Earth Valor (Earthrise Book 6)

by Daniel Arenson

  He got to work.

  Jethro screamed.

  For long hours, Malphas practiced his art. He removed the top of the skull. He poked. He prodded. He cut out bits of the brain. All the while—questioning, sniffing, tasting.

  "Think of Addy." Malphas hissed, drooling above the open brain. "No, Jethro. Not about your children." He dug his claws. "About Addy. That's right. Let me have a little taste . . ." He nibbled. He closed his eyes. "Ah yes . . . They are heading to the pile of rubble you call New York. Good. Good. My children will await them there."

  Gripped in his claws, tears on his cheeks, Jethro managed to scream, "You son of a bitch! They're going to kill you. They're going to fucking kill you, you space bug, Addy will—"

  With a single, fluid flick of his tongue, Malphas slurped out the brain—what remained of it, at least. He swallowed the meal.

  Ah . . . delicious.

  He had wanted to wait, to save his hunger for Addy, but that was all right. His hunger would grow again. And soon—very soon now—the humans who had slain the scum would be his.

  CHAPTER TEN

  They slept inside the Marilyn, taking shifts guarding. Throughout the night, the wolves kept howling, and the townsfolk kept shouting, but none dared approach the broken starship, still fearing its machine guns, roaring engines, and strange occupants with the booming sticks.

  They ate leftover unicorn meat—Marco still couldn't believe it—for breakfast. They decided to split up again. Today, once more, Lailani would stay and continue repairing the ship, and Kemi—still shaken over her experience in the forest—volunteered to stay and help.

  "It's you and me, Sergeant Emery," Captain Ben-Ari said. "We head to that castle."

  "And try to catch something different than unicorn!" Kemi said.

  Lailani raised her eyes from a pile of machinery she was working on. "Have fun storming the castle! Kemi and I will stay and swap juicy stories about Poet. We have lots to talk about."

  Marco squirmed. "Uhm, maybe I should stay and Lailani should—"

  "Emery, we're moving out," Ben-Ari said. "Come now."

  Lailani and Kemi waved at him, disturbingly quiet, and Marco gulped.

  "Emery—" Ben-Ari began.

  "Yes, ma'am." Marco rushed to follow her, leaving Kemi and Lailani behind.

  They walked along the forest trail, the bluebells and oaks swaying around them. By midmorning, they saw the castle on the mountain. Again, Marco shuddered to see it. The black fortress seemed almost like a living creature, perched high above, watching him approach. No more birds sang here, and the trees were twisted and thin, sending out branches like snagging claws.

  "This is where we saw the unicorn." Marco pointed at the hill. "Strange. There's no more blood."

  "Very strange," Ben-Ari said, staring at the castle above. Her eyes narrowed.

  "What are you thinking, ma'am?" Marco said.

  "I'm not sure," said Ben-Ari. "I can think of several possibilities. That we traveled through a time warp back to medieval Earth, and that I'm simply wrong about the stars. That we're in a parallel dimension. That we're on a planet that's simply very, very similar to Earth. That we're all hallucinating, or at least I am. That we're stuck in a virtual reality world—or maybe a physical world that's just set up like a giant medieval theme park. I'm hoping that castle holds answers."

  They reached the foothills. The dirt path, which ran from through the forest, zigzagged up the mountainside. Alongside the path, wooden train tracks stretched in a straight line up toward the castle.

  "Train tracks?" Ben-Ari said, frowning at them. "In the Middle Ages?"

  "Trolley tracks," Marco said. "Look."

  A trolley—a little wooden cart, no larger than a bathtub—was working its way up the tracks. Inside were fruit, vegetables, smoked hams, and sausages. A donkey, riderless, was pulling the cart. The animal had an easy job; the trolley moved smoothly along the tracks, its wheels spinning in oiled grooves.

  "We'll pay for these later," Ben-Ari said, grabbing some food from the trolley.

  Marco's eyes widened. "Stealing, ma'am?"

  She nodded, stuffing a cabbage into her backpack. "Stealing. We need to eat, not just meat but fruit and vegetables. Take some. Just enough for a few meals. We'll bring some back to Kemi and Lailani later today."

