Escana

by J. R. Karlsson

  'She deserved you, and you were my friend. You deserved the best in life after everything you've been through.'

  Thom found that he couldn't speak, Garth's voice was fading into a bare whisper.

  'I've beaten you to her this time. I can't keep you out of trouble any more, Thom. We'll be waiting for you, do what you must to avenge her.'

  It was his final breath.

  Thom felt a tugging sensation, he found that he was ramming his fists against anything in sight and yelling at the top of his lungs. Pieces of debris had gone flying everywhere and one side of the tent had a large tear in it. Gadtor was trying to restrain him, yet it seemed like everything was happening from a great distance. There was a finality to his friend's passing that had solidified his purpose, he didn't believe in an afterlife but if Garth's quaint beliefs turned out to be true then Thom found himself ready to join them.

  He realised he was still thinking about the man as if he were alive, he was gone now.

  Eventually he let Gadtor restrain him, a distressed looking soldier had come in and had hold of his other arm, Skullcleaver was on the floor covered in sand from the struggle.

  'It's alright,' he finally said to them. 'The moment has passed.'

  When he looked back down at the corpse in the tent he knew that it wasn't Garth. Whatever had made that collection of sinew and bone and flesh the man he cared about had gone.

  He reached down and wiped the sand off Skullcleaver, strapping it to his back once more and straightening up, all eyes were on him.

  'How do we proceed, General?' Gadtor prompted.

  'We carry out the orders brought to us by the Imperial liaison.' He turned to the other young soldier. 'What's your name, son?'

  'Inglewood, sir.'

  'You're either a fool or a brave soul, often the line between the two is very thin, thank you for letting me have a chance to speak to the General one last time.'

  The boy didn't know what to say to that, rapping off a smart salute instead.

  'I want you to run through the camp and assess our losses, send any men of authority in the direction of this tent, I shall be meeting them outside it to discuss our orders.'

  'Yes sir!' With that the boy was off, clearly eager to leave the scene behind him.

  'So in spite of surviving, we march out together and die fighting like you always said we would,' Gadtor said, the resignation in his voice quite obvious.

  Thom felt it then, knew in his heart of hearts what he been left behind to do.

  'I don't plan on dying, Gadtor. Not until whatever spooked the lizards in this forsaken place lies dead at my feet.'

  He motioned his leg forward and Gadtor followed in his wake as they met the sun and readied for the final assault.

  114

  Jimmy

  After the attempt on his life Jimmy didn't much feel like returning to his small and vulnerable room, instead he was aimlessly wandering the corridors of the fort and hoping that somehow The Hermit would appear.

  It was an entirely fruitless search and the reality of that was starting to dawn upon him. Was he not more likely to bump into his would-be assassin out here than if he returned to his room and waited the night out?

  It was almost as if he could still feel the cold steel against his neck, some irrational thought pressed him into taking action. He couldn't go back there to that small, dark room and fret over his fate. He had to take action, even if he wasn't sure what to do.

  His racing heart had started to slow and his initial hopes of discovering where his saviour had vanished to dimmed. He found he couldn't bring himself to start opening doors for fear of what he found inside. Had the assassin truly done away with all of the fort's guard? It seemed incomprehensible that one man could cause so much devastation when given the freedom to walk where he willed at night. Why had none of A-Company attempted to do so before if it had been possible?

  He was beginning to think that the feats this killer had claimed to perform were beyond a simple arena fighter, the foreigner had a certain set of skills that had gone by undetected somehow. He only hoped that man had been bluffing, but then how did he manage to get to Jimmy's room undetected? How did The Hermit manage it too? Something was missing, yet another vast gap in his knowledge where an explanation was lacking.

  Footsteps and voices sounded from just ahead. Jimmy instinctively ducked into a passageway and hoped that they wouldn't spot him, who else was awake in the fort at this time?

