Darius waited to see what Rantain’s reaction would be.
Without taking his eyes off the Banimpire, Rantain used his peripheral vision to peer out through the doorway. Eighty soldiers surrounded the building. An officer from the commandos climbed the steps and looked in. He raised his hand with the index and middle finger forming a “V” sign. Rantain smiled with satisfaction.
“They will not be supporting you any longer,” Rantain declared. “They want your head.”
Malign’s facial expression tattled on her. No longer did she bear the countenance of one who is in control. Her eyes darted back and forth. She emphasized her desperation by making erratic motions with the knife, pretending to cut at the boy’s throat.
“I mean it.” She stammered.
Darius grabbed Teron’s arm. With an outstretched hand he pointed to a side door located close to their friend. Four Legion entered from another room. They had that all familiar yellow glow abut them. Ironically, one of the Legion pointed a big grubby finger toward the Matakeo. The other three Legion turned and looked. Then the first one retrieved a blaster rifle from his shoulder strap and zeroed in on them.
“This is all going to hell real fast,” Darius exclaimed.
The alien pulled the trigger. A magnetic pulse emitted from the barrel of the weapon. Darius pushed Teron to the floor. With lightning reflexes, he pulled out his echo blade and powered it on. The blade stretched forth from its hilt. He lined the blade up to intercept the pulse round. All of a sudden, there was an ear shattering clamor as the projectile collided with the Matakeo's blade. The entire floor of the laboratory trembled.
Everyone, with the exception of those who were cloaked, was stunned. All the others had no clue as to what happened. Most of them had their hands clasped over their ears. Malign was one of those. During the few seconds she tried to drown out the sound, Scion escaped her grasp.
All at once, everyone pulled up their firearms. The room came alive with laser bolts and pulse rounds. One of the Roc Pride members was caught in the center of the room amidst the crossfire. Within seconds, he was cut down.
“Teron, please go help the boy.” With that said, Darius ran head on toward the legion. Miraculously, he avoided being hit by the barrage of pulse fire from the legion. As he neared the first of the ugly aliens, he reared back his weapon hand. On the ball of his left foot, he spun his entire body around in a three sixty. He swung the weapon forward as he completed the revolution. The momentum caused the legion’s head to sail across the room when the apex of sound slashed through its neck. He disposed two more quickly and easily.
The last legion had enough balls to step forward and attack him with nothing more than an oversized machete. With a flash of Darius’ sword, the aliens left arm was severed from its body. Hundreds of voices screeched in pain. The cries of agony caused goose bumps to appear on the back of Darius’ shoulders. What in God’s name was that?
The one-armed legion gritted his teeth. He advanced in to close quarters. When he swung his machete to attack again, Darius severed that arm as well. The sounds issued forth from the creature were unbearable moans at this point. The groaning lasted for the amount of time it took the human to shank its head clean off its body. It was at this moment when Darius could see Mecurial rushing over to help his Banimpire.
36
As Darius was attending to Rimsen, a duel was about to take place between two others. Scion squatted down and retrieved the echo blade lying at his feet. As he stood up, he powered it on. He had no second thoughts about his next move. Raising the blade above Malign’s head, he swung it down with all the strength he could generate from his boyish frame. The adrenaline rush flowed through him like a river. The entire motion of that one swing seemed like it would take a lifetime to complete. Anticipating the skull shattering blow, he repeatedly said the same four words.
“I can’t believe it.”
The elation was euphoria. He could never have imagined, even in his wildest dreams that killing the Banimpire could come so easily. What Scion believed to be the death dealing thump actually turned out to be a last second stop from Mecurial’s blade. Within inches of striking her down, the defensive save from her human pet not only brought about disappointment in the boy’s mind but a newly discovered fear as well. The notion to flee from this skilled swordsman was his only thought now.
The collision made from the two pinnacles of sound came close to hitting Malign. The combined force generated from them knocked her to the floor.
