The careful balance had been challenged. The future did not feel quite as set as it once had.
*****
Kaslea was a naval kingdom. Therefore, securing a boat had taken literally a snap of Prince Edmund’s fingers. A runner had been sent down to the docks; the ship was ready to set sail the moment they arrived.
It was a large ocean-faring wooden vessel. The sails were a crisp white, and the flag of Kaslea flew proudly from the mast. Leo privately thought it looked like it belonged in a heritage museum, or on a movie set for a pirate film. The ship just had that classic look, like everything else had in this world. It wasn’t alien, it was familiar—just not familiar to their time period or outside of fiction.
They weren’t sailing far, just a couple of hours off the coast to the island Cyrus had indicated.
“Land ahoy,” Don smirked.
Mathis had gone below deck, but the three marines had taken position up on the bow. The ship cut through the gentle waves with ease. The spray didn’t reach halfway up the hull, but the tang of the salt air was still strong. Don pointed ahead of them; the bump on the horizon had been visible for some time. However, now the details of the island started to become clear. The shore was golden sand, but that soon gave way to a dense-looking forest. Leo’s eyes could pick out what looked like an overgrown path towards the right.
“Cyrus sure has a good racket going,” Don mused, shaking his head in admiration. “All that bull about an offering. Sure, it’s an offering, one for whoever is smart enough to stick around and take the free loot—likely the puppet master himself.”
Leo snorted. “He sure does know how to get what he wants. I’m just praying he delivers this time,” he added darkly.
Don’s eyes flashed, a shadow across his countenance. They were of like mind on this. Against their memory of all the people back home, the deaths and the suffering, the sheer agony of not knowing, the near certainty that all was likely already lost, it was surreal standing there as they were, in the bright sunshine, the gentle splash of the sea against the hull as the ship cut through the water.
There were no sounds of war, no screams of agony or despair. If this mission could find a superweapon to save the world, then it was important, but Leo still couldn’t shake the feeling that he was in the wrong place, a feeling shared with both Don and Nick. They would rather fight and die with their brothers than survive uselessly.
When they were several hundred yards from the island, the ship slowed to a stop, the anchor was dropped, and the ship settled, just bobbing slightly from the waves that lapped against the hull. The crew lowered a rowboat for them to go ashore. Mathis appeared. He staggered over to the edge and grabbed the side tightly. He was clearly ill at ease on the ship, the heavy armor perhaps affecting his balance. The knight could ride a horse for days, but clearly had no sea legs.
“The ship’s draft can’t get us any closer, I’m guessing,” Nick commented, pointing out what he thought was the obvious.
Mathis shook his head. “That is true, but that isn’t why we have dropped anchor here.” At their curious look, Mathis raised an eyebrow. “The crew didn’t tell you the story?”
“No, they didn’t,” Leo said slowly, eyes wary.
When they had boarded, the captain had politely requested that they stayed out of the way and didn’t bother the crew. Given that they wanted to accomplish the mission as quickly as possible, that had been an easy request to grant. The crew had looked at them curiously, their clothing marking them as strangers to their land, but no one had said one word to the marines.
“Ah, well, this island is well known to all who earn their living on the sea. The woven black silk that we have been sent to retrieve is rare and highly prized. The only known source is this island; it occurs naturally, but we know not how or why,” Mathis explained.
“I’m guessing its rarity isn’t down to demand outstripping supply?” Leo said sardonically. Cyrus had been thorough, for him, in the instructions they had been given. However, he should have known that the manipulative old goat had left something crucial out of the story.
“While the silk is worth a small fortune, few dare attempt to retrieve it. In order to profit, one would have to leave the island alive. A feat few manage. In fact it has only occurred twice in my lifetime,” Mathis finished before pasting on a smile. “A minor challenge, I’m sure, for heroes such as yourselves.”
“Oh, absolutely. It’ll be great,” Don agreed sarcastically. He rolled his eyes and Leo shrugged.
