by Tim Allen
Four men had overwhelmed Haakon and were stabbing him repeatedly in the stomach. Nala wailed a bloodcurdling scream and grabbed an ax off the ground with one hand and a fallen razor whip with the other, wading into the battle. She slid between the men who attacked her so adeptly that they were dead before they knew she had hit them. She used the whip masterfully in movements that almost seemed choreographed, plucking out one attacker’s eyes and ripping another man’s face from his skull. The Nannas gave her wide berth as the small but incredibly fierce woman dispensed death to all in her path. When she reached the men who were attacking her husband, she eviscerated one with the ax, spun around and cut the second man’s throat, and hurled the ax into the forehead of the third. The fourth ruffian stood up and charged, but Nala did a series of nimble back flips to avoid the screaming madman’s clumsy attack. He charged again as she changed directions to a front flip. She launched into the air, flicking her whip and wrapping it around the man’s neck with an incredibly fluid movement, landing on his shoulders. She pressed her knees into his back, tightened the whip, and strangled him until his tongue protruded and he fell dead onto his face.
“Haakon! Haakon, my love! Don’t die,” Nala cried, clutching Haakon, who was bleeding from his stomach, chest, and shoulder. “Please don’t leave me.”
Opening his eyes, Haakon glared at Nala with hatred and hissed, “Release me, you Nanna bitch.” Then he shuddered and coughed up blood. Several of the Nannas who had come to help Nala spat profanities at Haakon; one of the women sneered at Nala, and the others walked away in disgust, laughing at her weakness.
As Nala tried to stop the bleeding, Syn came over and picked up Haakon. She vanished into the air before Nala could protest. Wolf had just reached Nala’s side and grabbed her arm as she broke into hysterical sobs.
“Where has Syn taken him, Wolf? Where?” Nala cried. She grabbed Wolf’s ripped shirt in her bloody hands and tugged on it while he gently held her in his arms to calm her.
“She has taken him where I took you when you were injured and nearly died. Syn will save him if she can. You know that, Nala.”
Wolf saw a glimmer of hope in Nala’s eyes as she allowed herself to be reassured. They turned back to the battle and saw a handful of Jonar’s ragged men fleeing into the woods. Of the several hundred ruffians who had attacked the group, less than twenty had survived. The Nannas’ wolves pursued them into the forest and ate well that night. Ten of Wolf’s men were dead and six injured. Five of the Nannas’ animals were slain or put down, but not one warrior died.
Skylla approached Nala, accompanied by her warriors. They knelt before her and Skylla declared in a solemn voice, “My sister, as always, your skill is inspiring to watch. No Nanna was ever so skilled as you. I apologize for my earlier remarks. Forgive me, sister.” Nala looked at her and then collapsed on the ground, crying.
“What is wrong with her, my lord? Is she injured?” Skylla asked, glancing at Wolf.
“Haakon is severely injured and may die. His parting words to her were not kind.”
Skylla looked out over the dead bodies in the clearing and sneered, “If he were here, I would kill him myself. No man should live after disrespecting a Nanna as he did. At the very least, I would cut out his tongue to silence his insults. Nala, my sister, you shame yourself by this display of weakness.”
Wolf glared at Skylla, who shrugged her shoulders and walked off. He helped Nala up from the ground as Trulane and his siblings ran to her side. They were crying because they had seen their father fall. Wolf embraced Nala and consoled her as Eras and his men set about the grisly task of burying their dead and making litters for the wounded. An hour later, they resumed the journey. They had won another victory over Jonar, but the cost was high.
Haakon was barely conscious as he looked up and tried to focus on Syn. She seemed to carry his weight with ease. She laid him on a cot, and as he looked at her face and thought how pretty she was, two clones of Syn entered the room. Haakon looked from one to the other and then fainted from shock.