Before Scion could initiate a move his opponent performed an envelopment. Scion lost his grip on the sword and it sailed toward the ceiling. Defying all rationality, the weapon stopped in midair. Then suddenly, as if it had come alive, it moved towards Mecurial and attacked him. It was as if the spirit of a professional duelist had possessed the weapon. To the boy’s amazement, the blade parried the death-blow meant for him.
I must be delirious, he thought. Then he heard a female voice give him instructions.
“Get out of here,” Teron said.
37
Darius unfastened the binders from Rimsen’s arms and legs. He grabbed him by the hand and helped him sit up on the table.
“Good to see you again.”
“Same here Darius.” Rimsen recognized the voice of his invisible rescuer. “Thank you for coming back for me.”
“No problem.” Darius powered up his echo blade again. “Just stay behind me.”
“Sure thing.” There was a hint of sarcasm in his reply. “Are you serious? I can’t see you.”
“Follow the carnage.”
A blind man could have tailed him. Darius hit anything and everything. Tables, chairs, medical carts and light fixtures. Debris was strewn in every direction. Many in the room stared in disbelief at the damage being caused by the invisible force. As he advanced on Malign’s position, he made sure to dismember the royal guards along the way.
As he slaughtered the enemy he kept an eye on the fight between Teron and Mecurial. He was confident she would be victorious, considering she was cloaked. However, before he could get to her side, the tide had turned against her. Mecurial kicked below the blade she sported and put a well placed boot in her midsection. After being catapulted twenty feet backward, she toppled over and landed on the small of her back. She was sprawled out and unconscious. On a positive note, the odds were in her favor for not getting hurt any further. She was still invisible. Darius was hell bent to make sure that scenario would be a certainty.
Rimsen ran past Darius and forced his way to where the blade Teron had used was resting upon the floor. As he rose to his feet with it, Mecurial attacked. Rimsen activated the echo blade. On one knee, he positioned the weapon to defend himself from the blow.
Mecurial anticipated the defensive move and countered by sweeping his left foot under his opponent’s right leg.
Rimsen lost his balance. Midway into the fall he regained his composure. Following through with a controlled barrel roll allowed him a safe distance from the end of his attacker’s sword as he swung it for a second time. The tip of the weapon missed his shoulder by mere inches. Hopping to his feet, he assumed control of the fight and became the aggressor. The onslaught of reprises and beats had Mecurial in a formidable retreat.
Rimsen shouted to Darius. “Could you please put your cloaking device on the boy? We need to keep him safe.”
“No problem,” he answered.
By this time, the volley of laser fire in the room had dissipated, thanks to Darius’ rampage. Roc Pride maneuvered around the remainder of the royal guards to get a better angle of attack.
Darius turned and went after Scion. The boy was struggling to free himself from the clutches of two royal guardsmen. They had him by the arms and dragged him down a long hallway. Malign led them out. She yelled at the two soldiers to move faster.
Darius closed the distance. Once he was in reach, he stretched out and grabbed the boy by his feet. Gripping tightly to the lads boots, he pulled. He jer
ked him free from the guards’ grasp. Scion screamed as his wrists slid through the strong hold the grown Lumi had on his limbs. Then his buttocks greeted the floor with a thud.
“Stay down,” Darius instructed the boy.
The two guards never knew what hit them. With one swing of his blade, he decapitated the one on his left. As the sharp edge of sound exited the first it penetrated the second ones hip. The Lumi’s dissected leg sailed thirty feet down the hallway and hit Malign in the back of the legs. She stopped and looked back. In the wink of an eye, the rest of the guard’s torso was split in two.
Darius unfastened the cloaking device about his waist. Now he was visible and open to attack. Out of his peripheral vision he watched Malign as she turned around to see what had hit her. A look of fear appeared upon her face when she realized it was a missing limb from her guard. She bolted down the hallway.