  The sound now came from behind him, had they taken some other turn? No, the original noise was growing too, that meant there were two different forces about to collide where Jimmy stood, he had no way out.

  Panic set in once again, either he dash out and encounter the original patrol or run back and intercept the second one. He chose the latter, walking further down the corridor in a motion he hoped wouldn't scream 'escaped prisoner'.

  They were guards, he didn't recognise them but their uniforms brooked no argument. They sighted him and proceeded toward his general direction, Jimmy determinedly fought down the urge to flee.

  The man at their head roughly jostled him, sending him into the wall of the corridor. 'Out of the way, dog,' he snarled.

  Jimmy couldn't believe his luck, they were marching past him as if he wasn't there. They didn't care that he was wandering around the corridors of Greyhawk in the middle of the night, apparently they were searching for his assailant.

  The two groups of guards converged at the end of the corridor, Jimmy stayed against the wall and hazarded listening in to their conversation.

  'I checked with the companies sir, they said there was no sign of any intruder. Looks like a coordinated assault on the guards from someone outside of Greyhawk.'

  Jimmy was startled when he heard the other man's voice, it had the exact same accent as the foreigner that had attacked him.

  'The only person that leave Greyhawk since the Praetor has been that lizard fucker. Why would he return and where be his scaly friend? I'll relay my suspicions with the guard Captain, he says whoever it is can't kill us all if we stay together.'

  So the guards thought the foreigner was either sparing the slaves or leaving them until last. Jimmy knew the answer but also knew the consequences of his butting in on their conversation. He had to get to the companies and warn them, perhaps if they knew what was coming they could do something about the threat of this mad man.

  He made his way through the corridors at a light jog, trying his best to balance his sense of urgency with the fear of being waylaid unexpectedly. He was so preoccupied that he only realised the door to C-Company was locked shortly before arriving.

  Grabbing the handle in frustration he pushed against it with all his might and to his surprise the door flew open, revealing a figure crouched over the sleeping form of Darinnis with an all-too-familiar sword.

  The figure leapt towards him and Jimmy flinched with a yelp, stumbling backward and out of the doorway. His legs gave under him as he expected the cold bite of steel, it never came.

  He opened his eyes and there was a muttering coming from the room as several members of C-Company found their feet.

  Eigani was first to the door, looking out in bewilderment at Jimmy slumped against the far wall.

  'What are you doing up so late lad? Miss our company? How did you get a key to the door in the first place?'

  Jimmy patiently explained to the gathering members that he had saved their lives from an assassin who was bent on killing everyone in the fort. A cursory inspection of the lock from one of more knowledgeable members of C-Company confirmed his story. Anyone who wanted to kill a member of C-Company, guard or otherwise, would simply do so without provocation or consequence. The idea of someone stealthily invading their locked sleeping area to kill one of them was preposterous.

  'So you came here to warn us?'Darinnis asked, his tone was gruff but Jimmy knew it was his way of thanking him.

  'Yes, he's still out there and the guards have split into patrols to canvass t
he fort in an attempt to find him. If they don't succeed he will continue to kill until none of us are left alive.'

  Eigani grew more sceptical with each word. 'Jimmy, are you suggesting that we leave the relative safety of our room and aid the guards in their search?'

  'There is no relative safety so long as he's alive, you saw what he had planned for you. As soon as he feels it's safe enough he'll come back to finish the job.'

  'The boy has a point.' Darinnis replied, though Jimmy wondered if it was just for a chance to be contrary to Eigani. 'We're C-Company, it's not like the guards are going to protect us if he comes back. In their eyes he'd probably be doing them a favour by getting rid of a few extra mouths to feed.'

  It was a grim bit of speculation but it aided Jimmy's cause and it also had a ring of truth about it that none of the men in the room could ignore. They had to make a move from the confines of their sleeping area and try to deal with this threat.

  'What of B-Company?' one of them asked, Jimmy couldn't tell who it was in the gloom. 'Should we warn them?'

