The Hound of Hell

by Rory Nelson

  At a perfect angle, he plummets deeper and deeper. The pressure squeezes his eardrums so hard he feels they will burst. Renault’s descent slows to about sixty feet. To reverse his sinking further, he waves his arms to swim in the opposite direction.

  Renault pushes up to the surface while his lungs burn with increasingly painful force. He swims faster. Renault glimpses the top of the lake through the murky water. He prays he is going in the right direction. Renault reaches the top and breathes deeply. The air never tasted so sweet.

  (2)

  The sudden drop hits Gwyneth so fast she isn’t aware she’s falling. With the force of a billy hammer, she sees the two metal partitions snap shut. Then, she feels it, G-force. The sickening, sinking loss of gravity fills the pit of her stomach. The train rolls midair ass-over-end. She falls from one side of the car to the other. Gwyneth screams and reaches out for Montgomery. She catches him as he flies past her with his arms flailing like a puppet in a windstorm. The car plummets and they float suspended in the air. Both scream at the top of their lungs. A massive thud of metal hits the water.

  With some luck, the two are thrown back against the numerous sacks of grain, cushioning their fall. But gravity throws her body like a rag doll against Montgomery as Gwyneth lands on top of her son. And the force is akin to falling bricks.

  As Gwyneth collides into him, her head snaps back with the whip of a coiled rope. The back of Gwyneth’s head smashes into his nose, breaking the cartilage. Montgomery’s head cushions Gwyneth’s head from breaking her neck. But, the fall, her weight, and the head whip breaks his neck instead. His eyes grow cold in the abyss.

  During the fall into the grain, Gwyneth is unaware of her son’s injuries. For a split moment, she is thankful her and Montgomery are still alive. Panic sets in as the train car sinks further. Gwyneth screams. She finds the partition past the grain. Dammit. The massive water pressure is immense. As the train creeps downwards, water fills the car at an alarming rate.

  She turns to wake up Montgomery. “Help me, baby! We need to get out of here. Will you help mommy? Please.” When Gwyneth shakes him, she understands the aftermath of the fall. Montgomery’s eyes have no light; his body is limp and unresponsive. Only then she notices his caved-in nose.

  Gwyneth feels for a pulse and cuddles her son in her arms, sobbing in hysterics. “No, Montgomery. Oh God! No! No! No!” She rocks him like a baby, trying to will him back to life. She wails, as the car fills with freezing water.

  “We’ll be together soon, boy.”

  (3)

  Renault breathes deeply long enough only to catch his breath. The crash of the car train in the lake causes a small tidal wave several yards away. Instead of swimming away from it, he swims toward it as fast as he can. Luckily, he is an accomplished swimmer. In only a few minutes he is directly over the car train. The immense drag of such weight pulls himself down with it. But rather than fight it, he gives into it. Renault allows it to push him down further and faster into the icy cold waters. He swims down further and once again the waters grow murkier.

  He has trouble with spatial recognition and depth perception. At one point, he believes he is within grasping reach, but he latches onto nothing. Relentless bubbles continually rise to the surface, making way in the water for the massive metal beast.

  He swims harder for the train as his lungs cry out for air. In seconds, he is nearly blindsided by the side of it. Renault’s eyes adjust in the murky depths. He hears sounds of metal bearings coming to rest on the waterlogged ground through the drumming in his ears. Renault sees the outline of the metal partition and swims to it. He pulls on the partition, but the water created an unbreakable drag.

  In haste, he thinks of a plan. Renault takes a carabiner attached to his harness and attaches it to hollowed part of the door. He swims to the cliff face and braces himself. With his might, he pulls on the rope. This time, the force is much greater, and the door gives in. As soon as it opens a few feet, he swims inside and discovers two bodies.

  The body of the boy is nothing more than a corpse, or so it appears. The cartilage in his nose imploded onto itself. His dazed eyes and horrific expression stare at him accusingly. I’m sorry. He considers taking him, but the screeching sound of the train falling interrupts the thought. There’s only time to take one. Renault grabs Gwyneth.

  He pulls her body and struggles to fight back the drag with the train going down. After about 20-feet, he is completely free and rushes to the top. His lungs scream out in anguish for air, but his adrenaline tells him otherwise.

