Vivian looked up as Damon, Spatha in hand, towered above her. She bared her teeth and said, “Your flesh will soon be in my gullet.”
Damon, shocked by the sudden words that issued forth from this hideous creature in front of him paused, This one must be like Fonda. Does she have an army as well?
Vivian, sensing an opportunity, lunged forward to try and grasp one of Damon’s legs. As she did so, the movement caused him to focus on the threat before him. As her left hand wrapped around his right ankle, he brought the tip of his Spatha down with both hands. With strength born of the anger he felt, Damon easily plunged the blade into the back of her skull, ending her unholy existence. His fury was such that the blade continued through her skull and penetrated into the soft mud another fourteen inches.
Damon, anger now fading, let out a sigh of relief and quickly stepped out of the river onto the bank. This time he did not pause to wring the water out of his pants. Instead, fearful of another attack, he moved twenty feet away from the river and put his sandals back on. He then set out at a jog toward the rendezvous point with the rest of the group. Vivian’s corpse, now forever dead. Floated away on the slow current of the river that faded away behind him.
On the other side of the valley, the main group, led by Constan, reached the edge of the hillside that overlooked Heliopolis. Constan looked down upon the scene and said, “Something doesn’t feel right here.”
Athos, who like Constan, had grown up on a farm saw it immediately too, “The crops are overripe and no one has picked them.”
Constan nodded, “Aye laddie.”
Maarika interjected, “What does that mean?”
Constan turned and smiled at Maarika. The interaction between the scar that ran from the left side of his lip to his eye patch, once again made him look strangely comical, “It means that there are no people around to pick them lass.”
Understanding dawned on Maarika and she said, “Oh I see, so that means Heliopolis has fallen to the hungry ones?”
“Most likely,” Athos said.
Baltazar suddenly pointed down into the valley and said, “Look over there. That dot is moving at a steady pace toward us.”
“Is that Damon?” Nasir asked.
As the dot drew closer and began to take on the shape of a person Constan nodded and said, “Aye, that’s him alright. I recognize his gait. Let’s get moving so we can meet him at the bottom of the hill.”
The group walked quickly toward their agreed upon meeting place with Damon at the bottom of the hill. As they walked down the road Damon spotted them, and waved. Neither Damon, nor anyone in the group wanted to call out, as this would attract the damned. Damon reached the rendezvous point first and waited patiently for them as he caught his breath.
As they got within normal speaking voice range of each other, Constan called out, “Well met lad. From what we were able to observe from the top of the hill, it looks as if Heliopolis has become a place of the damned. What were you able to discover?”
Damon nodded in agreement, “It has, I was able to climb a hill that overlooked the valley and look down into the city. The gate stands ajar and large sections of the city has burned. In addition, I observed several figures that shuffled about randomly with no purpose.”
Constan nodded, “Aye, sounds like those putrid bastards alright. Without anything to feed on, or a leader like Fonda to control them, they just seemed to wander about randomly. Have you found a way to navigate around the city?”
Damon’s replied, “Yes, I was able to find a shallow point in the river that we can all cross about a mile downstream from Heliopolis. The valley floor is covered with irrigated fields. If we set up camp in one of the villas, we should be able to harvest some ourselves to restock our food supplies.”
“That’s good news, I’m getting sick of bloody oranges. Mayhap, we can find a wee dram of wine to slake my thirst. All this walking about has made my throat scratchy.” Constan replied.
Both Liana and Athea rolled their eyes at this statement. Constan chuckled and said, “Lasses never understand the needs of men to properly lubricate their pipes.”
Athea snorted and said, “Oh we understand all too well what comes of slaking your thirst.”
“Athea! Constan is your commanding officer.” Athos said.
Constan, now laughing, said, “It’s all right Athos my boy. I’m not in charge anymore, and she’s right! Too much drink increases our yearnings for the things we can’t have, and shouldn’t chase.”
