Plague of Tyrants

by M. J. Sewall

  Gordon was putting a bottle of Loren's oil away when they saw the bodies.

  “By the Gods!” screamed Danette and pointed to the river below the tower. Her sudden motion shook the carriage, and they all swayed dangerously. Some could see from their seats the discoloration of the water. A pile of what used to be people littered the water below the cliff wall.

  “I'm sorry you had to see that. So many bodies clog it now, the river can't wash them all away.” Weldon shook his head and looked only at his feet.

  Danette had covered her mouth, sitting back in her seat, stunned into silence by the gruesome sight below.

  Gordon tried to look over the side. The carriage rocked more, and the bottle in his hand went over the side.

  “Son! Was that…?” asked Ellice.

  “Yes.” said Gordon, searching his supplies. Just one half-used bottle remained.

  Aline saw, “Is that all the oil you have left?”

  Ellice tried to hide her concern, “Gordon? How about sour cakes?”

  Gordon checked everything, “It'll be enough oil. Nearly half a bottle. I ate the last cake yesterday.”

  Aline began, “Gordon…”

  “It's a long journey back, son. You should have told me.”

  “It's fine. It will last.” Gordon hated lying to his mother. But no one could fix this problem. He would be careful how much he ate. He carefully secured the rest of his precious supply, ignoring the troubled look between the women.

  They finally reached the other side, and they stopped before two more guards who had pulled the carriage over. Both guards looked tired and strange somehow, like their minds had been troubled for a long time.

  One of them asked, “Strangers? What are you thinking?”

  “These are guests that wish to pray to our god. It's time to end this.”

  The man looked worried but glanced at the strangers with a wary determination. Apparently, they'd been waiting for a chance to act. Gordon thought he saw a glimpse of hope on the guard. “Be extra attentive, she's bad today.”

  Weldon gave the outdoor guards his prisoner. “Keep Seefer out here until we need him. Make sure he doesn't run.” They took the man and sat him on a bench, guarding him well. Seefer sat, stiff and brooding.

  The guards let them in through large wooden doors, leading into a spacious square room. Only four guards stood, two on each side of the room. The room was lit by torches lining the walls. At the end of the room was a large wooden mask. The king, their living god. The mask resembled a face, but one that was terrible and distorted, and easily five times larger than any real head. There were large eyes, which were carved and painted with bright colors. Long colorful fabric billowed out from the figure, down the stairs in front of him. He sat on an elaborate king's chair. Loose fitting clothes made it hard to see what the living god actually looked like. But they were sure someone sat behind the mask.

  As they were led farther into the room, Gordon looked upward into the inside of the tower. It was slender, made of stone, with stairs winding around the outside wall until he couldn't see them anymore. There were torches lit every so often, but not regularly, which confirmed that everything was strange here. Gordon was getting a headache staring up. He looked forward again.

  Directly under the tower was a square platform on the ground, with rails that rose all the way up into the tower. Gordon couldn't quite make out what it was for, but he kept staring at it. Maybe to lift the stones to the top of the tower? he wondered.

  To the side of the figure in the chair was a woman, about the age of Gordon's mother. She was very thin, wearing a tight, black gown. It wasn't solid, but shimmered, almost like she's covered in spider webs, Gordon thought. Gordon remembered his dream, but he didn't think she looked quite like a skeleton.

  “Queen Crys?” said Danette walking forward. The four personal guards came to attention, aiming their arrow guns at her.

  “So, traitor, you have finally brought your killers,” the woman said, rising from her elaborate chair. “How fitting you should bring the healer that infected my children.”

  The queen casually handed a cup to the figure behind the mask, and a slender gloved hand took it and it disappeared behind the mask again. If this god truly didn't eat, apparently it still got thirsty.

  Danette said, “Oh, my Queen, you know I tried to help them. Is it true about your daughter? Did her brother really throw…?”

  “You will not speak of my children!” Queen Crys screamed.

