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by J. R. Karlsson


  They were lucid and human, defying the monstrous contours of the body they inhabited. It was the knowing gaze that swept over him as it realised it wouldn't catch him, that there were only so many places Jimmy could flee before eventually he would succumb.

  He looked behind him once, forcing himself to slow upon realising that he didn't know where he was running to. Whatever was pursuing him was doing so at a methodical pace, this gave Jimmy time to think, or despair.

  No, Jimmy thought to himself. He wasn't going to give in to despair, there had to be a way out of Sah'kel now that the guards had been slaughtered. If Jadil had been killed by that thing why had it not taken Jimmy's life also? Furthermore if the assassin had killed him he would be just as likely to finish Jimmy in the process, the fact that he was still living made no sense as he didn't see either party offering him mercy.

  He needed to find the Urtaka and he doubted that such beasts would be kept below ground, they were used to the desert conditions and as such needed little sheltering beyond the palisade. He needed to leave these corridors and search the exterior of the fort, perhaps they were kept in an adjoining shed or building. He hoped it was easy to saddle one of them, he didn't want to witness their reaction to the creature stalking him.

  He felt safer out in the open, at least here he could spot the monster coming when it inevitably caught up with him. He refused to think about what would happen when he started to tire.

  As he skirted the inside of the palisade wall he fought down the urge to move quickly, he knew that he may miss an important detail should he be pressed by fear into moving faster than he needed to.

  He heard the shuffling footsteps ahead of him this time.

  Turning quickly he went back the way he came in the hopes of evading the thing a little longer. He had to find the Urtaka before night fell and his sight was compromised, he couldn't imagine trying to evade that thing in the dark.

  Approaching the other side of the ringed palisade he heard the same footsteps, this time they were more pronounced than before. He dashed in the opposite direction but he couldn't get there before the footsteps started ringing in his ears.

  Jimmy realised with horror that the creature was deliberately herding him closer to the gate at a meticulous pace. It was going to eventually corner him or, having failed that, it would force him into the open desert and wait for him to perish. It was almost as if it knew what Jimmy was seeking and was actively attempting to prevent him from escape, the sentience he had seen behind those eyes lent itself to that suggestion all too readily.

  Jimmy found himself at the gate and running out of options, heading back into the fort was futile as there was nothing there but gloom and close quarters. Fighting the creature was out of the question given that it had been responsible for what was left of some of the bodies he came across. Torn asunder in a shower of gore in a way that no clinical assassin would bother with. Jimmy shuddered, feeling sick to his core, this was a horrible way to die.

  'Hey kid!' a voice rang out across the desert floor.

  He turned, relief flooding into him simply from hearing another human sound after his frantic evasions.

  It was the assassin, stood next to the giant lizard creature that had deigned not to destroy C-Company. It was a strange relief, knowing that your death was going to be merciful and swift rather than one of horror and despair.

  Jimmy approached them with a growing certainty, if he was going to die then he was going to do it with his head held high and with as little fear as possible.

  'I'm ready,' he said to the pair of them, waiting for the execution.

  The foreigner drew his sword with a metallic ring that signalled the end. 'How do you wish to die?'

  Jimmy offered him a defiant smile, refusing to show fear to the man this time. 'Just make it swift, I'm being followed.'

  The assassin nodded. 'We know of the shambling creature, he's fairly easy to avoid unless you're trapped here. I guess you were rather unfortunate in that respect, better I had killed you before than force you to witness such a thing in your lifetime.'

  He drew closer to Jimmy and started to raise the blade. 'Down on your knees, I'll make this swift.'

  Jimmy found himself on his knees all too suddenly, was he really so eager to die?

  Nothing happened.

  'My friend informs me that he believes you were the one that refused to attack him.'

  He nodded silently to these words, what did it matter now?

  'Re'tak is of a mind to spare you, he claims that the extra burden is nothing. I claim that every person in this fort must die. He insists that honour has been done and that none coming across this place will know that you survived. If you are willing to never speak of your time in Greyhawk, I will forgo exhuming you and we may travel together to Je'dara. Are these terms acceptable? If not I shall terminate your life.'

  Jimmy didn't believe in a higher power per se, the number of times he had been saved from certain death was beginning to make him question whether something was guiding him. He looked up into the narrowed eyes of his would-be assassin and took an outstretched hand that hoisted him to his feet. Somehow he was still alive, he wasn't entirely sure why.

  'What is Je'dara?' he finally asked.

  'The largest city outside of the Empire and that which I call my home. We return there to avenge a most distasteful slight, once we are within the gates you are on your own, understood?'

  Jimmy nodded, the prospect of civilisation was entirely welcome however foreign it may seem.

  'Fine,' Hern replied irritably to something that hadn't been said. 'Re'tak says that you will not be left to fend for yourself in Je'dara and that he will care for you.' He continued to adjust some makeshift straps on the lizard's back. 'Then we head west, my scaled brother wishes to aid his own brethren in their war against the pink skins as he calls them.'

