Alliance

by Bruce S Larson

  He recalled the stories told to clutchlings about the night sky. The young had freed themselves from eggshells at second birth. They understood seeing cracks above their eyes before a larger world appeared when they burst out. The points of light in the sky were said to be tiny cracks making holes in a great shell over the world. Some place, even more majestic than the mangroves, oceans, and cities existed beyond the dark shell. Life was to ever be a hatchling and always look at a greater reality never fully seen until the body left the sea and land for that unknown reality beyond.

  Of course, the tiny holes were distant stars and planets. There was no shell, just the perception of the night sky as a vast dome. He did not recall how the myth dealt with moving points of light. Perhaps the storytellers said nothing if the listeners never asked about them or swirls of galactic arcs and nebulae. By the time his people left their planet’s surface, they knew many facts of cosmology. Yet, the shell story was sealed within his mind. He saw the curve of the shell across all the starry skies of all planets he walked. This was true, even on Hell.

  He stood on the very place that made black magic in legends appear real. To other minds, his kind appeared as chimeric dragons and knew few equals in size or strength. It mattered little against the Dark Urge. Yet, he survived and now his claws and tail scratched Hell’s ground. Now he and his allies looked for a hole to dive through and make war inside the Dark Urge’s shell, deeper into darkness and away from the sky. A new legend to write.

  Aekos felt wistful, and longed for a giant spider to attack him. None came. Nothing was around. He was safe from—

  The sky. He considered it again. A small, very small dot was new to the night’s shell. Three red. Aekos recalled Valthazar’s cryptic message. Aekos saw a red point. He knew the hue well. He remembered having to fight tactical withdrawals as the red burned closer. To see the crimson fire close by meant annihilation. He now saw it, anew.

  “Hell has come home.” Aekos spoke to no one but the red dot of fire. He reached behind his back and drew his secured spear. He thrust it repeatedly at the red dot as he spoke.

  “Whosoever you are, General, if you fight for her, the darkness, the maw that consumes all, I will kill you, though it be my last act. If you were who fought Sutuhr and the others and made them into burning rain, then I welcome you. We may fight, but in ceremonial battle to become one force. Either way, you will know me, Aekos, the very last of my kind. I am eater of Khans, and, if need be slayer of hordes.”

  Aekos flicked dust from his eyes.

  “Or, in the very least, I am one who stabs you among my mass of friends surrounding your body. Threats can be boastful. But it is truth that I can kill most anything. So come. Fight.”

  The warrior Khans reached the top of the mesa. They found a dragon beast slashing and roaring at the stars. They waited, silently at the edge.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Somewhat like a spearhead stabbing its shaft, Gin thought as he considered Anguhr’s ship striking Hell.

  All on the ship worked to stop that impact. Avoiding death was one of many reasons. There were others factors with greater consequence. Finding Zaria was of concern, especially to Gin, but stopping Octuhr would quell a new and worse age of galactic apocalypse.

  Anguhr considered his options and the best way to protect his horde. He knew Gin and Proxis were excellent technicians. They had already found a way to avert one collision and worked to employ it. He believed they would find a technological solution, if one existed. There may be more to Gin’s actions than giving aid. Nevertheless, nearing Hell offered the opportunity for multiple strikes. The Dark Urge appeared to sleep. Hell did not flare as a solid sun of heat and deadly energy as it did during his rebellion. It was safe to invade.

  Anguhr also knew the Great Widow and thus her new ally were rooted in Hell. If Zaria was captured, then Hell would be her prison. Thus, he would attack it soon enough. Someone, likely the Great Widow, had sent the ship recall from Hell. Finding the transmitter offered a means to broadcast a countermand and save the ship. Hell was a world of dangers and horror, but Anguhr was a General of a demon horde. Time was now his greatest enemy. As with all others, he would defeat it.

  “Solok!” Anguhr roared. “Ready the horde. All demons not tasked as engineers will follow me. We attack, again. If Hell calls us home, then we do so as demons. Today, Hell sees us return, as its conquerors!”