  Just as he believes he can’t take anymore seconds without air; he sees flickering light. The surface comes into view. Renault breaks through and gasps for air, filling his oxygen-starved lungs.

  As he swims for the shore, he catches his breath while pulling her lifeless body. Renault approaches the shore, picks her up, and places her on her back, gingerly. He listens for a heartbeat but is unable to find one. While plugging her nose and breathing into her mouth, he listens for several seconds.

  Renault pumps her heart, feeling a rib break in the process. He listens for a heartbeat but hears none. Renaults breathes into her mouth and alternatively pumps her chest. Repeat. He does this for at least a half hour, but she remains unresponsive. Dead to the world.

  With no hope for resuscitating her, he reverently shuts her eyelids. A few stray tears roll down his cheeks. “Christ,” he whispers. “What were you doing on that train? You weren’t supposed to be there. None of you were.” He kisses her on the forehead. “I cry pardon. I failed you. We all did. Forgive me,” he says as he chokes back tears and his voice breaks.

  To build her a shallow grave, Renault finds the daggers from his flap jacket. He digs with expedience and reverence. Although not quite six feet, the grave is deep and far enough from an animal’s hunger. Renault places her in the final resting place and says a short prayer for her and her boy.

  When Renault finishes, he looks up on to the bridge. Every few minutes, stray pieces of the bridge fall off into the water. As to be expected, the place is deserted. He didn’t expect them to be there, but he held out a little hope. “Suppose I would have written me off as dead too, brothers. So be it.”

  Renault takes his two small coin bags he keeps on himself, just concealed underneath his flap jacket. He counts out the gold pence. Good. He has plenty.

  He takes stock of his weaponry. Surprisingly, one gun sits in his right holster. Renault inspects and fires it but is unable. It does not surprise him. Most waterlogged weaponry does not function.

  For several minutes, Renault glances up at the bridge, hoping maybe at least one of his brethren will appear.

  With the Terra-Gaulians pursuing him, half of his men betraying him, Renault formulates an alternative plan.

  Chapter 24: Dire Warning

  After sleeping through the night relatively peacefully, Renault awakes from Ginsing’s tonics feeling invigorated. He pays him several extra gold pence, though Ginsing tries to refuse it.

  Wearing the clothes of the dead courier, Renault travels in the direction of Pillar’s Cove. He stops at Velmoot, a small town just a half day’s ride from Dermot.

  Posing as the courier needing to give Governor Duelyn important correspondence, Renault receives the intelligence he desperately needed. The whereabouts of Duelyn.

  As luck would have it, Duelyn is stationed in Mont Banezier, preparing himself for another campaign against the Visi-Gauls. Mont Banezier is half a day’s ride from Pillar’s Grove, the spot of the infamous rendezvous point.

  Renault heads into Cobb’s Saloon amid the darkness. He pulls his extra wide ponchero hat over the top of his head to obscure his face. No one takes much notice of him as he wears a Terra-Gaulian uniform.

  As he tethers his horse, Renault catches sight of a tall, well-built soldier. The soldier exits from the saloon wearing a big grin. Renault focuses on the man’s thoughts as easily as picking up stunned fish floating on a lake.

  Dumb fucks never gon
na discover they’ve been had yet again. This time for about five hundred gold pence.

  “Howdy-ho Ridgewick,” says one of two soldiers about to enter the saloon. “Good night for you at parlay clover?”

  “Oh, I can’t complain,” says Ridgewick.

  The two soldiers walk into the saloon. Ridgewick eyes them, ensuring they are out of view. He takes out his coin purse and shakes out the numerous gold pence in his hand.

  Renault quietly saunters up to him. Ridgewick looks up, startled. “Must have a good night, huh?” Renault asks.

  “The fuck’s it to you, stranger,” replies Ridgewick heatedly.

  Renault smiles. “I’d bet they’d love to know you’ve been cheating on them. And for so long. What do you think they’d say to that?”

  Ridgewick grows enraged. “You ain’t gonna tell them shit, fuckwad.” He steps in and throws a punch. Renault sidesteps it, pivots, and swings viciously into his side. He slams his fist into his other side, causing Ridgewick to cry out.

