by Craig Zerf
Brett had taken up the last armed power-glider and was single handedly taking on the myriad of approaching airships.
Highmen were dying in the hundreds as the most advanced airship ever made tore into their massed ranks with devastating accuracy. The blood of the alien race stained the snow and the ground like a carpet of royal-blue wool. A vast field of lilac plants.
Picasso’s blue period in living blood.
So many were they in number that, although the might of the Leviathan did slow them down, it did not come close to stopping them. So they drew closer and closer to the figure that stood alone in the wilderness. Head thrown back, eyes closed. Clasped to his chest a pulsating blue-white Stone.
And Ethan felt tears spring unbidden to his eyes as the desperate futility of his final stand became fully apparent. They had failed. And they had done so in spectacular fashion. There was no doubt in his mind that humanity would pay for the folly shown by the insurrection.
Punishment would be meted out. Human lives would be taken and examples would be made.
Would humanity ever recover?
The captain knew, deep down, that it probably never would.
He brought the Leviathan around so that it could strafe the enemy once again before the rest of the air fleet arrived to destroy them.
And it was then that he saw them.
Countless numbers of them. Stretching across the horizon like low storm clouds driven before the wind. Unlike the usual howling, screaming mob, they were almost silent save the crunching of their calloused feet in the snow and the sound of their syncopated breathing rushing in and out as they ran. As if they were integral parts of one large living organism as opposed to a massive mob of quasi-human beings.
They fell upon the rear of the Highman column like a tsunami, crashing into them and sweeping them off their feet in a raw rush of muscle and fury.
The Highmen fought back with skill and determination. Their tall, lithe bodies moved with consummate skill and grace. The mutants fought with uncontrolled aggression and savage power.
Ethan noticed that Leon had come up to the bridge and was standing next to him, watching the impossible vista unfold before them.
‘We’re out of ammunition,’ he noted laconically. ‘Just as well, really,’ he continued. ‘Because, to be frank, I have no idea who to shoot at any more.’
But as they watched, the Highmen began to gain the upper hand. Their skill and battle tactics were simply far too superior to the stone-age strategy of the mutated humans.
Ethan and Leon watched helplessly as the airships joined in the fray, launching steam harpoons into the massed Untouchables. Maiming and rending and killing.
And then time stopped.
For a little over a single second all simply froze. A relatively infinitesimal period of time but enough to restart the very engines of reality.
A blue-white throb of energy pulsated away from The Forever Man, billowing out as it spread at vast speed.
A thousand sunrises.
A million full moons.
A trillion scintillations of starlight.
As it touched the Highmen it seemed to disintegrate them. Tearing them asunder at the very molecular level. Reducing them to the mere elements and compounds that they were made up of. A chemical reaction.
A sundering of their essence.
And the very core of them that was now broken down to dust, settled onto the surface of the Earth like a blanket being spread over a victim of hypothermia. Warming. Healing. Reenergizing.
Tiny green shoots stated to spring up in the wake of the light. Mutants stood fractionally straighter. Trees and plants instantly flowered.
Water in mountain streams flowed clear and sparkling.
Like a sigh rippling through the thousands of Untouchables they slowly all sank to their knees, faced The Forever Man and bowed their heads in worship and respect.
‘It is done.’
‘I know,’ answered Nathaniel.
‘Thank you.’
‘Who are you?’
‘It would be incorrect to view me as a who. Or even a what. I suppose that you could look on me as The Earth Spirit.’
‘What? Like Mother Nature?’
Nathaniel sensed a feeling of amusement.
‘I suppose so. But I am more than nature. I am nurture as well. Beginning and end. However, I have been trapped for a while. The power in the alien stone caused a fractal loop, feeding my energy to the parasitic beings that had been linked to the stone. Draining the Spirit from the land and using it to drive the life of the Highmen instead.’
‘But no longer.’
‘No longer,’ agreed The Earth Spirit. ‘And now it is your turn. Your turn to break the loop. There is still much power in the stone. Feel free to use it as you will. What do you desire? Within reason I can make it happen.’
‘Can you stop the pulse light?’
‘No. That is not of the Earth.’
‘Can you take me back in time to before the pulse?’
‘Again, no.’
‘Why?’
‘Simply because you are already there. You cannot exist in duality. Two Nathaniels cannot be present in the same time.’