  The donkey brayed, dismayed at the theft, but kept climbing. The animal moved a lot faster than Ben-Ari and Marco, soon vanishing—along with the trolley of food—among the trees farther up the mountainside.

  They kept climbing the dirt path, chewing on apples. The trail kept zigzagging. Sometimes, as the path swerved to one direction, the tracks vanished behind trees. But the path always swerved back, and they saw the trolley tracks again, sometimes with more donkeys pulling up trolleys of food—never with riders. At times, the track came within a meter of the path, letting Marco and Ben-Ari pilfer more food. At other times, the track hid behind boulders or brush, impossible to reach.

  By noon, they had climbed halfway up the mountain, and they were drenched with sweat. Mostly they were silent, or they spoke of inconsequential things.

  Finally Marco spoke the words that had been brewing in his mind.

  "Ma'am, there's another option." He looked at her. "That we're dead."

  Ben-Ari raised an eyebrow. "I feel very much alive, Emery. The dead get to rest, and my legs are already aching."

  "Unless we're in Hell," he said softly.

  Now her second eyebrow rose. "I didn't peg you as religious."

  "I'm not." Marco shook his head. "But . . . I can't help but think. We flew into a black hole, ma'am. A black hole that should have crushed us. No, I'm not religious. But I also saw monsters—giant centipedes and spiders that eat brains—rise from the shadows. I saw a ghost on Haven, and she gave me a magical conch. I saw luminous whales that swam through space. There are wonders and horrors in this cosmos. Is the concept of an afterlife truly such a leap of faith?"

  Ben-Ari sighed. "I've never believed in an afterlife. As an officer at war, an officer who saw her soldiers die, it always seemed like such a cruel concept. That we should suffer so much in one world, should die in agony, screaming, tearing apart, spilling our blood, because there is some benevolent god who wants us in heaven. Or that some devil will punish us in hell because we ate shellfish or said the wrong prayer. No."

  "You weren't raised religious?" he asked. "You wear a Star of David. And I've heard you pray."

  She smiled thinly. She touched her amulet. "My lucky star. A symbol of my lost country. Of my people. A comfort in shadows. But true faith? It has always eluded me. Besides, Judaism never spoke of an afterlife. That's a Christian concept." She laughed. "To be honest, I think I wear this in defiance of my father. He's a staunch atheist, calls organized religion mere superstition. He always used to say: 'I've seen enough wonders among the stars that I have no time for stories in old books.'" Now some bitterness touched her voice. "Of course, he never took me to see those wonders."

  And now Marco spoke other words that had been simmering inside him, words he had not dared speak until now. "Ma'am, I'm sorry. About your father. About how he hurt you."

  Ben-Ari nodded. "Noted. But you need not concern yourself with your commanding officer's family affairs. I shared too much, perhaps." She stared ahead and breathed deeply. "It can be hard to let go."

  Marco nodded. He finished eating an apple from the trolley and tossed the core aside. They climbed in silence for a while longer.

  Finally Marco spoke again. "You're not only my commanding officer, ma'am. You're also my friend."

  "Thank you, Sergeant Emery." She pushed aside a branch and kept climbing.

  "To grow up on military bases," he continued, "with a father who was never there, to have him run away, fake his death. . . I can't even imagine. My own father died three years ago. It hurt so much. I can't imagine a father intentionally causing such pain, and—"

  "Emery, stop," Ben-Ari said. "I appreciate your concern. But right now,
you're my sergeant, and I'm your captain, and we're still at war. Do you understand?"

  He nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Professional distance. But . . ." He took a deep breath. "It's hard to be alone. I learned that on Haven. You're not alone, Einav. Not now, not ever. And after we win, wherever Kemi and Lailani and I live—you're welcome there with us. Not as our officer. As our friend."

  She smiled, and now the smile touched her eyes. "Thank you, Marco. It would be nice to retire someday. To have a . . . normal life."

  Marco smiled wryly. "A normal life? I've almost forgotten what that's like."

  Ben-Ari laughed. "I think it usually involves a spouse, a house, sometimes kids. I've heard about something called a job." She winced. "To be honest, it sounds dreadful."

  Marco laughed. "It can be. I don't think we'll ever find normal lives, though. That ship has sailed."