Syn used the portable scanner to examine Haakon’s wounds. His lips were blue, and his skin was turning a grayish pallor. The stab wound on the right side of his chest made a horrible gurgling sound. Syn’s helpers removed his bloody clothes and washed his mud-spattered body, carefully cleaning dirt and clotted blood from his wounds. One started an IV to pump stimulants to help with the pain and bolster Haakon’s faltering heart. The scanner revealed a collapsed lung, and his left kidney was damaged. He had several bowel perforations, and his spleen was nicked. Syn decided to repair the lung first. She inserted a tube and suctioned out the blood as her clones attended to Haakon’s various other wounds. She then performed major surgery that lasted several hours. Haakon survived, but he was in extremely critical condition.
“Commander, I have stabilized Haakon, but it will be touchy for a while.”
Wolf moved his hand to his mouth and whispered into his watch, “Good job, my love. I will let Nala know. How are Jonar’s forces evading our radar scans?”
“Commander, it’s some kind of jamming signal. I will work on it and try to counter it. When do you want me to return? Several people saw me disappear into thin air, and I carried away a man like a ghoul.”
“Come to the castle gate a few hours before Jonar arrives. Keep Haakon sedated until later.
“Yes, Commander.”
Wolf reached out and pulled Nala into a comforting embrace. She turned to him, her eyes red and swollen from crying. With an anguished look on her face, she asked, “Is there any news about Haakon?”
“Syn performed surgery and stabilized him. He is in critical condition, but he will live.”
Nala fell into Wolf’s arms, crying softly. “Tell Syn I will give her what she asked. For saving my Haakon, I owe her everything.” She pulled away and walked to her children, forcing a weak smile and letting them know their father would live. Besides feeling tremendous relief, she felt a nagging guilt in the back of her mind because, again, she had enjoyed Wolf gently holding her. She was so confused by her emotions.
Skylla and Eras joined Wolf, looking perplexed, and Eras asked, “My lord, where did your woman take Haakon? I mean no disrespect, sir, but she picked him up and disappeared.”
“Even the Nanna could not track her scent. Haakon’s stench stops at the clearing’s edge where he fell,” Skylla added. “We searched into the brush but her scent and Haakon’s vanished. If she was taken captive by the retreating soldiers, their foul odor could be masking hers.” Skylla gazed at Wolf with a trace of suspicion in her dark eyes.
“Syn took Haakon to my ship. She is very strong and just as fast as I am. I saw her take him. When she has finished patching him up, they will return to us. You have sworn allegiance to me. I ask for your good faith on this. Will you two trust me?”
Eras nodded and Skylla replied, “Yes, my lord, we trust you.”
Changing the subject, Wolf said, “I want to ask you, what is wrong with these ruffians?”
“They use drynox, my lord,” Eras replied, as if that explained everything.
“Drynox? Onel mentioned it. Tell me what it is.”
“It is a drink made from swamp moss. It numbs the ruffians’ minds from pain and makes them fearless. It enters the bloodstream in minutes, but it must be continually sipped to maintain its effects. Jonar’s men lace their food and water with it. Some place it between their teeth and lip, sucking the bitter root all through the day. When they are about to die, they act like animals hungering for flesh. Jonar has done something to the moss that makes the ruffians utterly loyal to him, and only his moss can make their nightmares and pains stop, they say. Some still go crazy and Jonar has to kill them. You have fought them three times now—at Haakon’s farm, outside the castle, and today.”
“I sensed something was wrong…they seem to feel no pain or fear. I hate killing them. I feel like a murderer every time I have to defend myself.”
“No, my lord, it’s not murder, it
is mercy. They will all die anyway. Drynox kills in a few years, and it is a horrible death. Those who use it urinate all their blood out towards the end and die screaming in pain. They fight Jonar’s wars because they want to die.”
* * *
Three days later, an hour before sundown, Eras led his detail across the plain and up to the castle’s main gate. The presence of the Nanna warriors provoked a stir among the troops camped out in the tents. Eras reported to General Titus with Skylla at his side. The remaining soldiers went to their bunks after placing Wolf’s containers at the gate. After sundown, Skylla and her warriors took an unoccupied area by the outer woods and made camp.
Wolf appropriated a few men to help him carry the containers into the castle. After the last container had been hauled up to the roof, he dismissed the soldiers and asked, “Syn, how is Haakon?”
“He is still unconscious, Commander. He was badly wounded.”
“Where are you, my love?”
