The Reluctant Warrior

by Pete B Jenkins

  He took her into his arms and held her tight. “I need you to do something for me, Amora honey.”

  “She looked into his eyes. “Of course, Jed, I’d do anything for you.”

  “Don’t go down to the rock, go back to the caves and wait for me there.”

  She couldn’t hide her surprise. “Why…I’ll be all perfectly safe there?”

  “No, you won’t,” Jed said firmly. “Montrose will get you there.”

  “Montrose… he’ll be down at the battle.”

  “Don’t ask me how I know because I don’t have time to explain, but he’ll be coming past the rock later and he’ll kill you.” He swept a strand of blonde hair away from her face. “Sweetheart, just trust me and promise me you’ll wait at the caves for me.”

  “If that’s what you want me to do, Jed, then I’ll go straight back there now.”

  “It is.” He kissed her. “When I come back I’ll tell you all about it.” He turned her around and gave her bottom a gentle pat. “Now off with you wench,” he teased, “and don’t come out of those caves until I get back.”

  Jogging back down to the pod he wondered what else could possibly go wrong. Had he finally outfoxed that cunning wolf?

  He went through the now familiar routine of Rex taking out Montrose’s hidden men, and then dropping his grenade stuck around long enough to watch the battle turn against the Sky-Gods. “Back to the clearing,” he commanded the pod when he had seen enough to know victory was assured.

  The pod alighted safely and he had just got out when Jonathon came into the clearing. “Is Montrose dealt to?” he called out, without looking up.

  “Step away from the pod, Rand.”

  Jed’s body froze on the spot. It wasn’t Jonathon at all, it was Montrose. But why hadn’t Jonathon killed him like the last time?

  “I said step away from the pod,” Montrose barked.

  Jed stood his ground as Montrose slowly advanced, a pistol gripped tightly in his outstretched hand. How had this happened? Jonathon had shot him after…then it dawned on him. You fool, Rand, he thought to himself. Because Amora’s in the caves instead of down at the rock Montrose has come straight past and on up to the clearing in search of the pod. Jonathon only came upon Montrose because the despot was delayed while trying to extract information from Amora, but with Amora not there Montrose’s advance up through the forest was quicker, and unluckily for Jed he reached the clearing just as he was landing the pod.

  “I won’t tell you again,” Montrose snarled, stopping ten feet away from where Jed stoically held his ground. “If you don’t move away from that pod I will shoot you.”

  “Why don’t you then?” Jed said bravely.

  “Because I have plans for you,” Montrose was pointing the weapon straight at Jed’s heart.

  “What are you talking about you mad man?”

  Montrose scowled. “I have killed men for less than that before.”

  “I don’t doubt it. You’d kill your own mother if it would further your aims.”

  “Yes, I would,” Montrose confessed, without a hint of shame.

  “So what’s this all about?” Jed was stalling for time, hoping against hope that in an unguarded moment Montrose would forget to keep the gun fully trained on him. “What do you intend to do with the Time box?”

  “Oh, I think you already know the answer to that question, but just to humor you I’ll tell you anyway.” He nodded towards the pod. “With that box I’ll be invincible,” he chuckled, “not only this world but yours and mine will fall completely under my power.”

  “I was right, you are a mad man.”

  Montrose treated Jed to one of his lopsided leers. “But a brilliant one, don’t you think?”

  “You don’t know how to use the box, Montrose,” Jed said desperately, “and there’s no way I’m ever going to show you.”

  “I don’t need you to show me, Rand, I’ve seen it before. Years ago when I was a guest in Chantros a man named Zarros showed it to me,” his lopsided leer widened into a despicable grin, “he even showed me how to work it, the fool.”

  Jed’s heart sank. But maybe he was just bluffing. “I don’t believe you.”

  “You program in the year, the date, and the specific hour you want, then you just pull the lever and bingo, there you have it…instant world domination.”

  Jed’s heart sank even lower; he did know how to use it. “You could change the entire course of history if you’re not careful, Montrose,” Jed warned.