  "I can't imagine myself ever being a wife or mother." Ben-Ari sighed and looked around her. "This is all I've ever known. Fighting. Approaching danger. Evil breathing down my neck. I'm not sure how I'd make the leap from this to baking cupcakes and driving kids to soccer practice."

  "We might never find normal lives," Marco said. "We might never want them. But we can still find peace. A quiet place. Trees and water. No more war. No more officers and sergeants and mountains to climb. Just friends, campfires on the beach, the stars above. And Addy with us."

  Ben-Ari smiled and touched his shoulder. "That sounds nice. Something worth fighting for. It's something I sometimes forget—what I fight for." She wiped her eyes. "It's funny. But you, Kemi, Lailani—you're the closest people to me. You're my only family."

  "We're glad to have you as our mom," Marco said.

  "Hey!" She punched his shoulder. "I'm only a couple years older than you all!"

  He gasped. "Does that mean no cupcakes and drives to soccer practice?"

  "I make some mean mac and cheese," Ben-Ari said. "I'm an expert at opening that little box."

  "Perfect, because I'm an expert at eating it," Marco said.

  "You like eating the box?"

  He groaned. "Great, so you're not a mom, but now you're telling dad jokes."

  "Be thankful Osiris isn't here," she said.

  The mountainside grew steeper, and they had to pause from talking and concentrate on the climb. The castle was near now. The dark fortress peered between the trees above, its gargoyles gazing down at them. Even when Marco looked away, he could feel those stony eyes staring.

  They reached a ledge of stone, a little place to rest, and saw that the trolley tracks split here into two paths. One path led down south the way they had come. Another set of tracks led down the eastern slope. A lever rose at the intersection. As Marco paused to catch his breath, he tested the lever, toying with moving the rails from one path to another.

  "Man, I could go for another apple trolley," he said. "Do you think that—"

  Suddenly he heard it. A trolley on the tracks, rolling down from the castle above. He saw the cart far above, full of stones, charging downward at great speed. No donkey pulled it; only gravity was doing its work here.

  "Emery!" Ben-Ari grabbed his arm. "Look!"

  She pulled him around an oak and pointed south. He stared and lost his breath.

  "My God," he whispered.

  A hundred meters below, a little girl was tied to the tracks. Gagged. Struggling.

  And the trolley was charging down toward her.

  Marco ran back toward the lever. He yanked it, changing the rails. They now pointed toward the eastern tracks. Once the trolley reached the intersection, it would miss the girl on the southern tracks. It would instead roll down eastward, and—

  —and then Marco saw it.

  Down the eastern tracks—partly hidden by the trees. Five peasants were tied to the rails.

  "What the hell is going on?" he said.

  The trolley from the castle kept charging downward, gaining speed. It would reach the intersection within seconds, then veer onto the eastern track, hitting the five peasants. It looked heavy enough to kill them all.

  "What do we do?" Marco said. "We have no time to reach them!"

  Ben-Ari was pale. "We choose," she whispered. "Somebody up in that castle is making us choose. One girl. Or five adults."

  "Then we don't play!" Marco said.

  "You already changed the lever to the east!" Ben-Ari said. "To the five people! We're already playing!"

  She grabbed the lever.

  The trolley was three or four seconds away.

  "Wait!" Marco said and grabbed the lever too. "Together."

  She looked at him.

  He grimaced.

  They pulled the lever together.

  At the last second, the rails changed. The trolley raced down the southern track.

  It slammed into the girl, crushing her.

  The child screamed into her gag, then fell silent.

  The trolley overturned, spilling stones, burying the girl.

  Marco and Ben-Ari stood, trembling. For long moments they could not speak, could not move.

  Then they rushed down the tracks toward the girl.

  They cleared away the stones, but there was nothing they could do. The girl was dead.

  Silent, breathing heavily, they rushed back toward the intersection, then down the eastern tracks. They drew their knives and freed the five peasants.

  "Who tied you here?" Marco said, panting. His pulse pounded in his ears.

  The peasants stared at him in fright. "Demons. Demons." They turned and fled into the forest.

  "Wait!" Marco shouted. "Come back!"

  But the peasants kept running. One of them grabbed the dead girl. They all vanished down the forested mountainside.