“I am directly above your head. Shall I deploy the holo-tent?”
“Yes, I was going to suggest that.”
“Step into the stairwell, Commander. I need to land the ship and it will be a tight fit.”
Wolf moved back into the stairwell. Moments later, a minor jolt shook the castle as the weight of the ship made contact with the roof, dislodging bits of debris onto Wolf’s head.
“Damn, Syn, will the roof hold it?”
“Yes, Commander. I only fifteen percent of the ship’s weight is resting on the roof. I did not want to risk the roof collapsing. Come on in, the tent is ready.”
Wolf stepped out of the stairwell and saw that Syn had erected the huge tent perfectly. He touched it; the material was pliant in his hands. He walked to the entrance and looked inside, seeing a couch, a bed, a huge table with eight chairs, and in the rear, the open ramp going up to the ship.
“This is nice, Syn. Again, you did a fantastic job.”
Wolf walked through the tent to the ramp at the back and climbed up into the ship, going directly to the med lab to check on Haakon. The man was hooked up to a bank of diagnostic apparatus that monitored his vital signs with beeps and flashing lights.
“How does Haakon look to you, Syn?” Wolf asked. “He seems pretty pathetic to me.”
“He was wounded severely, Commander. A few more minutes and he would have bled out. I had to repair a collapsed lung, his stomach sustained major damage, and I had to remove his right kidney and spleen. I will not let him regain consciousness for a few more days. He needs the sleep. Can you bring Nala up? I want to assure her of his comfort and safety.”
“Yes, but I meant to ask you, Syn. When did you and Nala become such good friends? Oh, she said to tell you that you can have what you wanted from her. What’s going on?” Wolf asked, intensely curious.
“It’s nothing, Commander. She and I merely have become friends. I stopped by Haakon’s farm to check on her condition. She is a good woman, and we talk girl talk.”
“How can I bring her here? The last time she saw you, you were in the forest fighting.”
Syn gave Wolf an appraising look and slowly answered, “Wolf, Nala knows what I am. She has known for a long time. Just go get her.”
“What have you done to us, Syn? I hope no one else here is aware of our presence,” Wolf said, looking deeply troubled.
“Commander, she knows what I am, but she does not know who we are. Just go get her. I’m sure she is worried. Go, please. We will talk later.”
Wolf exited the tent. His first stop was to update King Waylan on his trek to Haakon’s homestead and his return with the containers that supposedly held the medical gear needed for the monarch’s surgery. Then he walked out to the plain in front of the castle. It took him nearly an hour to locate Nala’s tent in the vast military camp. He called out to her, and when she emerged, he took a step back in shock. She was dressed in a Nanna outfit and seemed ready for battle. Her once sweet face was rock-hard, her eyes cold and devoid of feeling. Wolf could not recall seeing so lovely a face turn so lifeless, so fast.
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” Nala said with no emotion. “Syn couldn’t save him.”
“Quite the opposite, Nala. Syn wants to see you. She wants to assure you that Haakon will live. I need you to come with me.”
“I can’t leave my children here with Jonar’s army coming.”
“Syn told me you know about her, Nala. If so, then you know what I tell you is the truth. She has saved Haakon, and he will live. Trust me, Nala. Come to my quarters in the castle.”
“Fine,” she agreed in a monotone. Turning to Skylla, who had come out of the tent, she said, “Wolf is taking me to the castle to tell me about Haakon. Watch over my family, my sister.”
“I will watch them as if they were my own. No harm will come to them,” Skylla vowed.
Wolf took Nala’s hand, and as they walked towards the castle, he asked, “Why are you dressed like that, Nala?”
The woman turned her once-bright eyes to Wolf and said, “I have tried to live tame like a lowlands woman, but Jonar has made it impossible. I had forsaken my heritage for a man I thought worthy. Let me tell you why my sister and the others kneeled to me. Many winters ago, my mother chose me to lead our people. I had seven older sisters who hated me. My mother and grandmother saw my potential when I was very young, and I was given training by the Erinyes—three old crones who have proven themselves as elite fighters through trial by combat, and their skills are incredible. No one knows how many years they have lived, and no one had seen them in years, but when I was three, they appeared. I was given to them to train, and for twelve years, day and night, I was taught to fight. When I returned, my mother had given birth to Skylla. She was nine at the time, and I was fifteen. We hit it off immediately. My mother was proud that the crones had chosen her daughter, and she had me fight all her seasoned warriors.”
