Escana

by J. R. Karlsson

  Thom took a deep breath. 'Sah'kel isn't like other deserts. It's harsh and vast but it's not unpopulated. Everything there grows bigger than other parts of the world and we don't know why. There are huge scorpions and spiders and creatures that have no right to fly yet do. They all threaten to sweep down and destroy the Empire but for the work of the men maintaining the front line.'

  Gadtor wasn't expecting that. 'You mean to say that this entire military conflict is simply pest control?'

  Thom snorted. 'I'll overlook your belittlement of the troops because you can plead ignorance. No, there are other forces out there that are not so mindless. The giant lizard people of the deep desert have emerged from whatever hole they were hiding in and appear to be making inroads, then there are the Negroids that haven't been seen in a generation. Perhaps the lizards got them, who knows?'

  Gadtor had seen dead lizards in the Urian markets, they looked fairly harmless. 'You make it sound like the lizards have minds of their own. What if they're just migratory?'

  Thom had gone very quiet at that question.

  'They have minds, yes. Twisted angry minds driven by the need for flesh, yet minds all the same. There aren't giant iguanas or anything so docile. They are organised, bloodthirsty and most importantly, they're winning.' He shifted position once again, forcing Gadtor to move.

  'I served on the front line once, the conflict wasn't nearly as bad then. You try stopping a seven foot monster clad head to foot in the best armour imaginable with tenfold the speed and strength of your finest group of men. Then we'll see if you still think they're migratory.'

  A strange sense of futility gripped Gadtor, it was something he'd never experienced before. 'So Kelgrimm wasn't banishing us simply to get us out of his hair, he was sentencing us to death?'

  If Thom had nodded Gadtor missed it. 'In so many words, yes. There's a reason the only veterans of Sah'kel you see have no limbs. There will be no coming back from the front line if reports are true.'

  'What do reports say?' Gadtor asked in horrified fascination.

  'It's a massacre out there, we are being carved open and overrun on all flanks, there aren't enough men to fill the gaps that are appearing. The lizards could cross into the Empire if they wanted, instead the defenders of Sah'kel are being hunted down systematically to the last man.'

  'So we're dead then?'

  Thom shrugged. 'The most able of the recruits may last a few weeks in the current conditions.' He lifted up the heavy manacle. 'This is why I'm keeping it civil. No sense in wasting our last hours fighting over shit that doesn't matter any more.'

  Gadtor lapsed into silence, asking anything further seemed just as pointless. If they left this box, hobbled as they were, death would soon follow.

  79

  Jimmy

  Shaken from their encounter with the lizard, the guards forced the Urtaka to double their pace, causing the creatures to groan in protest.

  Jimmy had no idea how long one of these creatures could continue pulling the cage but he hoped the increase in speed meant they were growing closer to their destination. At this point any ending to his captivity seemed preferable to another day spent in the sweltering heat. He stifled the wild compulsion that had previously gripped him when he saw the cage door swing open. Hammering at the cage and screaming in despair was a waste of energy, he had seen one of the other prisoners do it earlier on in their journey to no effect but his own demise.

  Instead he turned his thoughts to The Hermit, he had been expecting something spectacular from the man as soon as he had agreed to step foot outside the cage. He had given up all hope of an intervention on his part and freedom as a result but he had envisioned him gliding through the sands and tearing the beast apart with his bare hands in a symphony of violence. Instead it was a subdued gesture that made his head throb awkwardly after being near-deafened by the creature.

  He caught himself. Was he actually lusting for violence at the hands of the man? Sure he initially thought himself enraptured by the form and grace of the man's movements but was it actually the violence he desired?

  He knew he had seen plenty in the last few weeks from other hands and none of it had evoked any particular feeling beyond a sickening dread.

  His thoughts turned to his father then, what would the old man think of him being packed out in the desert beyond hope of redemption? He had always harped on about Jimmy having not seen the world as if it was his one greatest regret. Jimmy doubted he meant this particular region.