Maarika added, “Not to mention what alcohol does to your manhood. If you can’t stand up, chances are it can’t either.”
The entire group burst into laughter except for Athos. While everyone laughed at Maarika’s statement he continued to make his case, “But sir. We’ve already had this argument. Somebody has to be in charge, and you know the lay of the land better than any of us. Not to mention that we need to have someone in control, and we are all used to that person being you.” Athos replied.
“Aye, I agreed to use my expertise to lead this group to Antioch, but I don’t deserve the respect that you are implying.” Constan said.
“So, we are back to that again? Dammit sir, we all draw breath right now because of you.” Athos said.
“Aye, but most of my command now wishes to feast on the flesh of the living. I do not deserve my rank, and I certainly do not deserve the respect that rank entails.” Constan said. Athos began to open his mouth to reply when Constan held up his hand to stop his reply and added, “What I do deserve is an amphora of wine to numb me sodden mind!”
Damon pointed back the way he had come and said, “Well if that is your desire, then I’d say we should secure one of the villas in that direction. We are likely to find all manner of sustenance in their larders.”
“There is only one kind of sustenance I’m interested in right now. The kind that comes from the vine.” Constan gestured toward the direction that Damon had indicated and said, “Lead the way Damon.”
“As you wish sir.” Damon said. He turned on his heels, and set off in the direction of the villas he had spotted earlier.
As they walked Damon told them of his encounter with Vivian in the river. Constan listened to the brief tale and then said, “This Vivian talks like Fonda does, but didn’t seem to have control of other damned?” Constan asked.
Damon nodded, “Yes. She spoke to me, and had obvious intelligence about her actions, but unlike Fonda, she didn’t control an army.”
“I wonder if the control comes at a later point after intelligence develops?” Nasir asked.
Baltazar shrugged his shoulders and said, “Hard to say. When I first encountered Fonda, she seemed to already control the damned around her. In fact, I believe it was she that roused the horde that drove our expedition away from Yarmuk.”
The group fell silent after Baltazar’s account of Fonda. The first villa they spotted was a large whitewashed affair with a red tile roof. The large mostly single-story structure was surrounded by an eight-foot-high wall and that had but a single entrance. The entrance consisted of a raised archway that was about twelve feet tall.
Sitting on top of the archway at the apex was series of nine well-worn letters. The combination of the fierce Syrian sun and the fall rains, had worked over the years, to turn the metal to a dull black color. This effect made it difficult to determine which metal it was made out of. The letters, which were about a foot high apiece, spelled out the word: Paradisum.
Constan, the only member of the group that could read and speak Latin, smiled and said, “I sure hope this name is correct.”
Liana asked, “What does it mean? I can’t read Latin.”
“Paradise.” Constan said.
The group walked under the archway and entered the outer courtyard of the villa. The gates of paradise hung open. In addition to the main structure there appeared to be a stable, probably for horses, and a blacksmith’s workshop. These were situated in the front two corners of the compound to the left and
right of their current position. The blacksmith’s shop being on the left corner of the compound and the stables were on the right. The main entrance to the villa stood directly across a dusty fifty-foot-wide courtyard and consisted of pair of oaken doors.
Not knowing what else to do, Constan approached the door. He took ahold of the bronze ring that served as the door knocker with his right hand, and banged it on the door three times. Nasir and Baltazar both grimaced at the noise and drew their Spathas as they turned back toward the gate. Athos and Damon also drew their blades and took up positions on each of the men’s flanks. This left Constan standing at the head of the impromptu formation, with the three females in the middle.
Within a moment of Constan’s knock, three things happened simultaneously. A wailing moan emerged from the stables, the blacksmith, still in his brown leather apron, wandered out of his shop in search of a meal, and loud thumps began to emerge from something pounding on the other side of the door inside the villa.
Damon moved to intercept the blacksmith. The smith was running toward them now with his arms outstretched in front of him. His two hands opened and closed as he reached toward the living flesh before him. His apron was covered in red blood and gore which made it pretty clear that he had already fed on some poor unfortunate.