  Ridgewick moves to retrieve his guns, but Renault is much too fast. Lightning quick, he pulls a dagger from his flap jacket and points it at Ridgewick’s throat. “You don’t have to worry about me, Scout. I won’t say anything about your little ruse. So long as you deliver me a message to Governor Duelyn. Do it and your secret’s safe with me.”

  Their little ruckus alerted a couple of soldiers inside. They come out in a huff, clearly expecting trouble. As soon as they are outside, Renault just as quickly puts away his knife. “You alright Ridgewick?” one of them asks.

  Ridgewick looks at him and nods. “Ai.” He laughs. “Just a little misunderstandin’ is all. We’re old friends here.”

  “That right, stranger?”

  Renault turns and puts on his best disarming smile. “Ai. We was just roughhousing like old friends. Got a little carried away is all.”

  The soldiers nod. They turn to go back in.

  “Give me your note, Sai. Who should I say delivered it?”

  “A courier, a courier you don’t want to fuck with. You ken?”

  Ridgewick nods. Something about the stranger feels vaguely familiar. Ridgewick may have seen him somewhere, but he can’t place it. “Ai.”

  Ridgewick does not hesitate in going straight to Governor Duelyn. He knocks on the door to the Governor’s office. This immaculately kept, dust-free large room has a desk taking nearly half of the space. On the walls are pictures of his family and his plethora of medals. Duelyn is a tall, broad-shouldered man with a graying hair and prominent frown lines. The start of crow’s feet surround his eyes. He keeps his salt and peppered beard trimmed with precision.

  Despite that, he has the vigor of youth evident in his gray eyes. “Enter,” Duelyn commands in a deep-timbre voice. “Corporal Ridgewick, what brings you here on this peaceful night?”

  Ridgewick presents a small envelope. “I have a message here for you.”

  “From who?” questions Duelyn.

  “A courier. Didn’t leave his name. Just said he was someone I didn’t want to fuck with.”

  Duelyn laughs. “Well, that must have put you in your place.”

  Ridgewick looks disgruntled. “He appears to be a dangerous man. And familiar in some way. I just can’t place him.”

  This piques Duelyn’s interest more. “Let me see that.” He commands. Ridgewick hands it to him.

  Duelyn reads it and his eyes dilate in shock and his heart speeds up precipitously.

  Governor Duelyn,

  It is with great urgency that I must meet you at once. Your life may depend on it.

  R

  “Corporal, you will bring this man to me right away. You ken?”

  Ridgewick looks at him as if he had gone mad. “Are you sure that’s prudent, Governor? This man is dangerous, and he knows things.”

  Duelyn raises his eyebrows. “Like what? That you’ve been cheating at parlay clover and stealing from us all because of it?”

  Ridgewick’s eyes appear about to pop out of his skull. He looks stupefied. “You knew? How?”

  “I’ve played with you before and I suspected. But now I know for sure.”

  Ridgewick shakes his head and bends down on one knee. He takes his hand and kisses it. “I cry pardon, Governor. It will never happen again. I swear it.”

  “Oh yes it will,” says Duelyn. “And now that we know; you won’t refuse me a damn thing. You ken? In fact, I’m going to make you my right-hand man. And I will keep your little secret safe. You ken? Now, go get this man and tell him to meet me at the Honeycomb Gardens at tempest halt. Is that understood?”

  Ridgewick kisses his hand. “Ai, Governor. Set watch and warrant it.”

  “And Ridgewick?” Ridgewick turns to him. “You will not make any mention of this man to anyone. Is that understood? You will forget this man ever came to see me? Because if I hear you made any mention of it, I will have you court-martialed. Then thrown in the brig. Is that understood?”

  Ridgewick nods vigorously. “Ai, Governor.” He turns to go.

  (2)

  As Governor Duelyn sits on the park bench, he gazes at the gorgeous blood-red moon. The crest escapes beneath a dark cloud cover. The reflection from Lake Banezier casts insidious shadows from the manicured hedges. Its greenery stands sentry, circumventing one fourth of the lake. The magenta bougainvillea blooms and gives a luminescence, aided by the glow of the moon. Throughout the park, numerous lampposts flank the well-kept trails.

