by CJ East
His legs were told to stop. He didn’t know if he gave up or if Pythia owned him. He hefted the heavy sword with his best effort and tried to start a swing. It slashed into the soil with a disappointing finality as Kinch contorted his face in struggle.
“Look at me,” he heard, and he raised his head. She was elegant now - even beautiful. She had a grace of fluid movement which pulled him to her. The red scales covering her were iridescent and shimmering with her swaying movements. Her eyes were golden with dark slits and held the deep texture of tiger eye stones.
Kinch felt he wanted to be close to her. Was this his will or was she controlling him? Did he really want to be walking toward her?
The forest erupted with violence as Argus leapt from the side and bit into her long neck. His front paws were wrapping her up and hind legs digging at her underbelly. Kinch saw it and called out to Argus to stop. Kinch looked after them as they rolled on ground. Pythia whipped her snake-like torso and flipped Argus into the air, landing against a thick tree trunk.
Kinch stood as if waking from sleeping walking into another dream. Was he on Mars? Pythia’s back was to him, Argus had wheeled from the impact of the tree onto his legs and was facing her. They snarled at each other with a snapping fury as they circled for an opening. Kinch felt the longsword in his hands. Steel. Steel is reality.
He hoisted the dopplehander over his right shoulder and ran towards the red dragon. He let loose a deep growl. Contorting his face and using all of his strength, he swung a mighty blow into Pythia’s neck. The thick blade burst into shards upon contact. Pythia screeched an ear-piercing wail and whipped her tail into Kinch’s chest. The force threw him backward with the familiar sensation of TED’s cable snapping into his chest.
He rolled to his side thinking she would be upon him. Argus had seized the opportunity and was again wrapped around her wounded neck. His hind legs tore at the armor-like scales of her belly. Kinch wheeled around looking for any weapon. He saw his iron bar on the ground. He plucked it from its place, pivoting to the combat.
Pythia had reared back onto her short hind legs taking her to a full 20 feet in the air, shaking the demon-wolf ripping at her under side. Argus had slipped to the base of her neck, his jaws clamped around her but not breaking through her scales. Her neck craned down and ripped at his bloody rhinoceros hide as his back claws tore scales and hunks of red flesh from the dragon’s chest.
Kinch ran to Pythia’s up-stretched form and swung the bar into her right hind leg with all his might. The wet snap like a thick sapling rang through the air. It sent waves of vibration through the metal bar, into his bare hands and arms tingling with electric shock.
Pythia’s lithe form jerked in pain, her neck and head craning back as she loosed a terrible squeal. Her frame shifted, then crumpled to the ground over her broken thigh. Kinch leapt from under her towering body and Argus was thrown flipping through the air.
She rolled to her side with a savage whip of her neck as her forelegs ripped at the ground trying to right herself. She whirled from the explosion of pain in time to see the boy in motion at her side.
Kinch was stepping into the swing of an eager minor-leaguer aiming for the fence on a slow pitch. The dragon tried to pull her head from impact zone. It was too late as his staff connected across her snout and lower jaw sending saliva, blood and broken teeth into a splash of torment.
Pythia slammed to the ground from the impact, rolling onto her back disoriented with a low, anguished moan. Kinch saw the wounds Argus had made - the dislodged scales and ripped flesh. The wolf's savagery exposed a vulnerable path through dragon scale. It was only muscle now which protected the monster’s heart or lungs. He raised the iron bar and charged without thought. The monster would have dismembered him moments before if she had been given the chance.
He rushed forward with the bar held over his head with bent arms, the flat tip pointed like a spear towards Pythia’s wound. She whipped her long neck around and her shocked eyes met his.
A loud voice from the side yelled to him, “Kinch, no! You must stop! Do not kill her!”
Kinch slid to a stop over the grass. Pythia continued to move her head to face him, but was not menacing, but rather docile.
“Why would I not kill this thing, Lucius?” Kinch shouted, his eyes not looking away from her chest and his breathing heavy with anticipation.