  “Why, that’s exactly what I intend to do, and what’s more, you’re going to help me to do it.”

  “You’re crazy, I’d never help you.”

  “Yes, you will, and I’m going to tell you why. You see, I’m going to take that pod and fly back to Germany with it, Berlin to be exact. Then I’m going to set the dial for 1933, the year dear old Adolph came to power. With my knowledge of the events of World War Two Hitler will consider me to be a veritable prophet.” He lowered the gun just a fraction, it was no longer pointing at Jed’s heart. “The Battle of Britain that was so disastrous for the Luftwaffe won’t happen and the Russian disaster won’t happen. You see, I will put right all of Hitler’s mistakes by not allowing them to happen in the first place. He won’t lose a single battle because I will have the Time Box, and then when the war is won I will eliminate the good Adolph and take over the reins of power.”

  “Where do I fit into all of this?” Jed noticed the gun had gone down just a little more.

  “With the Third Reich fully under my power I’ll leave them with instructions on how to carry on in my absence, with an iron fist of course.”

  “In your absence…what are you talking about?”

  “I’m getting to the good bit,” Montrose assured him. “I’ll give them a year and a date that I’ll return. Can you guess when that will be?”

  “No idea,” Jed said coldly.

  “2014…this very year, in fact this very day, you see, I’ll have trained you up by then, and when the great leader prophet returns on the exact day month and year he predicted they will hail me as a god. Then there will be nothing they wouldn’t do for me.”

  “I’ll never help you,” Jed said adamantly.

  Montrose laughed. “Oh yes you will. You see, I’m going to visit your mother shortly after she gives birth to you.”

  A bolt of fear raced through Jed at the revelation.

  “Ah, I can see by your face you are starting to understand my plan. You truly are a quick learner.” The gun went down ever so slightly again. It was as if the weight of it was starting to get too much for him. “I will kill your mother of course, and your father. In fact, I will kill your entire family and bring you back here. I won’t age nearly so fast if I am back here, and so I can raise you as my own son.” He laughed heartily at the mention of it. “You will actually call me Dad, and I will train you to work alongside me for total world domination.”

  “Why me…why not someone else?” Jed was trying hard not to look at the gun so Montrose wouldn’t twig to what he was about to attempt.

  “You are gifted. You have insight, cunning, and you can think on your feet, I like that in a man. You will be a huge help to me, but of course, when together we have actually taken over the world, and I mean this inner world too, then I will be forced to eliminate you. It will pain me to do so, but I really must insist on being this planet’s first and only supreme ruler.”

  As Jed made a sudden lunge at Montrose he experienced a burning hot pain tear through his shoulder, but he knew he mustn’t stop. Grappling with Montrose they were both soon on the ground tumbling over and over as Jed tried heroically to wrench the pistol from the older man’s hands. He was shocked to discover how strong the fellow was, and he could feel his strength begin to drain along with the blood from his shoulder. Moments later Montrose had rolled free, the gun still in his possession.

  “I should kill you, Rand,” he managed between breaths. “But I want you to see me take off in the pod know
ing exactly what it will mean for you and the world.” He walked over to the pod and swung himself inside. “See you at your birth,” he called through the open door.

  Jed knew that everything depended on what happened in the next few seconds, if he couldn’t prevent the pod from taking off then the world was Montrose’s and so was he. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the second grenade and with trembling fingers extracted the pin. “Not if I can help it,” he said, and tossing the grenade watched it bounce on the doorstep before rolling into the pod. He just had time to see the alarm on Montrose’s face before the pod was rocked violently by a massive explosion. Just before everything went black he spotted a pair of legs running towards him, a pair of legs he knew belonged to Jonathon.

  “You’ve certainly been through the wars on this expedition,” Rex said, when Jed finally came round.

  “Montrose…?”

  “He’s dead. That grenade you tossed him as a parting gift really carved him up, so he won’t be terrorizing anybody ever again.”