  He wondered how Gooseman was coping with his disappearance, whether he'd be disappointed or sympathetic toward his plight. It had played heavily on his mind and he knew he should at least keep a semblance of civility for Jakob's sake but the futility of everything washed over him. He was going to die out here and the one man who seemed capable of saving him from that made no effort to do so.

  He had tried being angry at the man before, it had caused nothing but calamity. Now in its place was a quiet acceptance as he submitted to his fate. He couldn't do anything about the current situation and raging against it was just as ineffectual as panicking over the captivity.

  Upon cresting the latest in an endless sea of dunes, Jimmy caught his first sight of the fort.

  He found that he didn't really feel anything, no sense of relief at the journey coming to a conclusion nor any hope for the future. It was simply another place of captivity.

  The imposing wooden palisade grew larger as they got closer, the surface of the fort itself seemed smoothed down by years of sandstorms. Jimmy hated sandstorms.

  As they drew alongside the main gate he heard a groaning noise as the wooden structure was drawn inward by a number of guards. They trundled into the main courtyard and finally ground to a halt for the last time. Several unarmed men dashed forward and unhooked the Urtaka, leading them away to recover from their journey. Jimmy had no doubt that they'd be treated better than their shipment's contents.

  There was no great security involved in their extrication from the cage, in fact the palisade gates hadn't shut before their own door was opened. In theory a man could sprint out to freedom. Assuming he wasn't half-starved, baked by the sun and his idea of freedom consisted of an endless desert to die in.

  They formed a line now and watched as the leader of their convoy spoke to a squat little man out of earshot. He nodded repeatedly, eyeing them constantly under his damaged nose as if they were his next meal.

  Finally the guards that had journeyed all the way to Sah'kel with them departed inside the large stone structure, leaving them with this increasingly repugnant fellow.

  'Right maggots!' his reedy voice croaked. 'Here's how things work around here in Sah'kel.'

  He marched up and down the line with absurd confidence considering that none of the prisoners were bound in chains. 'You eat when we eat, shit when we shit and sleep when we sleep. You don't like that you're free as you please to get the fuck out of here.' He pointed at the still-open gate leading to the desert. 'There's only one way to escape from here short of death so if you want that you obey my orders.'

  'What's the other way to escape?' asked one of the prisoners.

  The man walked up to him, eyeing him with an almost friendly gaze. 'Are you talking to me?'

  The prisoner smiled back genially. 'Yeah, I am.'

  The next thing Jimmy knew the man lunged forward and pinned the prisoner to the ground, striking him repeatedly with his fist until his target was limp and bloody.

  'I didn't give you fucking permission to talk to me you worthless son of a bitch,' he screeched at him between breaths. 'I don't give a fuck if you want to know how to escape this shithole.'

  He finally got up off the twitching form of the prisoner, straightening his shirt out in distaste and giving the man a final boot to the ribs. He looked along the line with that same smile as before plastered over his face. 'Any other questions?'

  Silence.

  'Good.' He resumed pacing up and down the line as if nothing had happened. 'The w
ay we work things here is there's three groups of people. A-Company, B-Company and C-Company. Your owner was a military man so he likes his slaves organised as such.'

  He swept his gaze over them a final time and stopped pacing. 'Ordinarily I'd be deciding who to let live and who to die at this point, but I've got orders to let you all live since we're running short of men. If you fail to show your worth to me I will kill you like that.' He snapped his fingers at them, knowing that his previous demonstration was more than enough.

  'I've been told by the guard commander that we have ourselves someone here in A-Company already.' He pointed at Hermit. 'You, what's your name?'

  Jimmy didn't like where this was going, the silence could easily be taken as an affront by this hideous man. 'He's known as The Hermit, sir.' Jimmy's stuttering voice called out. 'He doesn't speak.'