  The chorus of a million demon barks rang in Gin’s ears again. Immediately, Solok flew from the bridge as Anguhr stood. Gin turned to Anguhr as he pulled the black sword from the raised, stony foundation of his throne.

  “General, if this new enemy is as great as Zaria fears, you may be the only one who can stop it in combat.”

  “Then it is a benefit to the galaxy that I end up on Hell.” Anguhr looked down at the demon-sized Gin with a questioning gaze.

  “It is indeed, General. Good hunting.” Gin bowed and quickly turned back toward Proxis.

  The Great Widow finished the repairs to her web. The polygonal cell was restored, if now empty. However, a resonance near Zaria’s own vibrated within. It would be enough to fool prying minds she was still contained. Or so the spider hoped. She sensed she was not alone.

  “They come. Anguhr and his demons.” The Great Widow said as she crawled toward the distant patch of silk devoted to Octuhr’s mind. “They will be on Hell. Do you still doubt you should make an alliance with him?”

  “There is no reason,” Octuhr replied. “I am making a horde of hordes. A storm of monsters to feast on demon thorns and entrails.”

  “And Anguhr?” The spider asked as she confidently tread silk.

  “I will yet eat his mind,” Octuhr replied with less assurance.

  “His mind and body, his warrior’s heart and deep rage, it will be on Hell. If he becomes allies with Bahl—”

  “He will hate Bahl!” Octuhr countered. “Bahl stood against Anguhr’s father and mother. He would have eaten Anguhr himself.”

  “Doubtful, that act. Yet, you should hope they become enemies. A united force, one with a General and demons as well as monsters and Khans, that is great power in any age, against anyone.”

  “True,” Octuhr paused in thought. “I even thought of stoking the Forge, like mother. But, alas, that might harm even me until I change my physical as well as mental circumstance. It also appears my access to internal controls has become more difficult. Odd, that. Wouldn’t you say ancient weaver of silk and schemes?”

  “Yes. Odd.”

  “It is a vex ended in time.” Octuhr’s confidence rose. “For now, I can call other Builder construct into my war. No General, not even mother Dark Urge could do that.”

  “For good reason, Octuhr.” The Great Widow vibrated with real tension. “The Builder machines have power greater than even your parent. Leave them be. Did your experience of nearly perishing in a black hole created by your meddling—”

  “Enough! I will destroy this galaxy in a learning curve, if I must. Surely, you of all creatures, a spider in darkness, do not see anything as sacrosanct. Not even the Iron Work.”

  “That is where you and I differ,” the Great Widow replied with returning calm. “It is not what is seen in your mind, but what things are in reality that determines how they should be regarded. Respected.”

  “I can shape reality.” Octuhr’s vibrations rippled his region of silk.

  “You have not even mastered your own mind, child.”

  Octuhr was silent for several, dreadful seconds. Then began, again.

  “What you must respect, now, is that I am master of Hell. I am more than just General Octuhr. I am the Omniurge. But I shall not ask you to kneel. After all, you have no true knees. But if you ever feared mother, fear me more.”

  Demons were made to instill terror in many forms of sentient minds. Their vast, black wings unfolded from hides of thorns. They fired assault rifles as large as some artillery pieces. Their glare of serpent eyes, shark’s teeth, and talons on hands and fe
et looked ready to cut down mountains. And there were always far more demons than mountains on any world. This was true of Hell. Its desolate, forbidding face looked out at Anguhr’s ship that now burned with an aegis wider and brighter than ever. His horde soared from the ship’s chaos of burning beams and through the crimson flames to defy the world of their origin. A great cloud of black wings began forming strike formations under Solok’s command.

  Anguhr joined his demons as they soared into space over Hell. His ship would be far from the menacing planet in seconds. He adjusted his sword at his back and the rig holding the power rod. Then he leapt through the aegis from over his bridge. Once he left the ship’s inferno, one ignited within him. A human-like figure in black armor became a falling fireball. He found he could summon his inner inferno as an external force when fighting Ursuhr in the rebellion. Now it was a useful and quite spectacular means to land on a planet.