  Jed checked out his surroundings. He was on a mattress in one of the caves, a torch burning fiercely on the wall sending flickering shadows all the way up to the ceiling. “How long have I been unconscious?”

  “About four hours. We thought it best to just let you wake up naturally.”

  “Is Amora okay?”

  “She’s fine,” Rex assured him. “She’s gone with Jonathon in the other pod to Chantros to tell Zarros the outcome of the battle and see if he has anything that might heal your shoulder faster.”

  “Rex, did we lose many warriors?”

  “Surprisingly few given the size of the conflict, but our boys went a bit crazy though. None of Montrose’s men have been allowed to live, and the Yakros have taken a fair hammering too.”

  “Can’t say I blame them, they would have been determined not to let any of the Sky-Gods live to take control again.”

  Rex chuckled. “Would you listen to you, you’re starting to sound like a Noragin with this talk of Sky-Gods.”

  Jed stared at those shadows playing out their antics on the ceiling again. “Yeah, I suppose I am,” he said tiredly, and then rolled his head over to look at Rex. “Montrose was going to fly the pod to Germany. He had plans to go back in time and take over Hitler’s Third Reich.”

  “A sort of springboard to world conquest I suppose,” Rex said.

  “Yes, he confessed to me that world conquest was his plan. The thing is, Rex, these pods can go anywhere. They don’t need fuel because they operate off light. The entire pod is a type of advanced solar panel.”

  “Yeah, I know, great isn’t it?”

  “The point I’m trying to make is we can fly back to New York in one of these things.”

  Rex fidgeted uneasily in his chair beside the mattress. “I don’t see why we’d want to do that, Jed.”

  “We don’t belong here, Rex,” Jed argued. “We’re New Yorkers.”

  “I’m happy here. I’m much happier here than I ever was in New York.”

  “What’s so wrong with New York?”

  “Nothing’s wrong with New York, but if I go back there I’ve only got 35 maybe 40 years left to live. Here,” and his eyes began to sparkle in the torchlight at the prospect of it, “I’ll live for hundreds of years. That’s hundreds of years with a beautiful young woman who’s in love with me, and will give me sons and daughters. I thought I’d missed out on that, Jed. No, I don’t want to go back.”

  “And Jonathon…?”

  “He wants to stay too. What would he want to leave Anna for?” He slowly shook his head. “I thought you’d got your head around this whole going home thing after we’d freed Amora from under that boulder. Amora adores you.”

  “I know, and the last thing I want to do is to hurt her.”

  “You will if you leave her. She wouldn’t ever marry…not after you. You’d be condemning her to spinsterhood for the rest of her life.”

  At that moment Jonathon and Amora arrived and so the conversation was abandoned.

  Amora went straight to Jed and placed her soft hand in his. “You are awake,” she smiled down at him. “Zarros has sent you these pills.” She took two brightly colored ones from a small packet. “He said you must take two a day for five days and then your shoulder will heal like it has never been wounded.” She handed him the pills and a cup of water and waited until the pills had been swallowed. “When you are well again I will take you out to the farm, and then you can see what we need to do to the house.”

  Jed closed his eyes in a vain attempt to shut her out. She had the next seven hundred years planned out for him and he doubted he would get any say in it. “Won’t Eric want the farm?” he asked hopefully.

  “He is going to live on our uncle’s farm,” she said merrily. “It is much bigger than ours and he has always wanted it.”

  “I see.” One of the pills Zarros had given him must have been a painkiller, for the aggravating throbbing of the past half hour was now almost gone. “What would we do for livestock, hasn’t Montrose killed them all off?”

  “We will capture some of the wild cattle and sheep that live in the forest,” she said excitedly. “When we have rebuilt the fences they will no longer roam wherever they wish.”

  “Sounds like you hardly need me at all.”

  “I will always need you, Jed Rand,” she whispered softly. “As soon as you are well we can get married, and it will be the biggest wedding the Noragin have ever seen.”

