It's a Dead Man's World Ch. 03

Back at camp . . .

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“Ms. Eliza! Ms. Adams! You’d better come here,” said an anxious looking young man as they were loading the last of their gear into one of the transports. “We . . . we went ahead and used the secure channel to let Fort Crass know we were heading back . . .” The young man was leading them to where the holographic communicator was located.

“And?” asked Eliza, suddenly worried.

“And we didn’t get a response . . . at first. Just static.”

“Is something wrong with the equipment?”

“No,” the young man continued, “and it wasn’t just a glitch in the transmission. But we finally got through and . . .”

Veronica and Eliza approached the projection area. They saw a fuzzy outline of Captain Corbin. His face was heavily bruised and his right arm was in a sling.

“What the fuck . . .” Eliza started. Behind her, Thug, Dennis and Allyson had all arrived.

“It seems that the Purity have changed . . . tactics,” the Captain said between fluctuations in the signal. “They attacked Fort Crass. They . . . came out of nowhere.”

“That’s impossible!” Allyson muttered. “Not with the surveillance set up . . .”

“I assure you Mrs. Murgo, it is possible,” the Captain interrupted. “They had a new Living Jewel . . . The Serpent’s Kiss . . . apparently, it allows people to move silently, which also includes being able to bypass our electronic security. They hit us hard, and they were looking for the Jewels in our possession. They got two of them before we could fight them off. They stole The Alchemist’s Dream and . . .”

‘Please don’t say what I think you’re going to say,’ Eliza thought, praying with all her might.

“ . . . the Dead Man’s World.”

Eliza felt her heart sink in her chest. She had hated that stone from the moment she had first seen it. It was supposed to be able to cast a spell of “lasting darkness,” which in the wrong hands could be interpreted as doomsday magic. And that was bad, no matter what way you looked at it.

“They . . . they were more fanatical than ever,” the Captain continued. “It was as if they were desperate. They threw so many lives away, and the Dead Man’s World seemed to be their primary target.”

“Why?” asked Allyson. “Why not come after us here? Why not stop us from finding The Dragon’s Breath? Why risk open attack on a heavily fortified installation?”

“I don’t know,” the Captain said. Then his already tortured face became even more somber. “I . . . I’m sorry to have to tell you this . . .”

Eliza’s entire team grew silent.

“ . . . but your friend Wyrm was badly injured. He took some shrapnel to one side of his body. His face is messed up and . . . and he lost his right arm.”

Allyson gasped. She was used to the ravages of battle, but Wyrm wasn’t a fighter. He was a computer geek.

“He’ll live . . . “ the Captain said, so quietly he almost couldn’t be heard over the static. “But . . .” He straightened his back. “Ms. Eliza, I’m sorry, but Ambassador Kelik is dead. The Purity made sure of that before retreating.”

Dennis, Allyson and Veronica all stopped to look at Eliza. Tears were leaking out of her eyes and down her hardening face, past the sneer on her lips. “Where . . . is . . . Valar?” she said through gritted teeth and pointed fang.

“He’s . . . I’ll get him. He was using The Spear of God to fight them off. If he hadn’t, the Purity would have gotten . . .”

“Just get him!” Eliza snarled. Her friend and mentor lay on ground colder than the one where she and Veronica had made love just a little while earlier.

Valar soon appeared, looking haggard and exhausted. He had obviously been in one hell of a fight, and Eliza wondered if their enemy had underestimated what a powerful sorcerer like Valar could do with something like a Living Gem.

“I am sorry,” Valar said with no trace of insincerity or hostility. “I tried . . . to save him . . . and to help your friend. But I failed them.”

“Sorrow will come later,” Eliza replied. “You fought and from what the Captain just said, we would have lost much more if it weren’t for you. But a Terran Ambassador was assassinated,” she continued. “Kelik . . . he was no warrior. He was no soldier. He was a sage, and his death cannot be left unavenged. I may not be a full vampire anymore, but I am still a Terran! Talk with the Captain. Talk with his superiors. I want every Terran . . . every vampire, every Troll, every lycanthrope . . . all of them! I want them all to know what happened, and I want them all sent to Fort Crass within the week!”

Allyson and Dennis were getting nervous. Dennis looked like he was going to say something, but Veronica shushed him. She could see the gears turning in her lover’s head. This was what rage looked like. Real . . . burning . . . tangible rage.

“I thought I would never see this in my lifetime,” Valar said. “But now, we are allies Eliza. We are allies in doing what must be done. And we will lead this Radotanida straight down the throats of our enemies.” With that Valar walked off, leaving a lot of very confused people standing around the holographic communicator. Eliza also turned and headed to the main transport, shouting orders for the remaining troops to be brought in so that they could ALL leave.

“What the hell is ‘Radotanida’?” Allyson whispered.

Veronica had seen what it was, though she had never heard the word before that moment. She couldn’t help but realize what an ugly word it was. She had seen pictures and images flitting through Eliza’s hate-clogged mind. It was something that hadn’t happened on Terra for many, many centuries. Veronica turned, her own countenance clouded by rage. “It’s a feud,” she uttered, “sworn against only the most hated of enemies.” She started towards the transport, following in her lover’s footsteps. “She’s going to declare a Blood War.”

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To be continued . . .