  Aekos’ warning had gathered the commanders of Bahl’s army. Their supreme leader, Bahl, stood with Aekos and Inaht and several Leader Khans, giants, and monsters from nightmares and alien ecologies. They stood on a ridge overlooking the vicious wastes that appeared as a flattened ghost of a long dead ocean. Their eyes looked skyward. The red dot Aekos saw at night was now a burning moon searing daylight. Near it, a dark cloud formed from torrents of black streaming from the red inferno like knife-edged smoke. A fireball appeared close to the hellship, and began falling on a path that would have it strike near the ridge. If the warriors were honest, many would admit they felt a brief need to run. None did.

  “That is no piece of meteoric ship.” The giant Lerophon said. All the wide, silver plates of his living armor flexed and flattened in agreement. “The hellship and horde are enough. Now they vex us with new weapons?”

  “New or old, we must fight them all,” Inaht replied.

  “Demons. Listen. I can hear their wings. Smell them.” Aekos said and took a deep whiff of heat. “Demons. They come back to Hell.”

  “Then our first battle will be on the surface.” Bahl said in a deep and low voice.

  All heard the phrase: Oh, so?

  A flash of sunlight burst beside them. All turned to the strong, feminine form that stood near their group. Glinting, emerald armor clad the luminous Zaria. She held her long, black sword with a blade mimicking a frozen stretch of curling flame.

  Before aggression or questions flared, the fireball struck the wasteland below. All but Zaria steadied themselves from the quake caused by the impact. A cloud of fire, dust, and rocky debris rolled skyward. When it rose higher than the ridge. The lip of the impact crater glowed hot, as did the massive form of Anguhr. Even if they could not see his burning eyes, his stance was unmistakable. He was already starring at the others on the ridge.

  “The General.” Aekos said with ferocious glee for coming combat.

  Bahl said nothing as hot debris struck the ridge below them. Secretly, he was impressed by the General’s arrival, and apprehensive about just who had complicated his war.

  “Yes. He is Anguhr, the Destroyer.” Zaria said as if to answer. “I am Zaria of Asherah, but I feel you know this even as you see this form for the first time. I bid you all wait, here.”

  A chorus of defiance began in all throats, save Bahl’s. Zaria answered it before it had a single voice.

  “If you feel no need to heed my words, consider you would defy me, the slayer of Xuxuhr, the Ravager, and sister of the Dark Urge, as well as ally of Anguhr, the Destroyer. I seek peace and an alliance among us all. If you seek death, don’t listen to me.”

  The image of Zaria in her emerald armor shimmered and brightened. In its place formed an intense, golden aurora that reached high into Hell’s atmosphere and arced back toward the ground near Anguhr. A gigantic image of Zaria’s face formed at the apex and traveled down the arc to Anguhr as the rippling light made the shape of a sun’s coronal loop.

  Anguhr watched Zaria arrive, seemingly nonplused. Zaria resumed her armored warrior form of equal height to Anguhr and held with her sword as she stood next to him.

  “My ship!” Anguhr shouted immediately and with unusual stress in his voice. “I need to save my ship and those aboard! Where is the signal source?”

  “You would not reach it in time, nor could you destroy Shai-Phring’s web.”

  “Take me to it! Now!”

  “If her spell captured your ship, it must be broken with greater power than even you wield, son of Azuhr. Fortunate, then, you hold such power.” Zaria pointed to the power rod slung on Anguhr’s left shoulder. “Unfortunate it is now here.”

  “Then why—?” Anguhr began. “Never mind! Take me back to my ship!”

  “At the snap of my fingers, it is so?” Zaria challenged. “No. I need to see your ship and its changing speed and course to calculate where I intersect with it. Give me the rod. I can use its power to transmit both the energy to your ship and the information to Proxis, whom I am certain still fights to save your home.”

  “Along with Gin.”

  “Even better he’s there.” Zaria held out her arms to take the rod.

  “I admit, Gin shows the courage of demons.” Anguhr said, but did not move. “But why did he not use the rod before?”