  Ellice took a step forward. “We did not come here to hurt your child. We simply want one thing,” she spoke to the masked king god, “To know why a 'living god' would send someone to kill one of our kings.”

  “How dare you,” the woman hissed, “The living god does not speak to ordinary men. I will speak for my child.”

  “Then speak.” Ellice continued calmly, “We have come a long way to know. We won't leave until we get answers.”

  Queen Crys spit, “Who are you to speak to me? How do I know you are not killers? You still wear your weapons.”

  Weldon, the head guard began, “Queen Crys…”

  “Be quiet, traitor,” she said, “I know you want us dead as much as these invaders do, these from the Kingdom of the Thirteen. Are your airships here yet?”

  “We wear weapons, yes. But we came with no airships,” said Ellice. “Someone came to kill one of our kings, we need to understand why.”

  Queen Crys changed her tone and studied Ellice, “You speak plainly, directly. Who are you?”

  “I am Ellice, former Queen of the Kingdom of the Thirteen. This is King Gordon, my son.”

  “You are a mother. You understand how far you must go to protect your child,” she came close to Gordon, extending a hand and almost touching his face, but changed her mind, turning back to the figure behind the mask, “Even gods need protection when they are passing over, changing, being reborn into their new form. A man came to me, a mystic. He told me that because I had used the black powder against my people, that my child would be sacrificed.”

  Ellice asked, “What does that have to do with us?”

  She said calmly, “He told me your kingdom would sacrifice my child. You'd bring your airships, and we would die in fire.”

  “We are not here to sacrifice your son,” said Ellice.

  “He told me you would say that.”

  “Did…,” a small voice came from behind the mask, “Did you say his name is Gordon?” The voice was high, odd, and strange.

  Queen Crys turned to the voice. “Do not speak to them, they are beneath you, my child.”

  The voice got a little stronger, “I will speak to them. Guards, leave them be.” The four personal guards backed away, “Are you… are you the Gordon that saved the kingdom of Thure?”

  Gordon came forward. “I am Gordon. I only helped a little. The stories about me make it sound better than it was.”

  “I like the stories,” the voice said. “Even deep in our jungle, we hear the stories. At least we did, when there were more people around.”

  “Where did the people go?” asked Gordon.

  “Over the cliff mostly,” said the voice. To Gordon it sounded only sad.

  Gordon went closer to the masked figure, “Why?”

  “Enough!” shouted Crys. “Stay away for my child! Guards!”

  But the guards didn't move.

  Danette said, “That voice. Oh Crys, what have you done?”

  “Mother is just trying to protect me before I die.”

  “Guards!” she looked around, panicked, “No! You will not die, you are a god now. You can't die,” she turned back to the guards, “Seize the boy!” But their child god had spoken, and the guards did not move.

  Gordon was only feet from their god now. Two slender gloved hands appeared on either side of the large wooden mask, “will you help me lift it?” said their god. Gordon helped lift off the heavy wooden mask and sitting in its place was a girl a little younger than Gordon.

  G
ordon let out sudden breath between his teeth. Except for the thin layer of skin, sitting in the chair was the skeleton from his dream.

  Chapter 43: Stand or Die

  Knowing they could not get through the chains, Ardrell told Brenddel of another way though. Dangerous, yes, but they may have to try it to help their friends. Ellice still had not called them for help, so they decided to investigate what the airships were doing.

  Brenddel and Ardrell could see the fleet of waterships. By the time they got close, they were already engaged in battle. They came in low with the giant fish and stopped before anyone saw them. They stayed on the surface of the water, able to see every blow of the fight.

  The battle was fierce. Off in the distance, hovering safely out of range, were things Brenddel hoped he would never see again. The three Extatumm airships just hovered on the edge of the battle, like dispassionate generals watching the other water ships do the work.

  Most of the work was being done by Brenddel's airships. Or rather, Tolan's traitorous airships, Brenddel thought, as he saw the them engage in battle. The Thurian water ships flew their proud blue and green sails, their warships firing the heavy stones from their arrow guns. Row after row of arrow guns fired from the broadside.