Opposite the blacksmith. The source of the wailing became apparent as it emerged from the stables. It was a stable boy of perhaps thirteen who also broke into a run upon spotting the group. The boy’s milky white eyes were filled with hunger as they gazed upon the group. Maarika met the boy’s gaze for a moment and in so doing, it sent a shiver down her spine.
As Damon brought up his shield to absorb the charging blacksmith. Maarika, moment of hesitation past, pulled out her sling and calmly dispatched the stable boy. Damon’s task wasn’t nearly as easy. The former blacksmith, who must have weighed at least two hundred and fifty pounds. Slammed into Damon’s shield. The jarring impact sent shooting pain up his left arm, as he was forced to take a step back.
Before Damon could bring his Spatha to bare, the blacksmith’s giant meaty arms, reached around the shield and grabbed Damon’s shoulders. The putrid smelling damned, began to pull Damon toward his open maw which was encircled by a long scraggly brown beard. As Damon was pulled forward by the undead horror, he lost his balance and fell forward. This abrupt change in Damon’s center of gravity surprised the smith, and enabled Damon to narrowly avoided being bit as he fell down to his knees.
Athos, his side now secure thanks to Maarika, let out a war cry and charged the blacksmith. This loud noise temporarily diverted the huge creature’s attention from Damon. Damon, with an inkling of what Athos was planning, dropped into a fetal position with his knees and forehead touching the ground. The blacksmith, now completely ignoring Damon, hurled Damon’s shield to his left, thrust his chest forward at the sky, and let out a fearsome war cry of his own.
As Athos ran, he dropped his shield, planted one of his feet squarely on Damon’s back, and used this elevated perch to launch himself up into the air. As he flew through the air toward the blacksmith, he spun his blade around, so that it faced downward, and grasped the pommel with both hands. As he reached the apex of his jump, the blacksmith reached for him, and grasped him by the hips. Athos thrusted the blade into the top of the blacksmith’s head with all the strength he could muster.
With power born from the adrenaline rushing through his system, coupled with the influence of gravity. Athos drove the blade down to the hilt into the blacksmith’s head. The combination of his knees striking the huge damned’s chest, and his lethal blow sent the now formerly undead blacksmith’s corpse falling backwards. With a loud thump, the giant corpse struck the ground with Athos atop it.
Nasir, amazed by Athos’ attack, said, “Where did you learn how to coordinate like that?”
As Damon stood, he turned to face Nasir, and said, “We lost many people at Yarmuk. Mainly because once our lines were breached, it was very difficult to get the damned out of our formation and re-establish the line. To combat that, in the event that we faced that problem again. We devised several tactics to deal with particular situations.”
Nasir smiled, “Clever, clearly this was one of those situations.”
“Aye,” Athos said, and then added, “One of the worst positions to be in, is that of having a powerful damned looming over you. That is basically an impossible position to recover from without help, so we came up with this idea.”
“Whenever this situation occurred, we trained everyone so that the disadvantaged front line Skutatoi, would drop into a crouch, while the second line soldier let out a distracting battle cry.” Damon said.
“By dropping into the crouch Damon gave me the signal I needed to charge and use him for a springboard to get a height and momentum advantage on the damned.” Athos said.
Nasir nodded in understanding, “Impressive, most impressive indeed. Are there other tactics you devised that you can teach me?”
Athos nodded, “Certainly, the more of us that know them, the better chance we’ll have of being able to use them to survive. They are all cue based, so we know what to do if a certain situation occurs.”
“If ye all are quite through congratulating each other on your foresight and planning, how about we focus on the buggers behind this door?” Constan said.
Athos smiled, That sure sounded like an order. The old man can’t help but to take charge. I hope he gets over whatever is bothering him soon. Athos responded to Constan glumly, “Yes sir.”
“Right ye are then.” Constan smiled, looked over at Liana and asked, “Could ye be the one to pull this door open lass?”