Squatting down next to the boy, he placed the cloaking tool on him and activated it. Before he gave chase after Malign, he gave the boy one final instruction. “Get out the front door and group up with the commandos. Once you are safely with them you can deactivate the device.”
“I understand,” replied the invisible boy.
With sword in hand, Darius ran after Malign. She was fast. The hallway continued on a downward slope, eventually leading into an underground network. The right angles where the walls intersected with the ceiling progressively rounded off. It did not take long for the corridor’s dimensions to take on the appearance of conduit.
At one point, he took a quick glance over his shoulder. Some three hundred feet behind he caught a glimpse of another individual giving chase. The shadows obscured his ability to make out who it was.
Darius finally caught up with her. Malign ran into a subterranean hangar. She stood next to a private craft. Her hands were busy fidgeting with the door lock. Apparently, the security code did not work or was slow to react. She got down on her knees and began to sob as he approached her.
“Please do not kill me,” she pleaded. “I am very sick and I know I need help.”
“You’re right. You are sick,” Darius sneered. “I have the cure for your ailment.” With no remorse, he raised the weapon over his head. There was no need for him to put a lot of effort into the downward action of the sword to silence her. The weapon had enough skull-splitting force on its own. However, there was a satisfaction knowing he could make this kill a messy one. This would be his donation to those Giefans who lost their lives in the attack she perpetrated.
In that split second before slamming her into eternity, Darius heard the clanking of boots approaching from his blindside. Before he could turn completely around to see who it was, he was attacked. Instantaneously, there was a tremendous amount of pressure applied upon his right leg. He looked down at his knee. One of the attacker’s boots was forcing the joint beyond what it was designed to do. The enemy followed through causing the knee to snap. Simultaneously, a pain sheered through his hip and up the spine. A white light flooded his vision. His echo blade bounced across the floor. In a blind stupor, he concluded it was beyond his current condition to reach it.
“Hurry, my Banimpire. Get aboard and fire up the engine,” The attacker spoke. “I will be along shortly.”
Now Darius knew his attacker was Mecurial. Realistically, he was at the mercy of his enemy. There was nothing he could do to cheat death. Still blind from the pain in his broken limb, he cradled the damage between his hands.
With a loud burst, the engine of the ship came to life. The deafening roar caused his head to throb. Underneath him, the concrete deck shook from the vibration. Slowly, his vision began to clear. However, everything was black and white. At least now he could see the blow that would deliver death’s sting.
Mecurial stood in front of him with sword in hand. He was speaking but the words were drowned out from the ship’s engine thrust. Darius did not close his eyes as his executioner raised his weapon to deal out death. Instead, he smiled. The expression was not caused by fear. His smile stretched out wider across his face when he realized that from behind the enemy, help was on its way.
Mecurial did not hear the footsteps until the very last second. He turned and parried the attack from Rimsen in the nick of time. They pressured each others blades back and forth. Mecurial performed a change of engagement to counter Rimsen’s compound attack. Attempting to trick Rimsen, Mecurial reacted with a false attack. His blade intentionally fell short. Rimsen did not bite. Instead, he posed a feint. Now Mecurial was hesitant on reengaging.
Darius watched the ongoing melee as he struggled to pull himself closer to his weapon. There was seventy feet between him and the sword. Little by little, he closed in on it. All the while, he pondered on how he would use it once he had it in his hands again. When he was close enough he reached out and grabbed it. As his hand stretched out to gather it, a stream of sunlight illuminated the weapon. He turned his gaze toward the ceiling where the streak of light had originated from.
One thousand feet above, a door was opening in the roof of the hangar. The hole grew bigger and bigger. When it was fully retracted, the craft Malign piloted lifted off. Upwards it climbed. The sunlight appeared as if it were a tractor beam swallowing the ship.
Darius returned his focus back to the duelists. Their footwork had brought them within twenty feet of his position. Simultaneously, they both swung toward the others chest. The swords clashed together with a thunderous boom. They stood their ground as their blades slowly filed away in an x pattern. The reverberation was excruciating.