  “He is a mind made to run machines and not interfere with life. He is powerful, knowledgeable, but his experience is still limited and his focus like a line of code. Specific, not holistic. Now let me have the rod we both took from the Iron Work. I can save Gin, Proxis, and all the demons still on your ship.”

  Anguhr held his words and his breath, but slid the rod’s harness from his shoulder and handed it to Zaria. She took it and began to glow white, as did the sheathed rod.

  “I will save your burning home, Anguhr. You can prepare to do what you love, make war.”

  “With that army?” Anguhr pointed to Bahl’s forces on the ridge in the distance.

  “No! They are allies. You will assault Hell itself.”

  “I need no—!” Anguhr halted his rejection of another alliance, but thought better of it.

  “I see you are learning, young General. Walk out and meet their leader. Don’t fight him. Talk with him. It will be another growth experience. Together, your forces can end Hell, forever.”

  “Who is their leader?” Anguhr asked.

  Zaria vanished in a burst of light blinding even to Anguhr. The General heard the name Bahl in his mind.

  “So Zaria was no prisoner.” Solok said as he circled Anguhr.

  “Or freed herself,” Anguhr said. “She goes to aid Proxis and Gin.”

  “Then I am glad she is free. Those, on the ridge, are giants.” Solok pointed to Bahl’s position with his sword. “None is a General as you, Destroyer.”

  “One is Bahl. A Khan.” A low growl followed Anguhr’s words.

  “The day grows ever stranger,” Solok banked and faced the ridge as he flew near Anguhr. “A Khan? Just as your father was?”

  “No. Not like my father. Perhaps one that killed my mother.”

  Anguhr felt a growing rage as he stared across Hell to the ridge.

  Anguhr, do not make war with him! Zaria’s thought struck Anguhr’s mind with force.

  Anguhr shook his head slightly and replied, mentally. Save my ship. We all have little time. You will need to trust me. It is what allies do.

  You are learning indeed. Zaria replied from afar.

  “Lord, your horde is ready to fight.” Solok motioned to the demons soaring near the horizon in massive, rectangular formations that threatened to shadow the hemisphere. “Give the word, and apocalypse comes to Hell.”

  Proxis stared at the main screen. Data scrolled at all angles and through his mind. What he focused on was the Red Giant. He never felt nostalgic for its sight on his campaigns with Anguhr. Now it filled a full third of his screen and grew in visible size. It was quickly becoming the sight of doom.

  To occupy two states at once was almost perpetual existence for Gin outside Asherah. To occupy the mind of another being
was less familiar. It felt odd, even when the mind he inhabited did not created sentient thoughts, but did executed complex commands across a vast system using spacetime physics and ethereal forces. Such was a hellship’s control network.

  Its architecture was more complex than one million whales united as a single, living entity. However, each whale had awareness. The hellship had programming and impulses. Nevertheless, it was more alive than most machines. As such, Gin felt a need to protect the system and the demons working to repair it.

  He never thought of his protective outlook as a barrier to continued life. The test of his mindset was at hand. More dreadful than the ship’s damage was the great, scarlet star it hurtled toward. Dark bands of its celestial cage called the Iron Work were beginning to become visible. The star was far too close for safety. The ship sped closer toward it.

  Gin!

  Zaria called to him in the field of existence that harbored the ship’s systems.

  “Zaria! Where have you been hidden?”

  “Later, Gin. I can guess you guided events to bring Anguhr here. You have done so. Now we must return his ship.”

  “I never took it from them. A recall signal from Hell seized the ship. My woe is delaying the aegis boost too long. Now, I don’t calculate a scenario where the demons fix the physical systems in time for me to assert control and stop impact against the Iron Work.

  “Let me help, old friend. I have the power rod. I will fire a burst through the ship’s systems. The shock will overwhelm the circuits and relay nodes, plus the quantum silk network woven throughout. Open the ship’s communication receptors. We have little time!”

  Gin paused. It felt an eternal wait.

  “I cannot do this Zaria. A life, although simple, will be harmed.”

  “Yes. For a time. But it is one, unconscious life, my brother. We will save many others. Sentient lives!”