  He knew that only the members of A-Company had the privilege of rooms they could lock from the inside, if they ventured out to find B-Company they'd probably run into a locked door. Even if they couldn't help it seemed inhumane to not warn them of their potential fate though, that feeling overrode any other actions.

  'That's where we're headed next, to B-Company's quarters and then on to the armoury and the nearest group of guards we can find.'

  He saw heads nodding in assent, it seemed that hiding in a dark room waiting for the assassin to return held just as much appeal for them as it did for Jimmy. At least in their numbers they may stand some ghost of a chance should they encounter the foreigner unarmed.

  They made their way down the corridors at a torturously slow speed, there were no calls to abandon those that could barely keep up a walking pace. Either they all made it to B-Company's door or none of them did.

  Eventually Eigani suggested that Jimmy run ahead, there was no sense in arriving late to find B-Company slaughtered because they weren't warned. He broke into a brisk pace and left his former room mates behind, anxiety growing in him once more at both how exposed he felt on his own and the possibility that the foreigner had beaten him to B-Company's room already.

  His fears were realised when he saw the door slightly ajar, he hoped against hope that a guard had generously unlocked it but he knew that was a slim possibility at best.

  He carefully opened the door enough to ease himself in, the darkness greeted him and he feared shedding any further light.

  'You can't have killed them all so quickly,' a voice said.

  Jimmy leapt back and banged his heel off the door, he cursed in surprise and as he found his balance he saw a lantern being lit to reveal not a massacre but a large group of men in various states of wakefulness.

  'Who the fuck are you boy and what are you doing in our room?'

  'No time for explanations, there's an assassin loose in the fort and he plans on killing everyone.'

  'We know,' another voice said.

  They knew? The reason their door was open became apparent, they had already been paid a visit and the foreigner either didn't like their numbers or was detected before he could kill anyone.

  'Why aren't you out looking for him then?'

  The first man laughed. 'Why in Torr's name would we do that boy? Let him have his fun, he's out there slaughtering guards. Sounds like a reasonable plan to me.'

  'He's the lizard man,' said another. 'Treated him pretty badly so they did, now he's come back to kill them and we'll just wait until he's off into the desert again.'

  Jimmy knew from the older members of C-Company that there had been a time when the ownership of Greyhawk was in a constant state of flux. Were this group of men expecting the foreigner to do their dirty work for them and simply leave them unscathed?

  'He's going to kill you all, he told me on his honour that he couldn't leave a man alive.'

  The man laughed. 'So fucking what?'

  The second voice wasn't so sure. 'Armand, he's one of them Je'darans, they've got a funny notion about honour. If he said he has to kill everyone I'd be inclined to believe him, they don't fuck around when it comes to honour. Think of that there guard, Jadil.'

  Whether the second man had some prior knowledge or hold over the leader Jimmy couldn't tell, the argument seemed to convince him all the same.

  'Fine. I don't trust those fucking sand-dwellers anyway. What would you have us do then, boy?'

  'We plan to sneak down into the bowels of the arena and arm ourselves, then help the guards hunt down the assassin.'

  The man peered outside the door suspiciously. 'We? Who is we?'

  'C-Company are on their way here, we're going to combine our forces.'

  The second man laughed at that. 'You're going to pit a bunch of cripples against a Je'daran assassin? You didn't see what he did to the guards when he was here before.'

  Another voice joined in excitedly. 'Had the whole guard scrambling to stop him and was one throw away from killing Dyson himself.'

  The first man had heard enough. 'So what fucking chance have the likes of C-Company got against a man who can handle himself against trained guards?'

  'We have to do something!' Jimmy cried. 'He's going to kill us all if we don't!'

  Armand nodded. 'I believe you kid, we'll team up with your C-Company and get down to the armoury then see what's what.'

  Although he found their presence intimidating, Jimmy felt buoyed nonetheless. It was preferable by far to wandering these dangerous corridors alone.