  The man approached him, pushing himself up nose to nose with Jimmy. He could feel the stench of his hot breath across his face and tried not to gag. 'Did I say you could speak, boy?'

  The Hermit was there. The man looked at him suspiciously. 'Is what the boy said true then?' he asked him. The Hermit nodded in response and took a step closer. The guards pushed up a little closer in response, escalating the tension Jimmy felt.

  The man laughed and raised his hands, Jimmy flinched but no blow landed. He opened his eyes again and the man had his palms outward, walking back from him.

  'Alright then Hermit, through the door on your first right and on down the corridor. Make yourself at home, you'll be fighting soon enough.'

  He swung round and buried a fist in Jimmy's sternum, causing the boy to wretch and curl up on the ground. 'That's what you get for answering a question you weren't asked, boy.' He kicked sand in his eyes. 'C-Company for you.'

  He looked at the rest of them then. 'All of you start of in B-Company, those who can't fight for shit end up in C, the very best of you may make it to A.'

  Jimmy may have been blinded and coughing but he didn't fail to pick up on the horrible import of what the man had said.

  He was going to separated from both The Hermit and Jakob. He was on his own.

  80

  Jakob

  The gruel they had been given was better than what they had been forced to eat in the cage, even if they had less time to eat it in. He felt slightly stronger than he had previously but still had no idea what to expect of this creature that called itself 'Tub'.

  He had been separated from Jimmy shortly after the boy had been floored. A great sense of trepidation had welled up in him then, the boy didn't strike him as the fighting type in spite of his previous association with the Black Quail. Could the boy really have learnt enough to survive in the short time he himself had been unconscious in Urial? He doubted it.

  They were led out another archway into a winding tunnel full of smouldering torches. They surfaced after climbing up a flight of roughly hewn steps into the belly of the arena.

  The high walls surrounding the sandy basin were simultaneously depressing and foreboding. There were a handful of people dotted around the area watching this particular exercise, Jakob couldn't tell if The Hermit was among them.

  They formed rank again at the urging of the guards and noticed a single figure standing in the centre.

  'This man is known as Yalem. The greatest fighter this arena has ever seen,' Tub said as way of introduction. 'He is my superior and second only to Corporal Dyson himself, each of you will now attempt to strike him, those who aren't crippled will be rewarded.'

  Jakob did a double-take. Was this some kind of test? If they bested this Yalem would they be afforded a position in A-Company? Why would someone so high-ranking indulge in dangerous exercises with unknown prisoners?

  He watched as the first prisoner in the line cautiously approached the centre of the arena. It must have felt like a very long walk with Yalem's reputation fresh in the man's mind.

  The prisoner was a burly one and Jakob had seen him fight before in the cage, he still had nightmares about the satisfying roar the man gave as he tore a smaller foe limb from limb and feasted upon him to the sound of cheering guards and the exchanging of coin.

  He circled Yalem warily, the man didn't even watch the prisoner's movements.

  Eventually the man struck out at him and there was a snapping sound. Jakob hadn't seen what had happened but the man was now face-first on the ground surrounded by a billowing cloud of sand.

  The muffled howl of pain surfaced as the prisoner pulled his head up from the arena floor, covered in blood from the landing. He clutched his arm which dangled limply by his side and anger took hold of him.

  Yalem planted a knee to the man's temple and there was a cracking noise, the man fell to the floor again and this time didn't get up. There was the occasional twitch from his body as the rest of the prisoners watched on in fear.

  'Next!' Tub bellowed, causing a number of them to jump.

  A trickle of brown liquid snaked down the next prisoner's leg as he shuffled his way forward shakily toward Yalem. At the last moment he broke out into a sprint and Yalem's gauntlet backhanded him nonchalantly, tossing his unconscious body through the air to land motionless upon the arena floor.

  Jakob looked to his left once more and with a sinking feeling realised that only Tub was to his left, he was...

  'Next!'

  The world went white.