Nathaniel thought for a while. ‘I have a request.’
‘Tell me.’
And so he did.
‘But may I say my goodbyes first?’
‘Indubitably.’
So it was that The Forever Man broadcast his farewells to all that he had known. Leon. Brett. Ethan. Tobias. And many more. He left them with love. With advice and with encouragement.
And he left them with a fable. A story of a raggedy-man that appeared from nowhere and led humanity out of its dystopian distance and into the light of redemption and rebirth.
He left them with the legend of The Forever Man.
Chapter 51
Small piles of snow were scattered across the verdant landscape, stacked against trees, bushes and stone walls. Like a giant had decided to sweep it up but lost interest half way through the job. The sky pulsed with the ever-present solar lights and the temperature was mild enough to eschew any form of overcoat or furs.
The marine glanced up at the huge Oak tree that canopied above him. Thick with green leaves, its trunk and branches powerful slabs of dark brown living wood that stood up proudly against the sky. He remembered the tree well. But it had been smaller when he had last seen it. Quite a bit smaller. At a rough guess he would bet that it had another fifteen years plus growth on it.
He smiled to himself as he started to walk along the old track that led to the outskirts of the town. In the distance he could see people. Some labored in the fields. Others rode on horseback. Still others simply walked. Going from one place to another. Just like him.
As he crested the hill and looked down on the house he saw him. Standing outside in his garden. A woolen cloak over his shoulders. Pipe in hand. Simply standing. Looking. Watching the day go by.
The marine was struck at how old he looked. Diminished with age. His hands were gnarled with arthritis. His skin slack and spotted with age. His once proud stature bent and crooked.
It took the marine a little over a minute to walk down the hill and reach the gate to the house. He paused there. Not sure how to announce himself.
‘I knew that you’d come back,’ said the old man.
‘Really?’
‘Of course. You always do.’ The marine opened the gate, walked over to the old timer, knelt down in front of him and embraced him.
‘Tad, my friend.’
‘Nathaniel.’
The two men did not move for a while, simply reveling in each other’s company. Nathaniel’s eyes glistened with unshed tears while Tad did not bother to hold back and his cheeks ran wet with joy.
Eventually they stood apart.
‘Man,’ said Nathaniel. ‘You sure got old.’
‘Course I did,’ quipped Tad. ‘You buggered off for thirty years. I’m over eighty years old. Glad that you c
ame now, I was getting tired of waiting. Not sure that I could make another bloody winter.’
The marine laughed. ‘Well, I’ve got some good news for you.’
‘Don’t tell me,’ interrupted Tad. ‘You got coffee. Please tell me that you’ve got coffee. Damn I still miss the stuff.’
Nathaniel shook his head. ‘Sorry, old friend. No coffee. But I do have this.’ He drew the Arkane Stone from his jacket and held it out in front of him.
‘A stone,’ observed Tad.
‘Put your hands on it,’ commanded Nathaniel.
Tad raised his gnarled hands and laid them on the stone.
There was a pulse of blue-white light and the little big man fell to his knees as a tsunami of pain washed over him.
‘Damn,’ he grunted. ‘Not cool. What the hell did you do that for?’
‘Stand up.’
Tad stood up. Straight and proud. His back like a ramrod. He looked at his own hands, turning them over in front of his face. They were strong. Supple. Clear skinned. With shaking hands, he pulled a hank of his long hair in front of his eyes. It was chestnut brown with no hint of grey.
He threw back his head and laughed in absolute delight.
‘Son of a gun,’ he shouted. ‘I’m young again.’ Then a look of concern crossed his features. ‘I mean…I am, aren’t I? You haven’t just hoodooed me so that I think that I’m young but I’m actually still some old geezer like before?’
‘Your body has been restored to its youth,’ confirmed the marine.
‘For how long?’
Nathaniel shrugged. ‘Not sure. But it’s a long time. Maybe hundreds of years.’
Tad laughed again. ‘So, I’m like you now?’
‘No,’ denied the marine. ‘So don’t get any ideas. You can die just like any normal person. You just won’t wear out or get ill like before. But a bullet to the head will severely affect your ability to cogitate successfully, so best avoid such circumstances.’
‘I can live with that,’ replied Tad. ‘Now. It’s hard to top what you just did but I have a surprise for you.’
‘A good surprise?’ Asked Nathaniel.