  Ben-Ari's face was red, her lips tight. She spun back toward the castle above.

  "This ends now," she said, jaw tight. "That was deliberate. That was for us. I won't be a rat in a maze." She loaded a magazine into her gun, and cold fury twisted her voice. "Come, Sergeant."

  Marco inserted his own magazine. They climbed hurriedly, guns raised.

  Finally, in the afternoon, they reached the castle. A plateau spread here, a flat mountaintop. The castle rose from the plateau, dark and topped with towers, but no guards stood on its walls, and no sound emerged from within. The trolley track led through an archway into the castle.

  A jowly man stood at the edge of the plateau, gazing down the mountainside.

  "Look at them," the man whispered. "Poor sods."

  Marco glanced at Ben-Ari, then back at the man. He wore a ragged cloak, and his hair and beard were unkempt. He was obese, belly swelling against his tunic, and had to lean on a cane to support his weight.

  "Look at them," the man said again, grief dripping from his voice. He stared down the mountainside. "They will soon die. I wish I could join them. I should jump. I should jump now."

  Marco approached slowly until he too stood on the plateau's edge. A cliff plunged downward here, perhaps twice a man's height. The track ran beneath the cliff, heading down the mountain. Farther down, perhaps a hundred meters away, five more peasants were tied to the tracks.

  "More fuckery," Marco muttered when Ben-Ari approached.

  She stared down at the five peasants on the tracks, then at the fat man on the cliff. Her face paled, and she clenched her fists.

  "Come with me, Emery," Ben-Ari said. "We'll free them. We—"

  But with a clatter, a trolley came barreling down the tracks. Within seconds, it would hit the five peasants on the tracks below.

  "Another test," Marco said.

  Ben-Ari crossed her arms. "And I'm not playing."

  The fat man stared glumly down at the tracks. The trolley came charging down, emerging around the corner.

  Marco grimaced.

  Fine. I'll play.

  He shoved the fat man.

  The man screamed, plunged down the cliff, and hit the tracks.

  A second later, the trolley slammed into him.

  Bones crac
ked.

  The fat man's skull shattered.

  The trolley veered off the tracks and vanished into the forest.

  The five peasants managed to free themselves and fled.

  Marco turned toward his officer.

  "I killed him," he whispered. "I murdered a man. I took a life."

  Ben-Ari nodded. "To save five." She stared up at the castle, and she raised her voice to a shout. "Is that what you wanted? To test us? Come out and face me!" She raised her gun. "Come out now! Answer me!"

  No answer came.

  Marco and Ben-Ari approached the castle's gateway. Two oak doors stood within a stone archway, banded with iron. A bullet made short work of the lock. They shoved the doors, and they creaked open.

  A grand hall spread before them. Columns rose toward a vaulted ceiling, and suits of armor stood between them. High above, mezzanines thrust out from the upper floors, lined with balustrades.

  Instead of a floor, there was a massive pit.

  Marco stepped forward, saw what was in the pit, and gave out a strangled yell.

  "Lailani!" he cried. "Kemi!"

  He ran forward. Ben-Ari grabbed him.

  "Emery, wait!" she said. "Assess the situation!"

  He stood, Ben-Ari clutching his shoulder. His eyes burned, and his hands trembled around his rifle.

  Monsters. Monsters filled the pit. Slithering creatures, pale, slimy, eyeless. They reached up clawed hands and snapped their teeth. They were vaguely humanoid, but twisting, oozing, screeching. Their jaws protruded from their wrinkly skin, the teeth long and sharp. Hundreds of them filled the pit, climbing over one another like naked mole rats. And they were hungry.

  Above the pit stood a massive, gilded statue of Lady Justice, nude and blindfolded. Her head nearly reached the ceiling several stories above. She held out her arm over the pit, and from her hand dangled balancing scales. The scales had two metal pans, each about the size of a bathtub. The creatures in the pit were leaping up, desperate to reach the scales, but the pans were just out of reach. The scales were now perfectly balanced. Should one pan dip, the creatures would reach it.

  In one pan of the scales, the one closer to Marco, lay a stuffed sack. There was a slit in the sack, and sand was flowing out, cascading into the pit. The grains sprinkled the monsters who screeched and leaped up.