“We’re here now. We get in, we get the silk, we get out,” Leo summarized. It was just another mission.
Mathis climbed down the side of the ship first. Not for the first time, Leo wondered if the armor was more hindrance than help. The small rowboat rocked dangerously when the knight hit it. The three marines quickly followed, and Don took the oars. With powerful strokes, they hit the island within minutes. Leo grimaced when they jumped out; as close as they were, they still had to wade the last few feet and pull the boat to beach it so it didn’t float away. The water came to mid-shin, soaking through his boots. That would be uncomfortable later.
They had been provided with a large wooden pole, which they needed to roll the silk around. Nick grabbed it from the boat. Leo gestured for them to hold. Mathis had local knowledge; he would take point. The knight surveyed the area before pointing to the path Leo had spied from the ship.
“It is down there that we will find our prize.” Mathis drew his sword ready and strode off.
“Let’s go. Don, watch our six,” Leo ordered. He raised his assault rifle and followed after Mathis, who was almost at the tree line.
Leo blinked hard when he crossed the line, his eyes not adjusting fast enough to the darkness of the forest. The foliage was dense in this part. He sniffed but could smell nothing but earth and trees. He couldn’t hear anything besides their own movements. No sign yet of whatever killed the would-be profiteers of the natural silk.
Mathis slashed at the trees occasionally, clearing the path, but they had only been walking a few minutes when the path opened up into a clearing.
Nick whistled. “Okay, that’s pretty impressive.”
The silk was everywhere, hanging in strips between the trees. Leo looked up and saw that the silk formed a thin haze, covering the clearing like a canopy. It was thin enough to cast just a slight shadow on the land despite its black coloring.
“At least we don’t have to hunt for the stuff,” Don noted pragmatically. Leo nodded; they would be able to get more than what they needed and not touch a fraction of what was available.
“Nick, help Mathis collect the silk. Don and I are going to check out the area,” Leo ordered. He could see another path on the opposite side of the clearing. Surrounded by the forest, he wasn’t keen to just wait for whatever ‘death’ was on this island to make an appearance.
This path was even more overgrown than the entry path. However, it was wider, and sunlight managed to penetrate through, casting down narrow beams of light. The ground sloped, and they hadn’t gone far when Leo saw that it opened up again, but not into a clearing this time.
The tree line gave way to a small cliff, just a single story in height, a deep granite gray, mapping the way to the cave at the bottom. The inky blackness of the cave’s maw looked sinister. Leo didn’t need the shiver of dread creeping his spine to know, with bone-chilling certainty, that whatever danger was on this island called that cave home.
“Well, that looks homey,” Don joked absently, his senses obviously just as rattled as he panned his rifle around the area, eyes alert for any sign of movement.
Leo was just trying to think of a witty comeback when something else answered Don’s statement. There was a clicking noise, then a strange skittering sound. Leo took a step back.
“Time to go,” Leo murmured urgently.
At the mouth of the cave, a shape slowly emerged from the darkness, becoming more defined until its identity was confirmed. It was a spider, the same
size as a small car, jet black and hairy, with eight legs and a terrifying number of eyes. The secret of what produced the silk was solved, but that was one answer Leo would have been happy to have done without.
Don raised his assault rifle.
“Hold your fire,” Leo hissed desperately.
Don looked askance at him, and then his eyes caught what he had thought was a white crystal formation at the side of the cave. They were no crystals—they were eggs. More shapes—smaller shapes, but with just as many eyes gleaming through the darkness—started to appear.
“Oh, hell no,” Don swore.
“Run!” Leo ordered, and the two marines turned and sprinted. They didn’t need to look behind them to tell they were being pursued; they could hear the sound of the spiders chattering.
Leo crashed into the undergrowth, uncaring of the small tree branches that snagged at his uniform. He crashed through, barreling into the clearing. Nick was holding the wooden pole and Mathis was winding the silk. Thankfully, the silk was already thick around the pole. They had enough, which was a relief, as they were not fighting those things.