Liana nodded at Constan and said, “Yes.”
Constan responded with a gruff, “Good.” He then took up a position about ten feet in front of the oaken doors, gestured to the left and right with his arms, and added, “Now the rest of ye Skutatoi form a line with me. Athea protect our backs in case there are any surprises. Maarika get on the same side of the door with Liana and take down as many of the damned as ye can with that magical sling of yours.”
“Will do,” Maarika replied.
The men lined up around Constan. To his immediate right Athos took up a position, and to his left Damon. Rounding out the edges was Nasir on the left, and Baltazar to Athos’ immediate right.
Athos looked over at Baltazar and smiled, “In the line together once again.”
Baltazar smiled back at him, “It will be just like old times brother.”
“All right, enough tongue wagging. Ye can’t talk these spawns of hell back to their maker.” Constan said gruffly. He took a deep breath and then added, “Get ye shields up.”
The five men raised their shields up in unison. Constan looked up and down his small line checking everyone’s shield position and stance. Satisfied that they were ready, he made eye contact with Liana, and said, “Ok lass pull the door open.”
Liana wrapped the fingers of both of her hands around the door handle and pulled it with all of her strength. It didn’t budge. She glanced back at Constan sheepishly.
“Don’t just stand there. Put ye arse into it!” Constan bellowed.
Gritting her teeth, Liana again pulled on the door as hard as she could. This time, with a wood on wood grating noise, the door yielded to her efforts and swung open. On the other side of the now open barrier stood a former household slave. It wore a tattered gray tunic that was torn in several places. The tunic must have been white at some time, but was now smeared in gore. The slave’s mottled face was covered in the blood of some unfortunate victim. Upon seeing Constan straight ahead with its gray milky eyes, it snarled, and charged.
As the damned covered the ten feet that separated it from Constan, Maarika took aim with her sling and released her bullet at the creature. Without warning, the damned servant lunged through the air at Constan’s feet. The stone bullet, flung by Maarika, sailed harmlessly through the space its head would have been, if it had maintained its trajectory.
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Constan, seeing the danger, sheathed his blade and shifted his hands to grip his shield on both edges. As the spawn of Satan, dove onto the ground, it attempted to grab his unarmored ankles and bite him. He brought the shield down on its exposed neck with all of the strength he could muster. The shield, bit deeply into the damned’s neck and brought its forward momentum to an immediate halt.
Unfortunately for Constan, while he was focused on this threat down low. Another damned, likely the lady of the house based on her fine clothes, and jewelry, rushed him. As she dashed forward with outstretched arms, she craned her neck toward Constan. This hid most of her head behind her outstretched arms. Despite this, Maarika attempted to take the shot. Her bullet skimmed the top of the lady’s head, removing both hair and skin, as it traveled across the top of her skull.
Unluckily, this injury wasn’t enough to end her unnatural existence and stop her forward progress. Athos and Damon, seeing the danger to Constan, both stepped forward in unison. Athos slammed his shield into the woman’s left side knocking her off course and Damon ended any danger she would ever pose with a quick Spatha thrust to the right side of her head.
At least a dozen more of the damned emerged from the villa in ones and twos. The surviving Skutatoi of the 5th Parthica, along with the newer female members, worked together to end the threat. With the battle brought to a successful conclusion. The victorious survivors, moved into the villa to claim their prize.
As they entered the structure, Constan turned and addressed them, “We must take special care in case there are still damned within these walls. Let’s continue to work as a team and secure each room one by one. Once we’ve accomplished that, we can relax and enjoy whatever amenities this fine house has to offer.”
The group nodded in agreement and they set about the task of clearing the villa. They worked as a team to clear the rooms. Like many Roman designs, the entry hall led to a courtyard where the other rooms of the villa could be accessed. They found only a single damned still within the villa. It was a child that had been bitten, but locked into a closest before the little boy had turned.
Byzantium Infected Box Set Page 67