  Duelyn normally would have felt inspired by such breathtaking views, but not tonight. The scenery belies the tumultuous maelstrom in his mind. He fidgets restlessly, biding his time between scrutinizing the grounds and checking his pocket watch every couple of minutes. Duelyn ensures no one has followed him.

  Duelyn takes one more visual sweep of the grounds. The next second he turns his head, Renault is already on the bench.

  Still, Duelyn is not completely sure. “Courier?” he asks. “You have a letter for me?”

  “No need to become paranoid, Governor. We’re alone here. I’ve seen to it.”

  “Renault?” Duelyn asks.

  Renault nods, removing his hat. Duelyn smiles half-heartedly. “You took a helluva chance coming here tonight. You don’t think anyone recognized you, do you?”

  “I tried to be as subtle as possible. I don’t believe Ridgewick knows. And, he has something to hide himself.”

  “But cheating at cards is one thing. Harboring the Hound of Hell is another. That’s punishable by death. You ken?”

  “I ken, Governor. But I needed to warn you. And I think after you read this, you’ll understand why.” Renault hands him the letter from Proximus.

  As Duelyn reads it, his body tenses up and his hands shake.

  “Jesus Christ!” stammers Duelyn. “How did he find out?”

  “I don’t know. He has his spies and perhaps one of our own. I suspect that Proximus and Whalen are working together. It would explain much.” An uncomfortable silence ensues as both men rub their hands through their hair. “You see now why I came straight to you.”

  “Ai,” replies Duelyn. “But it was still reckless of you. Incredibly brave, but you took a helluva chance tonight.”

  Duelyn looks at Renault curiously. “Getting that letter, however the hell you did it,-that was smart. But I’m afraid it will only stall the inevitable. Sooner or later, King Aleksandr will be told of my betrayal.”

  “And with it, our plan to destroy them all.”

  Duelyn nods. “Ai.”

  “Do you trust your men?” asks Renault.

  “Most of them. As of now, I have Ridgewick by the balls. But that little bit of blackmail will only go so far.”

  “Not when we’re looking at a treason charge. No one will stick his neck out for you.”

  “And with good reason. That neck will have a blade severing it as quick as hell.”

  “Ai,” answers Renault. “You need to go into exile at tempest halt. What’s your escape plan? How many men at your behest c
an you trust?”

  “A few,” says Duelyn, though he knows that’s optimistic at best. “At the back of my mind, I’ve been expecting this would happen. But now that it’s here, I’m bewildered and unprepared.”

  “But you must act now, Governor. We’re counting on you.”

  “And I’m counting on you both. It’s the least I can do to try and redeem myself for what happened to you.”

  “That wasn’t your fault. Nothing could have prevented it. We must think of the future.”

  “I’ll enact a plan. We’re on the eve of a great battle. My abrupt absence will be less suspicious under the circumstances.” Duelyn sighs. He looks at Renault. “What are you going to do? I’ve heard about your mission. Assume it did not go according to plan.”

  “That’s an understatement,” says Renault. “We were cornholed from the start. That fucking Whalen set us up. They knew we were coming from the start and they were prepared.”

  “But you still completed your mission?”

  “Barely. And there were unforeseen casualties.”

  “Imagine there were. Don’t dwell on the collateral damage, boy.”

  “Can’t help it,” laments Renault. “That’s how I work. Every time I close my eyes, I see their faces, pleading, suffering, praying for a hero. They met their end on my watch.”

  “We all have our demons, Renault.” He sighs, trying to digest the horrendous possibilities for them both. “I assume there’s a rendezvous point?”

  “Ai,” says Renault. “Pillar’s Cove.”

  Duelyn shakes his head. “If what you say is true and Whalen is working with Proximus, you can’t show your face there. He’s set you up for this. You know he’s going to try and collect on that bounty.”

  Duelyn pulls a piece of paper from his waist bag. He shows it to Renault. “4,000 gold pence for your capture, Renault. If Whalen wants you gone, it will be the quickest way to it. You can’t go to Pillar’s Cove. You do and you’re a dead man.”

  “And if I don’t, the brethren who are loyal to me will be eliminated. Whalen won’t hesitate. And if that happens, our Dark Brethren will be awash. Laid to waste like so much human refuse. I can’t allow that. I won’t allow Whalen to get away with that.”