Lucius was getting up from the ground where he had been thrown, “Because it is forbidden. There is a death sentence for the killing of a dragon. There has been a truce for thousands of years between dragons and men.”
Kinch brought down his iron bar and held it with both hands with the tip pointed inches from the exposed wound. His eyes flashed to meet the dragon’s, warning her not to try to control him or his last conscious act would be to thrust the iron pole into her chest cavity. He lowered his tone and stared at the beautiful monster, “She would have eaten us all without reflection upon your truce.”
“I will explain, but for now, you must let her retreat to find healing. To kill her is to doom us all. It is the only way.”
Kinch gritted his teeth hard in decision, knowing the cruel monster would never let this act go without retribution. “I should break your other three legs,” he shouted. She hissed in fear at the threat, cowering from the potential piercing of Kinch’s staff.
He was uneasy showing mercy where none was shown him. “If you see me coming, you better turn the other way. It won’t matter who forbids me to kill you next time we meet.”
Pythia’s neck turned and her head rotated to meet his glare. She tilted it in a wistful, feminine way, “He will come for you. He will come to dispense justice, Alien Child.”
She had confirmed Kinch’s fears. This was a beginning and not an end. Hatred for the malicious creature consumed him as he pulled back the point of the pry bar and lifted it over his head with both arms. Anger flooded from his body and connected with Pythia.
His mind voice was like a wall of flame which burst into her mind with violence and destruction. He felt her retreating deep into her own mind, felt her run as fire consumed her portal defenses. With his inner voice he shouted at her retreat. “Tell him to come for me alone, Kinch McGrath, the boy who mocks your master and lets you live only to be a violated messenger. Limp to him now with your broken bones and teeth and tell your master his judgment awaits.”
He walked backwards a few steps then swung around to see Argus standing to the side tense and ready to pounce on the defenseless dragon. “You are forbidden too,” he said to Argus, who shifted his ears back and forth in confusion. Kinch walked past him, his body reeling from the immense amount of energy just released from his mind. He had done something powerful, and he did not know how.
Kinch looked back to Lucius who was picking himself up from the place where Pythia’s writhing tail had hurled him. “Are you alright? Is anything broken?” Kinch asked.
“I think I’m fine, I just got the air knocked out of me.”
The red glow of anger was still smoldering in Kinch at Lucius. Lucius had stopped him from doing what had to be done, from doing the right thing. It was a mistake not to end this.
Kinch looked back at Pythia, who was hawking him with a curious intensity, the same wistful expression in her eyes.
He walked past Lucius, “Come on, we had better move. Someone will be here, we’ll leave her for The Damned.”
Lucius called after Kinch, “there is much for you to understand. I will tell you, if we ever get back to Arx.”
Recon
Kinch and Lucius hurled through the thick underbrush of the Wilds. They struggled to keep up with the phantom-like Argus melting through the dark vegetation. Lucius would call to him in a low voice for him to stop and circle back.
They reached an area where the tree trunks were ten feet in diameter with the largest as wide as mature redwoods. They towered into the air like tall chamber pillars holding up the Small Dome. Light diffused through the canopy down in tiny beams flickerin
g like candle flames.
Kinch whispered to Lucius, “Call Argus back. This is dangerous.”
Argus was about fifty yards ahead when his ears pivoted to catch the distinct bird whistle from Lucius. He hesitated as if awaiting further prompting, then turned and sprinted to them.
Kinch stood completely still, sensing the openness before him. He closed his eyes and listened to the animal noises high above in the tree canopy and felt for the sound of movement on the forest floor.
There was something ahead. He looked back at Argus, his ears were pointed up and forward with the focus of the hunt in his eyes. Kinch turned and walked forward and crouched behind a large tree, “There is something big moving ahead.”
Lucius peered into the clearing, “I don’t see anything, how big?”
“Listen. You can hear it stretch from left to right,” Kinch motioned.
Lucius paused and held his breath. He heard it now. “It is too big for any creature in the Wilds.”
Kinch pulled a rock from between the grooves of his boot, “Then it is a battle line.”