  Listen

  He strained his ears but heard nothing in particular.

  Listen harder.

  He focused more intently then, as if it was second nature. Another voice seemed to fill the space left by the first. Initially it was muffled but as he concentrated the clarity grew.

  'Fucking kid is going to get his face mashed by Yalem. Why does Dyson let him come down here to play his games? Can't he see it's just making the search harder? What if one of those recruits he killed had the power to overcome the beast? Ah fuck it, who am I trying to kid? The beast would have snapped them in half just as easily.'

  Plant a thought.

  Jakob had no idea what the voice meant. Then a gentle coercion stole over him, it was if his own mind had been taken from him and shown what to do.

  Plant a thought.

  He knew exactly the thought that needed to be planted.

  'I am from A-Company,' Jakob said firmly.

  'Fucking kid doesn't stand a chance, gonna get his head caved in if he keeps staggering forward like that, what's he trying to pull?'

  Again, concentrate.

  I am from A-Company. Jakob projected outward.

  He came to a standstill, he was back in the arena again, the whiteness clearing the edges of his vision and the ringing in his ears replaced by someone calling at him.

  'Hey, you,' Tub shouted at him.

  He turned, half in hope and half in fear.

  'What are you doing out here? Weren't you meant to report with that Hermit man to A-Company?'

  He looked at Tub briefly, then back at Yalem whose eyebrow was arched appraisingly.

  Without further comment, Jakob walked past the slightly dazed-looking Tub and went in search of A-Company.

  81

  Ella

  The morning sun streamed in through the archway, waking her from a pleasantly dreamless slumber. She searched the room but found no sign of El-Vador.

  A few days ago she would have considered dashing out that archway and into the glow beyond to try and escape her captor but the futility of such an idea grew increasingly apparent with every gesture of power he displayed.

  She stretched out under the covers and paused mid-stretch when no pain presented itself. She had been in such a haggard and miserable state throughout her journey from Escana that she had grown accustomed to the pain, in fact she had assumed that she was permanently damaged.

  She sat up as a shadow crossed her bedside, El-Vador had returned through the archway with a familiar assortment of food on a platter and a fresh set of clothes.

  He lay the platter down by the side of the bed but didn't p
artake in any of it, instead seating himself at the foot of the bed and watching her silently as she ate.

  'Would you like to see the city today?' he finally asked her as she finished.

  She looked out the archway longingly, she still had no idea what was beyond and a sudden surge of curiosity gripped her. As comfortable as the bed had been there was only so much she could take of staying in the same room.

  'I would like that,' she said, trying to hide the enthusiasm in her voice but knowing it was plain on her face for him to see.

  He leapt off the bed and swept up the platter with the remaining food upon it. 'Follow me then, you're going to find this very interesting.'

  He stood on the threshold of the archway, allowing her time to change into the pure white garments he had brought her. She pondered at how similar his archaic gesture was to Jakob's which seemed like a lifetime ago. A sudden stab of regret hit her, she found herself missing him.

  As soon as El-Vador heard her footsteps they entered the light of the archway for the first time.

  The sun was dazzling, she couldn't ever remember it being so hot either, fortunately the clothes she had been given were airy and light. The smooth marble floor felt pleasantly warm on her bare feet, she had wondered why he hadn't brought her appropriate footwear, was all of Levanin so kind to traverse?

  They emerged in a small walkway with high white walls that blazed brightly in the heat. A set of steps made from the same marble that appeared to be used in everything led down into the city beyond. The sky was a pale blue and lacked any clouds, it was a place entirely alien to Ella's country eyes.

  'Your people built all of this?' she asked him as they came to the foot of the stairs and proceeded out onto a perfectly flat courtyard. An aged man in thin white robs nodded at them as he passed.

  'Yes, through careful maintenance Upper Levanin has been maintained in near-pristine condition. What you're looking at now is almost identical to how things were upon its construction.'