  The rainmakers and new dragon weapon answered them.

  The dragon weapon spit fire at them, the ships unable to aim their arrow guns high enough to hit the airships. Thurian ships were built to fight other waterships. Out of the range of any Thure weapons, the dragon found the ships with its fire. There must have been over a dozen heavy war ships. Brenddel and Ardrell watched as at least five were taken down.

  They saw two other airships. They must have been the ones Thure got from Mantuan after the battle of Thure. One exploded out of the sky when the dragon hit it. They both knew they had to help, or the fleet would be lost.

  “What's the plan?” asked Ardrell.

  “I've seen how fast one of these fin beasts can tear up an airship, but that was before our dragon weapon,” said Brenddel. “If we get too close, there will be cooked fish falling from the sky.”

  Ardrell said, “I can get you close to the top of the lead airship, but I won't risk my big lady friend here.”

  “You won't have to. The weapon has a weakness. The airship can only lift so much weight. To install those new weapons, we had to take out other weapons, fewer men to use them. Also, only so much fuel for the dragon.”

  Ardrell asked, “You mean, their dragon will run out of fire?”

  “Exactly. Just make a few passes, get me close and I'll do the rest.”

  They skimmed the surface, and launched into the sky, the wings spraying seawater behind them. Even as fast as they were going, the battle seemed almost over. The Thurians had lost at least half their fleet. Who were these people? Brenddel thought, since he saw no discernable banner on the attacking ships. If they were Extatumm, surely they would want Thure to know who was besting them. This wasn't a regular kingdom attacking. Must be some minor king pretender. But why partner with Extatumm? Maybe Aspora? The thoughts and possibilities whirled in Brenddel's brain. He tried to push aside the who and why, and just focus on the lead airship.

  One airship saw the approaching shadow fin, and fired its dragon, but wildly. They were far out of range, but the weapon had grazed the top floating section of their own ship. The airship immediately lost height, headed for the sea. The floating section running out of air, it acted like a blanket, pushing down on the deck below. As more water flowed over the ruined ship, it sank quickly.

  The distraction helped the Thure fleet. One of the heavy ships that was already burning, fired a large arrow at the second airship. It hit the floating section, and that ship also fell from the sky. Brenddel smiled, seeing that Thure could adapt their weapons to the new world. They had some fight left in the old kingdom.

  Ardrell made a pass at the lead airship. It fired its dragon and the fire came close enough underneath the creature to make it buck upwards from the heat. Ardrell went around the front of the ship, making a wider arc to avoid the weapon on the other side. This time they were out of reach when it fired again. She continued making the wide circle, the next turn the dragon did not fire. Brenddel smiled.

  They felt small arrows fly past them. Ardrell fired her own bow and took out two men on deck. When the men on deck looked around again, the beast could not be seen. They thought it had vanished high into the sky, when the large fin broke through the deck from below. The men jumped back from the five-foot fin as it made the loud crack in the wooden deck. It vanished as fast as it appeared, leaving a narrow view of the sea in the newly split section of deck.

  The beast flapped away from the ship, but Tolan saw only one rider. He was sure there were two before. He spun around to see Brenddel climb over the railing. Brenddel was on deck quickly, his longknife drawn, glaring at Tolan. The men all drew their knives. Brenddel counted only seven men standing. Two arrow guns pointed at Brenddel.

  “Tolan is done for,” he shouted, staring down the arrow guns. “Stand with me, or die with him.”

  The men seemed unsure. They looked back from Tolan to Brenddel. One of the arrow men fired. Brenddel dodged it narrowly, spun quickly and his small knife appeared in the man's chest. The arrowman dropped to the deck.

  “Anybody else?” asked Brenddel.

  The men all dropped their weapons except for Tolan. He stood by the controls, hitting it hard and the ship dove sharply. Several men lost their footing and fell to the deck, one against the railing. Brenddel advanced toward Tolan, barely keeping his footing as the deck wobbled. Tolan backed up to the front of the ship, then dove for Brenddel, knife in hand.