“What? Whose battle line? The Damned?”
Kinch shot a look of exasperation at Lucius, “Look, those mongo soldiers we ran into weren’t out picking berries. They were security patrol. The ground is torn up over there to the left where someone chopped down some of these big boys and made something with them. Something taller than your walls and on wheels. Have your walls ever been breached?”
Lucius’ face turned an even paler red, “Long before I was born there was a siege. But the battles were outside the wall.”
“Everything that lives learns,” Kinch said as he looked around the tree. “Let’s cut diagonally to the left, follow the ruts to see what made them. We can recon for a break in the line.” Kinch looked back at Argus. The wolf was still focused on the distant sounds in front of him. Kinch glanced at Lucius, “Is he cool? Can you keep him quiet?”
“Argus and I hunt the Wilds for fugits - very large, timid animals. They never hear us until it is too late.”
Kinch felt his anger soften towards him. Lucius was a good kid. He was just protecting Kinch from consequences, after all. “I’d like to have you teach me sometime to hunt fugits if you are willing,” Kinch smiled.
Lucius laughed, “Perhaps, if you live.” He paused and his expression became concerned, “What did you tell Pythia with your mind voice? She feared you. No one is able to overpower a dragon’s mind strength, not even Amica.”
Kinch turned to Argus who was now focused in the direction of the wheel ruts, “I said if I ever saw her again I would make a pair of boots out of her.” He looked back at Lucius pointing to his heavy footwear, “I really need some walking-around boots.” He leapt up and sprinted to the cover of the next tree, his profile kept as small as possible.
“This will not end well,” Lucius said to no one. Argus looked at him in confusion. “You follow me, understand? He will get you into trouble.” Lucius gave Argus a gruff tug on his ragged ears and spun to follow Kinch.
They rallied with their backs against a large trunk. On the other side was the well-lighted path of the logged strip. The path was a jagged scar which ran up to the trees which touched the border of Arx.
Kinch peered around the tree, “Those are large wheel ruts, sunk deep into the soil and a wide path worn by whatever was pulling it.”
Lucius’ face grew serious, “We must warn Arx.”
“Looks like the preparations are made. Follow to the end of the trail.”
Lucius peered out from behind the tree and a few hundred yards down the logged trail. It ended with a large siege tower as high as the walls of Arx - over fifty feet. The back was uncovered while the three other sides were fortified with thick logs of whole trees. The soldiers of the Damned were crawling over the structure. They reinforced with rope and applied flame retardant with long handled brushes.
Lucius sank against the tree, “How will we get to the gates without being seen?”
“I can’t believe I’m accepting this. The facts are you and I are speaking the Latin Vulgate. Arx is very similar to a Roman city state. Somehow there is a real pattern connecting our worlds. I don’t understand it, but if we play this forward, I know where a Duobus is located. A Roman-style commander should be back two battalions from the front, on the right side. There should be a gap between battalions. Not much, but a column wide enough to sprint through from the rear and reach the gate. If…” Kinch stopped in thought.
“If what?” Lucius asked.
“If they are going to open the gate.”
“But you have the map, they have to open the gate,” Lucius protested.
“The Damned are prepared to execute their plan, probably under darkness. If we compromise their strategy of surprise, a good General would alter the plan. A bad one would act rashly. Are the Damned good at war?”
“It is all they know. They have never been defeated, only defended against.”
“The Dux, he controlled the others. When he was killed they fled as if lost,” Kinch guided.
“Yes, they lead small groups of soldiers. There are many of them. But they follow the Duobus - coupled Generals. They sit on the top of the hierarchy. It is said to kill them both in battle defeats the Damned. But a Duobus has never been killed in battle.”
Kinch peered into the Wilds, “What is of supreme importance in war is to attack an enemy’s strategy.”
“What?”
“Old Earth battle wisdom from a cat named Sun Tzu,” Kinch said. “We need to find that Duobus,” he said staring down the cleared strip.
“Kinch, we can’t take on this army. There is no way this ends well. It is impossible.”