“Evac!” Leo shouted.
He stopped and turned, one eye on Nick, the other on the path they had fled from. Mathis slashed the silk with his sword, cutting off what they had gathered from the rest. With surprising speed, the knight ran for the exit path, Nick on his heels. As soon as they started moving, Leo turned, just in time to see the forest start to come alive, the spiders reaching the clearing.
Nick had his hands full with the silk, trusting the others to have his back. Don fired a short burst of gunfire into the trees, hoping to buy them some time as they desperately fled back to the shore and hopefully safety.
It was a headlong sprint through the forest, and the sound of chattering spiders filled the air around them. In the dark, it was hard to tell how close they were. Leo’s heart filled his throat, expecting any moment for a spider to swing out from the foliage, its pincers sinking deep into his flesh.
They burst onto the sandy shore. In the open space, Nick sprinted past Mathis to reach the boat first. He threw the pole into the bottom of the boat and started to push it away from the shore. Mathis all but threw himself into the boat. It tipped dangerously, but it was still too close to shore to capsize.
Leo and Don, splashed knee-deep into the water, hauling themselves up as the boat floated further away from the shore and the gathering swell of spiders that was fast approaching. Nick was the last to jump in, the water chest-high by the time Don took the oars and frantically started to row them further away.
“Stand ready,” Leo ordered, crouching down and aiming his weapon at the horde of death behind them. Nick twisted to do the same, but the spiders stopped at the water’s edge, a clear foot between them and the lapping waves.
Leo’s heart was pounding in his ears. He took one breath, then two, then three; the island was getting smaller, and the spiders had yet to dive into the water after them. He released his weapon, letting it hang down against his vest. Laughter bubbled in pure relief.
“Guess we found their weakness—water.” Don grinned. “Explains why they are trapped on that island.”
“I have never known such a creature,” Mathis exclaimed. “I have heard tales of many fearsome beasts, but none such as that. We have made a fine tale of our own today, friends.”
“That island is not that big. How do you think so many of those damn things survive?” Nick thought aloud.
“I do not know, but we must be grateful that they do, and that we were not forced to slay any of them,” Mathis pointed out. “It would mean an end to the silk; it is already rare enough.”
“Would have done the world a service, though,” Don muttered.
Leo kept his silence. They had completed the mission. They had gone to the island, retrieved the silk, and gotten out alive, and that was what was important. Repercussions for the silk trade did not concern him, beyond the potential fury of would-be allies if they had killed the ‘golden goose,’ as it were.
“Up next, one magic ritual. You know, after killer spiders the size of mopeds, I’m thinking that’s going to be a bit of a letdown,” Don joked, doing what he did best and lightening the mood.
“To free my land from the menace of the dragon, I would undertake a hundred magical rituals,” Mathis vowed.
Despite his disbelief in magic, Leo nodded in agreement. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to save Earth from the menace of the aliens currently invading. If it took a hundred magical rituals, then so be it, just so long as it worked.
People often wished for a magical solution to their problems; he certainly wouldn’t complain if they finally got one.
Chapter Nineteen
The ritual site was deep into the forest, southwest of Termont. By the time they had made landfall, back from their adventure with the giant spiders, it was mid-afternoon. Even with horses, the ritual site was a day’s trek. They were forced to make camp halfway to their destination.
It had rained for half the night, so they were not in the best of moods by mid-morning when they reached the ritual site. It was a crumbling stone monolith, set in a small clearing and surrounded by dense woodland. Leo thought it could be the remains of a church, if only because it was too small to be a castle and yet was important enough to have been made out of stone.
That was, if it had been a building at all. The roof had long since disappeared; only the walls partially remained, great sections of which were no bigger than knee height. Whatever had once stood here was lost to the mystery of time.