  B-Company proved to be much more methodical and alert than the limping infirmity of their inferiors. Each man paid as much attention to the sounds around him as Jimmy would have if he were alone, whether this was born out of distrust for the other members or just training he couldn't tell. He didn't dare tell them to halt and wait for C-Company to catch up, now that they had been given a taste of potential freedom they were eager to pursue it. It was a strange mixture of determination and desperation that he hadn't seen in his old company. The older members of C-Company had seemed to be patiently waiting for the guards to intervene and lock them back up.

  Their progress was markedly quicker in spite of the patient approach, they met no opposition on their way to the weapons room and the silence surrounding the fort's interior was eerie. Jimmy kept expecting to hear the sounds of a single pair of feet signalling the arrival of the foreigner, then again a skilled assassin probably didn't make any sound.

  They soon arrived at the weapons room, or the armoury as they jokingly called it. The same tired old rusted assortment was laid out on the table and mounted on the walls for their perusal. Looking at some of the spears Jimmy knew that it wouldn't matter how rusted they were so long as they could still puncture flesh.

  It lurked constantly in the back of his mind, the thought of the foreigner silently stalking the corridors and waiting for the opportune moment to strike out at his next victim. The image of C-Company doddering along at the mercy of anyone else in the building troubled him.

  He need not have worried, a snort of derision from one of the B-Company members signalled their arrival. The others refused to acknowledge they existed.

  'Well, we made it here in one piece kid and I see you found B-Company in one piece, now what happens?' Darinnis asked.

  Jimmy hadn't figured out what they were going to do now, they couldn't exactly walk up to the guards armed as they were and offer to help. Or was it as simple as that? With a killer on the loose the remaining guards had much graver things to worry about than a few men with rusty weapons.

  'I neither know nor care what you fuckers have planned,' Armand replied to the man, even though he was clearly addressing Jimmy. 'My lads are going to arm ourselves and wait until the assassin has done our work for us. Then we'll spring the fucker when he comes to finish us and the fort will be ours.'

  As much as Jimmy disliked the guards and thei
r atrocious treatment of those under them, he still saw them as human beings with lives of their own. For all their faults they deserved a better fate than at the hands of the foreigner.

  'If we help the guards we can prevent any further bloodshed by flushing out the assassin before he strikes again.' He knew how idealistic and naïve the words sounded as they left his mouth, a man like Armand wasn't going to believe them.

  'We could do that. What happens after he's dead though? Do you think the guards are going to treat us nicely for breaking into the weapons room and arming ourselves without them knowing?'

  He had a point, Jimmy stuttered in an attempt to find a counter-argument but his head came up blank. He knew that the practicality of what the man was planning to do was wrong, he just couldn't think of anything to dissuade him.

  'Everyone got their weapons handy?' A chorus of assent. 'Right then, let's move back out to our room and wait for this fucker to come pay us a visit, out of our way.'

  He brushed past Jimmy as if he wasn't there, none of C-Company made a move to stop him and with good reason. Armand was purposeful and loud and seemed to strike fear into those that weren't part of his group. Jimmy wondered what happened to that brashness when he encountered the handful of A-Company members dotted about the fort.

  As he watched the men file out of the room leaving him alone with C-Company, Jimmy's thoughts turned to Jakob for the first time since his father had taken him away. He violently shoved it back down out of necessity, he knew he couldn't allow himself to think or feel anything unimportant in a time of crisis. Instead he silently observed the men in the room with him picking over the remaining weapons, a sorry collection for a sorry group.

  He shook his head, why was he thinking like that bully Armand? Perhaps these men were no fighters but that did not invalidate their humanity. He joined them and selected a blunt-looking dagger for himself, though he couldn't imagine what use it would serve against a trained assassin.

  What could they do really? A group of the crippled and decrepit would be more likely to get in the way than anything else.