“There is no point in this,” Rimsen said. “Would you listen to me for one minute?”
“If you can talk and fight at the same time?” Mecurial replied sarcastically.
From out of the tunnel there came a group of soldiers. As they entered the hangar they deployed into offensive positions. The sights of twenty blasters were trained upon Mecurial. Several of them turned their heads skyward as Malign’s craft lifted up and out of the opening. The leader of the group stepped forward. It was Rantain.
“Could you please step away from Mecurial?”
“No!” Rimsen answered.
“Please, human.”
Rimsen looked Mecurial straight in the eye. “I know who you really are. You are Zelo!” He exclaimed. Slowly, he relaxed his stance. “Twenty two years ago we were kidnapped by Malign.” The more he conversed with him, the more relaxed Mecurial appeared to become. “She had an inhibitor chip placed on our brains.” He paused briefly to incite some sort of reaction from his opponent. When it did not happen, he continued.
“I was dumped off as a ward of the state once she decided I was no longer needed. You became Malign’s…well…you became her tool.”
“I am fully aware of who I am,” Mecurial countered. “I am also aware of who I used to be. I used to be Zelo.”
“I do not understand?” Rimsen was confused by the statement. “You mean to tell me you already know?”
“Yes. The inhibitor chip malfunctioned the day we had you in laboratory.” He looked unsure. “Since then, I have had total recall.”
“So what is the problem then? Why do you fight for that witch?”
“How dare you speak of my love that way.” Mecurial tensed up and raised his sword in a ready position. “I have savored the most beautiful intelligence by growing more intimate with her. She has taught me an appreciation for domination.” An evil smile appeared upon his face. “A lust for absolute power and control you can not comprehend.”
“You are mad! No Giefan should ever desire such a thing.”
“I am walking out of here,” Mecurial said as he pointed toward the tunnel with the tip of his blade. “I will kill you if you try to stop me.”
“I do not want to kill you.” Rimsen pleaded with him. “It is not your fault. She had control over you.”
“I have no regrets.” Mecurial reared back his arm. As he brought it forward, he did so with tremendous force. The pyramid of sound hummed as it cut t
hrough the air.
Simultaneously, Darius managed to stand to his feet with the assistance of a handrail along the deck. He leaned his weight into it. Holding on, he took one step forward with his good leg. This was followed with the broken leg being dragged behind and then the process being repeated. He closed the gap between Mecurial and himself.
Mecurial was about to strike Rimsen down. Darius pushed off the post with his reliable leg. Lunging toward Mecurial with an outstretched arm, he thrust three feet of sound into his back. The sonic blade jutted out of the man’s chest cavity. A hissing sound issued forth from the fatal wound as the severed lungs released their product. Yanking the weapon clean, Darius landed on his left shoulder as he crashed to the floor.
Mecurial stared intently into Rimsen’s eyes as he sunk to his knees. He remained there briefly. Then, like the mast of a sailing vessel rolling over into the sea as it capsizes, so did his head lean toward gravities pull. The rest of his body followed, as it crumpled to the deck.
Rimsen came into view when the enemy fell. The look on his face was one of disbelief. He sat down and took a deep breath. Exhaling, he confronted Mecurial’s killer.
“I don’t blame you,” he said. “You did what needed to be done.”
Darius nodded his head in agreement. “Let us ponder on the good things that will come out of this.”
“Malign got away,” Rimsen sighed.
“I am sure we have not seen the last of her.”
“I believe that,” Rimsen said. “Makes me wonder how many other Giefans have had their minds altered?”
“Well,” Darius replied. “I can think of six to start with.”
A medical team appeared through the tunnel and assisted Darius.
***
Far away, across the divide that separates the short span of physical presence with the spiritual, there were two ominous beings holding a conference. The one who answered the questions was human-like in form. He relayed the information his king requested.
Matakeo: Echoes of the Future Page 23