Nick was still carrying the spindle of silk. Mathis pointed to a particular point of the crumbling wall. There was an indistinct marking engraved on the side. A flat piece of stone lay beneath it, raising the area below by a few inches. That was where the offering was to be laid. With care, Nick knelt down and brushed off the leaves and other loose debris from the shrine. He then placed the spindle down. Step one was complete.
The next stage was the ritual itself. To the side of the crumbling ruins was a courtyard. The weathered carvings on the stone slabs were that of a compass. Four points, requiring four heroes to stand in place. Cyrus’s instructions had been clear; the process was straightforward enough. They stood there, said some ceremonial words, spilled some blood for a sacrifice, said some more words, and that was the ritual.
It wasn’t overly complicated, even if it did sound ridiculous. However, Cyrus’s description of what would happen should the ritual be successful had caught Leo’s attention. A successful ritual would cause light to stream from the four points and the platform would glow, signifying that their offering had been accepted and that Kaslea would now be protected.
The streaming light sounded a little like the transport platform that had brought them here. It didn’t sound exactly the same; it didn’t match the tale of the legend of light in the darkness that Cyrus had mentioned. Leo felt in his gut that the truth behind the legend was their way home. However, if this was similar technology, it might provide information that would help them in their search. A fool’s hope, perhaps, but foolish hopes were all they had right now.
“I shall take north,” Mathis declared. He strode over to the marked point and stood at attention, pride clear in his posture.
Leo shrugged and took south, facing Mathis. Don took east and Nick west, but really Leo didn’t think it mattered. Cyrus had not been specific about who should stand where, and Leo doubted whether it made a difference. He shifted his foot on the stone, but the marked circle didn’t appear to have moved even slightly with the application of his weight. If there was a pressure plate of some kind, it was below the surface.
Mathis raised his arms skywards. “I call upon the power of four to protect my kingdom. The compass; North, South, East, and West. The elements; Earth, Wind, Water and Fire. I call upon the spirits to accept the sacrifice of four heroes, as deemed by the Kaslea sovereign, Prince Edmund.”
He lowered his arms and withdrew a dagger from h
is belt. Mathis held out his left palm and brandished the dagger high with his right hand.
“I am a knight of the realm. I swore my service to the kingdom of Kaslea a score of years ago. I fought in the Battle of Nivell. I would die for Kaslea, I have bled for Kaslea, and I would so again. May my blood bring safety to my kingdom.”
Mathis brought the dagger down and bit deeply, cruelly into his palm. He didn’t even wince, squeezing his hand and letting the blood pool, slip between his fingers, and drip onto the weathered stone in front of him.
Leo watched the blood splatter on the ground. It didn’t appear to run anywhere, and the stone could not absorb it. He didn’t see how this was accomplishing anything. However, him not being able to understand it only meant the technology was beyond his comprehension. The small voice in the back of his head pointed out that that was only true if it was technology they were dealing with. He still didn’t believe in magic. He just couldn’t make that leap of faith. Leo pulled his combat knife and held his palm ready, copying Mathis’s movements.
“I’m Staff Sergeant Leo Frasier, US marines,” Leo began. “By my actions, and the actions of my team, we saved a village on the border of Kaslea from being destroyed.”
Leo hesitated. Cyrus had been clear that they had to be honest in their declarations and that there had to be sacrifice. However, Leo couldn’t repeat Mathis’s bold statement. Really, if they wanted heroes of Kaslea, they should have picked four natives, people who would willingly die for this kingdom. The only world Leo would die for was his own.
“I will bleed for Kaslea. May my blood bring safety to this kingdom,” Leo said, finally settling on a reasonable compromise.
He did wish for these people to be safe, after all, even if it was only because of normal human compassion for those suffering. No one deserved to be roasted by an out of control dragon. The image of Gunnery Sergeant Rogers crossed his mind. No, no one deserved to die like that. He brought the knife down and sliced his palm. Leo winced at the sting, but dripped blood onto the stone. He’d spread some of Cyrus’s miracle ointment on it when they were done.
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