Nala met Wolf’s gaze and added, “It is not bragging when I say I am the most skilled Nanna ever to live. I have fought many battles and killed hundreds by my whip and blade. One day, Jonar came to our people to demand our allegiance. We fought all day and into the night. We killed hundreds of his men, but they kept coming. Our warriors fought until they fell from exhaustion. Jonar’s soldiers never attacked them while they lay unconscious—it was obvious he wanted us alive. Hundreds of my sisters were taken captive. They were chained and forced to lie on the ground, shamed at being defeated by common men.
“My mother and I fought harder than the rest, and we were still fighting when the others awoke. Hundreds of Jonar’s men surrounded us and continued trying to take us alive. Finally, Jonar himself arrived. He ordered his men back and walked towards my mother, staying out of her whip range. He said something to her, and she shouted ‘No!’ several times. Then, he smiled and raised his hand. Lightning shot out of it, hitting her, and she fell to the ground like a sack of fruit.
“We had heard of his lightning weapon, but we believed it was a lie. It was rumored that the weapon did not kill but only stunned, so I tried to reach my mother to rescue her. Jonar shot his lightning at me again and again, driving me back. I fought and killed his men as they tried to subdue me. They dragged my mother over to the other captives, and when I saw her chained, I went mad. I became one with my whip and blade, and his men fell screaming all around me. For some reason, Jonar did not shoot his lightning weapon at me again. But the odds were so unequal that my mother signaled to me to escape. I broke through Jonar’s lines and fled into the forest, bloody and severely wounded. I came upon a small village, and I stole clothing off a clothesline, discarding my Nanna gear. At some point, I wandered onto Haakon’s land and collapsed. It was raining when he found me, and I was dying. Haakon nursed me back to health. I married him and bore his children. I would have stayed with him for the rest of my life. I swear, if that man dies, I will kill Jonar with my teeth.” Nala uttered the words with such resolve that Wolf gained a new respect for her.
“Haakon will recover, I promis
e you. Bring back that smiling face for him, Nala. Remove the gorgon’s mask you now wear.”
“I will not smile until he smiles. My heart will not allow it. Please, let us hurry,” Nala urged, still thinking of Wolf’s hard, powerful arms around her body.
They went through the castle and up onto the landing where the holo-tent stood. Wolf glanced around and whispered, “Syn, we’re here.” They walked under the tent flap, and Syn was waiting for them at the top of the ship’s ramp. She frowned when she saw Nala dressed in a Nanna outfit but gave her an affectionate hug.
“Come, Nala, I want to talk to you,” Syn said, leading the woman up into the ship. “I have your husband here. I have stitched his wounds, and he is recovering.”
“How is it possible, Syn? How did you get him here? You could not have gotten here before us,” Nala said.
“Remember what I told you about myself, Nala. I have other abilities that may seem like magic to you. Come, your husband waits.”
As they walked through the ship to the med bay, Wolf noticed that Syn had concealed the walls and computer monitors with carpets and paintings to give the interior a rustic, homey look. When they reached the med bay and Nala caught a glimpse of Haakon, she cried out and ran to his side. He was lying on a simple cot with wires from the EKG attached to his chest and an IV in his arm. An oxygen mask covered his face, causing Nala to gasp in fear.
“The things on him are keeping him alive until his body is strong enough to take over,” Syn explained. “Do you trust me, Nala?”
“Yes, I trust you, Syn. You hold my heart here. I will do whatever you want and give you any price you ask, but save him for me.”
Nala broke into tears, and Syn gently hugged her, whispering, “I will save him because I love you, Nala. Have faith in me. You are the only person on this planet who knows my secret. Bring your family here—I will ask Wolf to have lodging constructed on the roof next to ours. You will stay here to help me with Haakon. No one must know he is here yet, do you understand?” Syn asked, looking into her eyes.