  Six days later Jed’s shoulder was almost fully healed, the medicine of Chantros had worked its wonders on him yet again. A few days after that and Amora had him out on the prairie lands looking at her family farm. The years had been unusually kind to the old stone farmhouse, but the outbuildings were a different matter. The wind and rain of seven decades had exacted a heavy tribute on them, and with no one there to maintain them they had deteriorated to the stage where they would have to be pulled down and rebuilt. The farm itself had been colonized by weeds and wilding trees, and the stone walls were in bad need of repair.

  “There is a lot of work to be done, Amora,” Jed said despondently, the thought of clearing all those trees and repairing all those dilapidated walls almost enough to make his head spin. “It is too much work for one man to accomplish.”

  “We could hire some of the young men to help us,” she suggested, undaunted by his lack of enthusiasm.

  “What would we pay them?”

  “Food and shelter, they will not need more than that for a few years. We have not had any use for gold since Montrose drove us all from our homes and villages and it will be some years before we have use of it again.”

  The economy was definitely in tatters, and the Noragin and Skraelings had lived communally for so long now that money no longer had any value. Everyone worked for the benefit of the community and the community was for the benefit of everyone. A man probably would be content with just food and shelter in exchange for labor for a while at least.

  Amora pointed to the woods that bordered the farm. “When we have sons they will help you clear those woods. They belong to no one and so the land that lies within them is ours for the taking. Then when we are old our children will live on the farm and take care of us.” She smiled happily. “You will see… it is the Noragin way.”

  The sprawling metropolis of New York or this rundown Noragin farm was the quandary he was in. That was the decision he had to make.

  “I wish my parents were alive to see us return to their farm,” she said wistfully. “They would be so pleased that it was going to see happiness and the sound of children’s laughter again.”

  Jed strolled over to the well and peered in. It was deep, very deep, in fact the longer he peered in the deeper it seemed to go. And that was his problem, the longer he left off making a decision the deeper he went, the deeper into trouble.

  When the pair returned to the caves later that day Jed took a heavy heart with him, for no matter what he decided to do someone was going
to get hurt, and probably no one more so than him.

  Rex came to see him when he arrived back. “Just got back from Chantros in the pod,” he revealed. “Zarros is coming here tomorrow and he wants to speak to you about an important matter.”

  “To speak to me,” Jed was surprised. “What does he want to speak to me about?”

  “I think it is best if I leave it to him to tell you that,” he answered cagily. “Just make sure you are here in the morning. Don’t go wandering off somewhere.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Jed was waiting at the flat rock when the pod from Chantros arrived. He had no idea what Zarros wanted to speak to him about, but Rex had made it sound like it was a pretty important matter.

  A broad smile broke out on Zarros’s face as he stepped out of the pod and caught sight of Jed. “How wonderful to see you again,” he said sincerely. “And looking so well, those pills we sent must have done their job.”

  “You wanted to see me about something?” Jed said, brushing aside the idle chit chat.

  “Yes,” Zarros admitted, “and the sooner we discuss the matter the sooner we will be able to sanction it.”

  Jed led the way down to Erik’s cabin with anxiety gnawing away at his insides. Although he didn’t know the topic the discussion was going to be on, he was reasonably sure it was going to be something he didn’t want to hear.

  “So what’s this all about?” Jed asked, once he and Zarros were comfortably seated at the old wooden table.

  “I have only yesterday completed a tour of the Skraeling and Noragin villages, and the peoples beyond Chantros where your fame has already spread to,” Zarros revealed, “and it has been unanimously agreed that we need something to bind us all together as one people so a situation like this can never happen again.”

  Jed looked suspiciously at him. “And where do I fit into all this?”

  “You would govern all the people of this world. You would be the glue that would hold us all together. We have all agreed to submit to your authority.”

  For a moment Jed was too stunned to answer. He had harbored the suspicion that somehow this whole business was going to involve him, but not in his wildest dreams had he thought that they were planning to make him some sort of king. “I fought against Montrose to stop one man from ruling this world,” he protested.