  Brenddel easily knocked Tolan's long blade away, letting his left fist find Tolan's chin. There was a crack as Tolan's bone broke and gave the deck an offering of the traitor's blood. Tolan dropped his knife and it clanged to the deck. Brenddel kicked it away, shouting, “You. Yes, you,” he pointed to a man nearby who still stood, “Steady the ship.”

  Tolan leaned against the railing, holding his bloody chin.

  Brenddel pulled him so they were face to face, “Why?”

  “You broke…”

  “I'm aware,” said Brenddel, “Why? I won't ask again.”

  “Our kingdom will fall,” Tolan managed, “I will be on the team that rebuilds it. You're too late, Brenddel. I may not have killed you, but before you get back to the kingdom, everyone you know will be dead.”

  “What have you done?” Brenddel yelled.

  “Not just me,” Tolan cradled his face, trying to catch a breath, “there are a lot of us. By now the airship fleet will be destroyed, the palace taken, and your little king friend is either dead or in the prisons.”

  Brenddel grabbed Tolan's chin, putting more pressure on his wounded face. Tolan wailed.

  “You took an oath to protect our kingdom!”

  Tolan tried to laugh, but it came out strange mixed with pain, “By bowing down to little boys? Trunculin proved that idea is dead. Others will rule, men with experience. Men born to rule.”

  Brenddel shook his head, “Like you?”

  “Our Council will rule,” managed Tolan.

  “And what about them?” Brenddel asked, pointing at the ships. “Who are your friends?”

  “Useful allies. Doesn't matter if it's Extatumm, or Cayne.”

  “Cayne?” Brenddel shouted, “Cayne of Aspora - That madman?”

  Tolan said, “A useful madman. He will help show how weak our boy kings are. The people are attacking King Asa from one side, Cayne from the other. They have no chance.”

  “Fool,” Brenddel shook his head, “Cayne doesn't have partners for long. If he attacks our kingdom, he means to take it, not share it with you.”

  Tolan didn't answer, just held his bloody face.

  Brenddel looked back at the fleet. Laughing, he took Tolan by the shirt, and forced him to look, “And how will you achieve your goals? Your friends are leaving you.” Brenddel pointed to the shi
ps that had disengaged the Thure fleet. The three Extatumm airships were floating away with them.

  “It's not about me,” Tolan insisted, “there are many of us. You have no kingdom to go back to.”

  Brenddel looked over the railing at the sea below. He pushed Tolan to the edge, bending him over the railing, “Not long ago, I would have thrown you over. Just for fun. By the gods, you deserve it,” he looked at Tolan, considering it again, but turned to the other men. “Tie this traitor up. Gag him and tie him to the railing. I won't hear another word from this filth. Don't be gentle.”

  The Jhalgon came closer. “Brenddel,” Ardrell shouted, “the beast has heard the call from the pipe I gave Ellice. They need help.”

  “Do you still plan to get in that way we discussed? You sure it's safe?”

  “No,” said Ardrell, “But with those chains, it's the only way in.” She got her helmet from where it was strapped.

  Brenddel nodded, “Alright, then let's go rescue the family.”

  Chapter 44: Changing Sides

  “We have to get you somewhere safe, my King,” said Lozarian.

  Asa's head felt like it was spinning. Like he'd spun in circles until he couldn't stand. The news was bad.

  “My King, it's confirmed,” said Stathen, “There were twenty people seriously hurt. We took them to the healers, but some in the streets are screaming that we killed them.”

  Lozarian said, “In your village, they are starting to hurl stones at the soldiers. There was one report of a bottle of strong drink set on fire with a rag and thrown at some of our horsemen. No one was injured, yet, but…”

  Asa asked, “What if I speak to the crowds again?”

  “It's too late for that now, my King. Far too late,” Mantuan said firmly.

  Asa wished Gordon was back. Things were moving so fast. “What do we do?”