Kinch frowned and looked at his clinched fists, “Me being from Earth talking to a Martian is impossible. A race of telepathic mongo soldiers is impossible. I’m not sure what is impossible anymore, Lucius.” He stopped and lowered his voice, “Look. It won’t hurt anything for us to check out the right flank for a Duobus.”
“What will it prove? That we are brave adventurers?” Lucius asked. “We can’t help Arx if we don’t deliver this map.”
“I agree. But they have to let you in if you have visual confirmation on the position of a Duobus,” Kinch retorted.
“Me? They are going to let you in too. They have to.” Lucius left the statement hang like a question.
“Do they?” Kinch met Lucius’ eyes with a smile. “Forgive my cynicism, but I’ve been on the wrong side of a lot of doors recently.”
“They will Kinch. Or I won’t give them the map.”
“Lucius. Look, you’ve got a good soul. But whatever is going to happen is going to happen real fast. One thing which has been drilled into me is when a quick decision has to be made, you rely on your intellect and guts and commit fully. You don’t analyze it, you go all in and follow your decision to the end. Promise me you will do that.”
“What are you planning, Kinch? What are you going to do?” Lucius looked worried.
“Whatever has to be done. The same thing you must do. I’m trained for duty and honor. It is all I have left, there is nothing else for me. This isn’t my world. I’m dead to my people.”
Lucius looked away. When he spoke his voice cracked with emotion, “I am sorry for your loss. Amica talked to me about your past, she read your memories when you first became telepathic. I was cruel to you when we first met and you have shown me nothing but friendship.”
Kinch became uncomfortable, “You were a jerk.”
Lucius laughed, but continued, “I asked Amica for permission to come after you. In our culture orphans are forced to ask to join a family. My sisters and brothers, they were rejected by the Coccino. Amica is the only one who will take our kind.” He held up his hand and examined his light skin.
Kinch’s eyes widened with surprise, “Yeah. About that, I’m really not looking for a forever family. I’m no Oliver Twist. I have managed to screw up pretty much everything I’ve touched so far and won’
t bring you into this trouble.”
Lucius peered off into the Wilds. Kinch shifted the subject, “Listen Lucius, the more information we have on the Damned, the more valuable we are to Arx. I have to get a closer look at their numbers and positions to open the gate. It really is the only way.”
Lucius looked back at Argus, then a piercing stare at Kinch, “To observe only, we cannot fight them.”
“Agreed, I’ll bring Amica in on the plan and she can negotiate our deal to open the gates. I hope she can be convincing,” he said with the hint of a question.
“Ha! There is much for you to know, Kinch of the McGraths! Amica can be very persuasive,” Lucius beamed with confidence.
Duobus
“I’m sorry Kinch, Lamia has used her influence to have your entry to Arx banned,” Amica’s news hit Kinch like a sledge hammer to his chest. “She has powerful allies within the First Kingdom. She has conspired with Senator Flavius to counsel the Patrician to deny the safe return of both you and Lucius.”
“Amica, a little bird told me you can be quite persuasive. Can you not talk with her and convince her the best interest of Arx is to get this map?”
Amica’s tone changed to annoyance. “Lamia and I have - I will say - a strained relationship with differing priorities. Being the High Priestess of the Dragon Cult of Drakon, she will bring charges against you for attacking a Pythia.”
Kinch’s inner voice turned bitter, “Yeah, poor dragon out for a walk minding its own business until we jumped her.”
Amica continued with the bad news. “There are more charges which will be brought. The assault in Coccino Court, the contempt of the Patrician’s emissary Flavius, and finally, the impersonation of Lamia.”
“I’m starting to sense they are a little upset.”
“And Commander Taurean, the soldier you disarmed while impersonating Lamia, he has sworn an oath upon you should you be allowed in. I will convince him it is only his pride which suffers offense.”
Kinch’s contempt was swelling for these Martians. “An oath for helping him to discover he was about to be overrun and lose his defensive position? I’d love the opportunity to discuss his lack of intelligence gathering…”