  The war. In his time at Sah'kel Jimmy had completely forgotten that it raged on across the desert. He found that even that was preferable to what he had already witnessed.

  They made painfully cordial introductions and then Jimmy copied Hern in mounting the beast known as Re'tak. He didn't know what was going to happen to him but he felt that whatever he ended up facing after the madness of Greyhawk, he was ready for it.

  He smiled, not knowing without a proper reflection whether it was a boyish grin or a crazed one. All he knew was that after everything he had faced, he found that he wasn't afraid any more.

  128

  Gadtor

  'What is your name, human?'

  It was the first thing that Torr had said to him since he had beckoned him to follow in his wake through the canyon and away from what was left of the army.

  'Gadtor.'

  This elicited a grunting sound from the creature, he suspected it was laughter. Was there some sort of joke that he wasn't getting here?

  'You find that amusing?' he asked, a hint of irritation crept into his voice at having this thing be so merry in the face of so much death.

  The green-skinned brute looked back at him with a smile crawling over his pointed teeth. 'Very amusing indeed, that your name would end in Torr, the way that mine begins. It's almost poetic.'

  Gadtor didn't find anything humorous or poetic about it, he was tiring of running into super-powerful eccentrics with odd speech, he thought he'd seen the last of them after his departure from Urial. At least The Hermit didn't speak, he wondered if he'd be as irritating and obscure if he did.

  'Mothers took to naming their children after me, the tradition passed on and the name evolved so as to make it distinguishable. Soon there were many that had Torr at the end of their name, it was symbolic of strength and fortitude. Or so I was told.'

  He shrugged, not really in the mood for history lessons even though he knew he had to be diplomatic to some degree with what seemed to be a powerful new ally, or captor. Time to change the topic to something he was pondering.

  'Are there many of you with the powers you have displayed? A
n entire army would overrun the Empire in short order.'

  Torr's smile faded a little. 'I am the only one, there are no others. I just hope that I suffice.'

  'It's just that I know that there are others, they didn't look anything like you but they certainly possessed extraordinary power.'

  A look of interest flickered in the creature's eyes now, it seemed that Gadtor had got his attention.

  'How many others have you seen with these powers?'

  Gadtor made a show of counting his hands, much to Torr's disbelief by the time he reached his eighth finger.

  'I'd say about... two.'

  Torr let out a hearty guffaw of laughter that surprised Gadtor. 'You are a funny human! Tell me, what did these two that you speak of look like?'

  He didn't feel very funny, and couldn't help but wonder what would happen if he detailed one powerful being to another.

  Torr nodded at his eventual description. 'I know of the one you speak of with distaste, he had the unfortunate displeasure of encountering me in the depths of Sah'kel, what he was doing there I do not know as he fled before I could wrangle the information from him.'

  He thought back to the creature he was talking about, the seemingly invincible whorespawn that had decimated his forces and nearly cost him his life in Urial. The creature that had deliberately misguided him into killing his oldest friend. 'I hope he suffered, you should not have let him live.'

  Torr grunted, looking saddened by Gadtor's tone. 'In due course we shall both meet him once again, perhaps when the time comes you will avenge yourself of whatever ill he has wrought upon you. I do not think such actions will bring you peace.'

  'I don't want peace!' Gadtor shouted, completely unaware of how loud his words were. 'I want the fucking whorespawn dead, and if I need be your slave for a time to do so then so be it!'

  He caught a flicker of discontent in the beast's eyes then, it was enough to silence him.

  'You are no slave,' Torr said. 'I expect you to fight alongside me for our mutual benefit. If the whorespawn as you call him returns, I shall do my best to leave the killing blow to you.'

  Gadtor hadn't expected that, were these just words or was Torr really that concerned with letting him have his shot at vengeance? He decided to take the conversation another route, there was something else of import in those words. 'You do not see me as your slave? I thought you were planning on conquering the whole Empire?'

  Torr's easy smile had returned. 'Conquer is such a brutal word, I prefer the term usurp. I am looking to usurp the current power structure and those who wilfully uphold it. I do not plan to hack my way through the entire populace or displace them from their homes and livelihoods.'

  It was as if Gadtor's own thoughts had been read and recited back to him verbatim, here was a force that was planning exactly what he had. Where was his army? Then again, thinking back to what he did to the lizards, was the man even in need of one?

  'So you plan to use the Imperial army against the Empire? What of those that refuse to follow you, will you crush them?'

  Torr shook his head. 'You are painting me as a tyrant much too eagerly, I see it in your eyes that you believe as I do and that you are also trying your hardest not to believe me when I say that.'

  They rounded a bend in the canyon leading out into the open desert, Gadtor suddenly became aware that Torr had been leading him somewhere for the duration of their conversation, to what end?

  'If your Imperial army would oppose me by arms then they will die, if they surrender unconditionally they will be free to depart. If they choose to join me then they may augment my own forces.'

  'What forces do you possess?' Gadtor asked, beginning to realise where their wandering was leading them.

  'These forces,' Torr replied, sweeping his arm out over the sandy expanse as they crested the first dune.

