one of the large two-handed swords she had been studying in the library.

  “You like that one?” came the low voice of Thrax just a few feet behind her.

  The sound made her jump, she hadn’t noticed that the sound of the sparring had stopped. Thrax had barely broken into a sweat whilst Jonas still out in the training area, sat on the ground from what she could see.

  “Is he okay?” asked Synne.

  “He’ll live.”

  Synne gave him a stern look, Thrax was surprised by her ferocity.

  “Easy now, he’s just tired. He does have some skill with the sword though. I assume he trained at the same place as you?”

  “Yes. Why, did you notice similarities?”

  Thrax just smiled and turned back to call to Jonas.

  “You okay, son, everything in one piece?”

  Jonas simply lifted his hand to indicate all was well. Thrax turned back to Synne and the sword on the low table. He grasped the hilt with his right hand and lifted the weapon up and in front of him.

  “This has always been my favourite. I had it and four others like it made over ten years ago by a master swordsmith in Usk City,” he said, as he held the sword close to his face.

  “Where are the other four?”

  “The same place as most weapons, in the ground, destroyed or lost on some battlefield. I know at least one of them remains with the Lord of the Blood Pack. They were special items, granted to only the greatest of my students.”

  Synne looked at the blade more closely. She noticed there were multiple grooves cut into the blade that helped reduce the weight and thus improved the handling of the weapon. The leather wrapped hilt had either been looked after like a child or replaced in recent years, as it was pristine. The metalwork was worn but all in good order whilst the edges of the blade had been sharpened on many occasions.

  “It looks like this blade has done some work,” she said in a questioning tone.

  Thrax placed the weapon back down and wiped his fingerprints from the blade with a cloth.

  “In the past it has done great things, like all good weapons though it is of its time. There have been no events worthy of its name, or mine for that matter in many years,” he said whilst looking at her eyes.

  “Now that you are safe, what are your plans?”

  Synne looked at the weapons, saying nothing for a while before turning to him with a hard look to her face.

  “I want to find my people, restore my House and finally, “she said before Thrax interrupted her.

  “Yes?” he said.

  “I want revenge!”

  Thrax sighed, his expression showing he had seen this so many times before. He turned and walked back out of the room, only pausing as he reached the exit to turn back to her. The light was already starting to fade outside.

  “Tonight you must rest, tomorrow we will talk about what you can do. Remember, only a fool seeks battle before he is ready. You must get your strength back and you must consider your options wisely,” he said and then left.

  Synne stepped back and sat down on the bed as she thought about the events at Haven and the bloody battle and desperate escape she and Jonas had gone through in the last day. She looked out to the doorway and at Jonas who was still sitting on the ground.

  “Not tomorrow, I leave tonight,” she muttered to herself before laying back and closing her eyes.

  * * *

  It had been dark for three hours and Synne was almost at the bottom of the mountain. It was almost impossible to see her due to the old Raider gear she had appropriated before leaving. She wore a loose fitting hide jacket with armour on the upper arms and shoulders. Under the jacket, was the hardened leather corset she had found so amusing earlier on. It wasn’t particularly comfortable, but it matched the rest of the Raider gear and provided surprisingly good protection to her body. Though it was mainly black, it did feature red material along the flanks that contrasted with the blackness of the leather. Down the edges were lines of metal rivets. Below this were a pair of padded trousers that led to thick, knee length reinforced leather boots. She wore nothing on her head and her dark brown hair hung down past her shoulders. On her belt, she carried one of the smaller curved swords that seemed to be so loved by the Raiders up and down the land. To a stranger she had all the characteristics of a roving Raider. As she rounded the final corner, she recognised the place as where the small number of them had tried to escape and where some had spent their last moments. It sickened her stomach that such good, ordinary people had died in such a barren, unloving place. She paused, but thoughts of her mission and the fact that the train was due to pass within the hour spurred her on. Pushing out from the rocks, she moved to the open space that led to the railway tracks running off down the valley. It was a short distance and in just five minutes she was crouched down next to the track.

  “Now what do I do?”

  Synne looked out into the distance and then back behind her. There was no sign of the train though at the speed it travelled it could be on her in minutes. Looking back to the base of the mountain there was nothing other than rocks and flat land.

  “Hey!” came a voice from the rocks.

  Synne lowered herself down so that she was no higher than the tracks and tried to keep very still.

  “It’s okay, it’s me, Jonas!”

  Synne sighed and lifted up to a crouch.

  “What are you doing here, you fool?” she asked angrily.

  “You’re one to talk! What about you?”

  “I’m not leaving our people behind. We need to find out what’s going on before they are split up, killed or sold.”

  “Thrax says just a few people with no real weapons can’t make any difference, he says we need to get more people and make a considered plan before we go off on some violent adventure,” said Jonas, though his tone suggested he was less than convinced.

  “Yeah, well watch me.”

  She ran over to a clump of rocks and lifted up the largest.

  “Come and get some,” she ordered as she staggered back and dumped it on the track.

  Jonas looked confused for a second before realising what she intended.

  “You want to slow them down so we can get on?” he asked as he moved back to collect rocks.

  “If they hit something, maybe they will slow down to check, then we can get on the train,” she said.

  The two proceeded to place a large number of the larger rocks and stone along the tracks. None were too big that
they might force the train off the track, but they should be enough to concern the driver and give them an opportunity to climb aboard. A noise came from the tracks.

  “Can you hear that?” she whispered.

  Jonas said nothing before whispering back.

  “Something is making a noise through the rails,” he said in confusion,“I don’t understand, could it be the train?”

  Synne listened again but the noise was still too faint. She moved back and took cover behind the nearest rocks to the track. She signalled for Jonas to join her and together they kept low in the shadows and waited.

  “Assuming this is the train and somehow we get onboard, what will we do when we get to wherever it goes?”

  “Well, first we need information. When we know what we are up against we can either do something ourselves or we can try and get help from our friends in the League,” she replied.

  “Maybe, if we have any left.”

  Synne looked at him with a confused expression. She considered what he said, she hadn’t really thought about the other members of the League. What if they were in the same kind of trouble as her family had faced, even worse, what if they had even been involved?

  “Jonas, we...” she started, but was cut off by Jonas lifting his hand.

  He turned and whispered quietly to her.

  “I can see the train, it is here!”

  * * *

  Thrax walked out into the room until so recently occupied by Synne. He immediately noticed she wasn’t there and that some of the weapons and clothing were missing. He stormed back into the training area, looking for them.

  “Synne!” he shouted but there was no reply, “Jonas!” he added, still nothing.

  Bara appeared from one of the many small rooms running around the one wall.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “They’ve gone!” he growled.

  Bara ran into the other rooms as she looked for the missing two but as with Thrax she found nothing. As the two moved from place to place, a mechanical whistle blasted out through the valley.