Tad paused before he answered. ‘I think so. I hope so. Whatever, follow me.’
As they walked Tad kept bursting out into spontaneous laughter. Then he would look at his hands again or do a little jig or simply jump up and down before shaking his head in amazement. Then he would laugh again. A sound of pure delight.
They rounded a stone wall and before them lay a small thatched cottage.
Outside the cottage sat a man on a rocking chair. He was covered in a blanket and next to him stood a jug of water. Even though the blanket covered his head like a hood and most of his body, Nathaniel could see that the man had been severely injured at some point on his life. It was obvious that the left side of the blanket lay empty. The man had lost his left arm and leg in some accident.
As they got closer, the marine noted how the man tilted his head slightly to one side and he heard the sound of someone sniffing the air. And he knew that the man was blind as well as crippled.
‘Tad, is that you?’
‘Sure is,’ replied the Little Big man.
‘You smell different. Also, you’re walking differently. Longer steps than usual. And who is that with you?’
The man pulled the blanket back from his face and Nathaniel stopped dead in his tracks.
‘Kob?’
‘Who is that?’
The marine ran forward and grasped the Orc by the shoulders. ‘Kob. It’s me.’
The Orc turned its ravaged face towards the marine. Both of his eyes were mere ridges of scar tissue. More scars ran down the side of his face and into his neck, thick and ridged and badly healed. He raised his surviving hand and felt Nathaniel’s face. Then he laughed. A slow, rasping sound like two stones being rubbed together.
‘Tad always said that you’d come back. Welcome home.’
‘You survived,’ said Nathaniel.
‘Still master of the bleeding obvious,’ quipped Kob. ‘Yes, I survived. In as much as I am not dead.’
Nathaniel fumbled with his jacket buttons as he pulled the Arkane Stone out and pressed it against Kob’s chest.
Once more the pulse of blue-white light flashed. The Orc was thrust back in his seat and a muted cry of pain tore from his lips. He tried to pull away but the marine held the stone hard up against him. The light grew brighter and there was the smell of ozone and flint and burning flesh. Abruptly the Arkane Stone flashed once more and then crumbled to dust.
Kob cried out again and then fell forward.
But before he hit the floor he put both of his arms out to stop himself.
No one spoke for many long seconds.
And then Kob stood up and blinked. ‘How?’ He asked in his usual simplistic way.
Nathaniel shrugged. ‘Does it matter?’
‘No,’ admitted the Orc. One is happy. Content. It is far better than being blind and crippled.’
‘Wow, careful,’ said Tad. ‘Don’t get all carried away with sentiment there, big man. Wouldn’t want Nathaniel to think that you were thankful or anything.’
Kob raised an eyebrow and sniffed disdainfully.
‘What now?’ Continued Tad.
‘Now,’ answered Nathaniel. ‘Now I want the biggest steak that I can find chased down with a gallon of ale. And then I’m going to sleep for a week.’
‘It’s a plan,’ admitted Tad. ‘Not a great plan, but a plan nonetheless. ‘Let’s go with it until something better comes up.’
‘Oorah!’ Shouted the marine.
‘Oorah!’ Confirmed his friends.
‘Oorah!’
***
And the entity known to some as Fulcrum looked down on the trio of friends and smiled. The lever had done well. Once again he had fulfilled the prophecies. As such he had been rewarded. And now was a time for rest and recuperation.
There was no rush before he gave him his next task, thought Fulcrum. Essentially, time was not a problem.
After all – Marine Master Sergeant Nathaniel Hogan, leader of the Free State, king of the Picts and Hero of Cutter’s Pass was…
…THE FOREVER MAN.
Oorah!!
***
Well – that’s the end of book 6. For those of you who wrote to me to voice your concern at the death of Kob and the loss of Tad…all’s well that ends well.
I hope that you enjoyed this latest tale. If you did please could you leave a review on Amazon. If you didn’t – as always, my private email is [email protected] feel free to write to me and tell me what you think. I will always get back to you.
Nathaniel is going to take a break for a while. I reckon that he deserves one!
If you are looking for another kick-ass hero then please take a look at my new series: “Emily – Shadowhunter”. Because it’s about time we had a female hero that don’t take no crap.
Thanks again for all of your support.
Bye for now
Your friend – Craig.
Table of Contents
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
> Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51