  The basin was alive with movement such as Gadtor had never seen. Vast hordes of ebony-skinned humanoids swarmed in a great writhing mass as they made their way toward the canyons.

  'These are my forces. They can be yours too should you desire it. You are no slave, you are a commander of men. Will you join us in liberating your people from the oppression of the Empire, General Gadtor?'

  He stared out at the vast swelling of life as it stretched into the blurry, heat-soaked distance and smiled. There was only one answer.

  129

  Thom

  The sand was a blur of motion as he swept across the desert floor, barely touching the tips of the dunes as he propelled himself further into the heart of this once wretched place.

  Torr had granted him the gift and he had slaked his thirst like a drought-riddled prisoner, now his body coursed with power and the possibilities seemed limitless. He knew though, he knew exactly the choice he had been given and what was required of him. Finally they had Torr at their side, finally they could strike a blow against everything he had been forced to serve for twenty long and begrudging years.

  First the lizards would be extinguished once and for all, then the outlying cities would be freed. After that the inner cities would be liberated and they would march upon Levanin with a force that would make the world tremble.

  Then would come El-Vador, he would fall under Skullcleaver's wrath and his bones would be scattered to ash at the furthest point from his wife's grave. Then the others with their blind institutions would fall, crippled as they were. The outlying colonies across the ocean would surrender unconditionally and then finally he would have accomplished all that need be done.

  After he had torn down the statues in Daelovia and looked the Emperor in the eye as he executed justice, after all his past mistakes had been vanquished and avenged. Only then he would begin the search.

  He would find the boy that once was his son and he would bring him to justice for the sake of the realm.

  130

  Jakob Sandberg

  Jakob stared at the screen as he read those final chilling words, it felt like Thom was in the room waiting for him to turn. He swivelled in his chair and there was nothing there, no stranger or any other manifestation.

  It was done, it was finally complete. It had taken him the better part of the night to compose himself and write out the final ending to this particular book. There were many unanswered questions that he alone held the key to, the publishers could make what they will of that. Ultimately it was his way of staying useful to them, he needed to stay useful.

  Either he was going insane and the world he created was dislodging the one he once knew, or some nefarious force was greedily sucking the thoughts out of his head by inducing some state. He knew if he tried to explain it to anyone he'd sound like a wild conspiracy theorist, he probably was. All that was left to do was save the document and leave it on the monitor for Brian to find.

  He deliberated over whether to wake his family and present the finished work to them, or perhaps wait in the house a little longer to see them rise with the morning. He decided against both, they didn't need to see him here again.

  He paused for one last look around his room and sighed, he thought at one point that he'd never get away from here. That he'd be trapped eternally in this small place, his life forever confined to the screen in front of him and the four walls of grey plaster encasing him. Instead of spreading his wings he had moved from one small abode to another. The institute would be waiting for him, they knew there was little he could do without money or anyone to aid him in his escape.

  He walked over to his bedside and felt under the mattress for the familiar sensation. His fingers touched upon it and he dug it out, an old passport photo of his former wife. She had been cycling that day, her cheeks were red and she'd done her best to wipe the sweat clear of her face. In all honesty it hadn't been a great picture of her, it was the only one he had left now and he couldn't bring himself to burn it with the rest.

  Giving it a brief kiss he planted it back under his bed and made his way down the stairs.

  Dawn was breaking through the windows,
he had spent much longer than he thought typing away at his book. Glancing at the clock he realised that the police car would be here soon to return him to the institute. He found he was okay with that, the feeling of escape had passed, he just hoped it wouldn't return with the reappearance of Julia Simmons.

  No, he had completed the draft. Now it would be handed over to a team of expert editors, then a budding cover artist would slap something on the front and within the next few months it would be gracing book stores everywhere alongside the very authors that had beaten him to the punch.

  He wasn't worried if it didn't sell, it had never been about the money or the prestige. It was just something that he had needed to get out, something burning inside of him that yearned for an outlet, one that the blank sheet of a word processor had presented to him.

  There was a world inside him that had yearned for exploration his whole life. For now it had been silenced and he felt better for that.

  The kindly officer gave him a wave as the police car made its way up the long gravel path, Jakob walked out to meet it, not wishing to be seen leaving his former home by his early-bird father. They would know that he had been and gone soon enough.

  Officer Stapleton shook his head apologetically as Jakob made for the shotgun door. Instead he exited the vehicle and placed him in cuffs. Purely a formality he had said, Jakob had to admit that the cold steel was fairly loose on his wrists.

  He leaned back into the car seat and took a deep breath of the cloying air, closing his eyes as they began the inevitable departure back to the institute.

  'Going somewhere?' a familiar voice asked.

  Jakob opened his eyes, they were in a cave.

  'The seat of a squad car isn't the ending I had envisaged, was it really the best you could come up with?' the stranger asked.

  Jakob wasn't shocked this time, he had a feeling that this had been coming. 'The best stories are but snapshots in time, the characters will live in that moment and continue living long after it has passed. Whether their exploits are documented or not is my choice.'

 

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