When I awoke the next morning I found Bernibus and Wagner conversing
quietly in the corner of my bed chambers, and as I first opened my eyes
I saw Wagner looking at me with a blank, glazed expression, while
Bernibus' was one of apprehension, apparently on my behalf. It seemed
odd to me, but as Wagner became livid again quickly after his
split-second lapse and gave me a hearty "Good morning", I thought
nothing more of it. After his greeting, he continued:
"The day is ripe for victory, my friend, and the time is come for
battle. We both have some preparations to complete, and so must
separate, but we will meet again at noon in the entrance hall. Farewell
until then," and with that he quit the room.
I looked at Bernibus, yet before either of us could speak, we heard a
low, hollow grumbling, like the shaking of some building or foundation.
He looked in my direction for a moment with an alarmed countenance,
before I said defensively, "Tis but my stomach."
"Then we must get you some victuals," he laughed, "And I have just the
thing to satisfy you and keep you so for a day or more: some mirus. It
is our traditional energy food, for though its taste is bitter, its
after-life is pleasant."
"And what is food except a servant to the body?" I said, "Let us eat."
"Very well," he replied.
And eat we did, for it was brought by a food service Canitaur on a tray,
and I was surprised to see that it was a mixture of broccoli, spinach,
and mushrooms, with a flavorless, glowing sauce. He was right,
incidentally, for it was both bitter before and pleasant after its
consumption.
"I know of the solids, but what is this sauce?" I asked of him.
"Carbon," he replied.
I looked at him and questioned, "Pure carbon? I have never heard of its
having this use before."
"Your civilization was long ago and had not developed it yet."
"That has perplexed me, now that you mention it," I said, "Onan seemed
to mean that I was going back in time to help my ancestors, but you say
that I went forward, that I am one of the ancients."
He was wary for a moment, though if it was because of the apparent
conflict, or because I was on a first name basis with his god I couldn't
tell. He soon recovered his countenance and said, "It is a complicated
question, and I believe you should ask Wagner the next time you see him,
after the raid though, of course. The time of departure is nigh now,
however, so you should put on your anti-electron suit," he said as he
picked it up from the corner and brought it to me.
It was a subtle dark brown and looked more like a normal suit of clothes
than an electron reflecting suit, but then again, I thought, why would
it be a strange looking apparatus? Why would an advanced technological
age necessarily be devoid of any sense of fashion, although that would
be assuming that any civilization had ever had one. Fashion is more a
characterization of a culture than a basic and unchanging principle, for
a desert people would wear clothes that would be most uncomfortable to a
people who lived in the snow. Clothes may not make the man, but the man
certainly makes the clothes, and you can judge a person by what they
wear so far as it is in their power to decide what that is.
After putting on the suit I found that it fit perfectly, and above that,
I found it to be very comfortable, including the head piece, which
formed closely around the skull and was not at all noticeable or
obscuring. In fact, as it was made of a plasma that allowed everything
through except lone particles, it was so uninhibiting that a moment
after I had put mine on I had completely forgotten about it. The only
other part of the suit that stood out at all was the long, metallic
buckle that secured the belt, it having a bowie knife hidden within it
in an unnoticeable and inconspicuous manner. Bernibus had put on his as
I had put on mine, and as I looked away from the mirror that was
opposite the door, I saw him dressed the same as myself, yet because the
suit so blended with his fur, it was hard to tell which ended where.
Finding that we were both ready, we repaired to the entrance hall. Along
the way I asked Bernibus of his wife, Wagner's sister, of whom I had
heard little and seen nothing. He was quiet for a pause, and then said:
"She was an angel, what else can be said?"
"Was?" I asked hesitantly.
"Yes, she was killed by the Zards on a border raid, as we were at that
time living apart from the Canitaur mass with a few friends. She was
less aggressive than her brother, and, much to his disapprobation, we
lived with a group of separatists, believing that war, physical
conflict, is never the right answer to ideological conflict. Wagner
excommunicated us in his anger, though his sister was very dear to him,
and after she died he was struck with remorse and made me his deputy
Kibitzer. He felt that it would somehow do her honor, as it would
recognize us as having been married and make me his brother-in-law,
which is an important relationship traditionally, as he has no other
siblings. So here I am, technically second-in-command, but because of my
soft lining, I have no real command."
"You would not attack Nunami, then?" I asked.
He chose his words carefully, saying, "More pain will not negate the
pain already in existence, yet war is not always avoidable, and
sometimes it is even necessary."
When we reached the entrance hall, where the raiding party was to meet,
we found that there was already assembled a majority of the force,
including Wagner. The party was only twenty strong, as the atomic
anionizers were to do the main work and the planned raid required
stealth and secrecy, not force or might. Within a quarter of an hour all
the stragglers had arrived and all the anionizers were accounted for, so
Wagner gave a short debriefing to ensure that all the members were on
the same page. We were to sneak into the city when the populous was
distracted by the fire on Lake Umquam Renatusum, which was to be started
at midnight. We would plant the atomic anionizers at the right spacing
so as to bring down the whole city once we were escaped, using the
remote control provided for that very purpose. The suits would protect
us from the blasts, and, as a precaution, the remote had an automatic
five second delay between being pressed and exploding the bombs, though
it was more for form than practicality. After he finished we set off,
being arranged two abreast per row, there being ten rows. Bernibus and
myself were partners, for we had become close friends in the few days
that I had spent among the Canitaurs, while Wagner was once again the
leading guide and Taurus the rearguard.
After crossing the chasm that separated the hall and the entrance
tunnel, we came to the long defile that formed the latter and passed
through it swiftly, the lofty archer guards remaining as stern and
immovable as when I had first come through. We then came to the winding
stairs that occupied the hollowed innards of a massive and ancient tree,
of which kind many were to be found in Daem, being at least fifty feet
thick and 700 feet high, such gigantic trees that were never seen
elsewhere, yet constituted the whole forests of the northern lands. I
found that the stairs were as long as I had remembered, taking us a
great while to ascend to the top of the tree, and when we had made it,
we, especially myself, were dazzled by the effulgent light of midday.
After having been out of the sun's reach for the last few days I was
completely unprepared, though the shock helped me by curing me of the
disillusionment that comes from not seeing sun, moon, or stars for any
length of time. Taking a rest for a few moments on the seats on the
platform, we collected our strength. After our brief repose was
completed, we set off again with renewed vigor across the treeway on
which I had first come to the Canitaur's fortress. You will remember
that the road was made by the securing of five or six foot platforms to
the intertwined branches of those great trees, over which one could
travel with ease and be safe from exposure to those below by the thick
foliage that grew on the trees and was carefully manicured for that very
purpose.
Soon we reached the first platform I had seen, which we had come upon
from below, but we did not descend there, instead keeping on by the
treeway in the direction from which we had come that night, that being
southward, towards the lake, the savanna, and the Zardovian capital,
Nunami. The air was warm, with a slight breeze as we went along, and
that, mixed with the plentiful flora about us and the songs of the
treetop dwellers, rendered the whole feeling of the walk peaceful and
happy, though its end was not to be such. I soon forgot the worldly
concerns that plagued me as I was soaking in the simplicity of nature,
not a simplicity of form, for all things are incomprehensively complex,
but simplicity of meaning.
After a time I began noticing changes in our surroundings that indicated
we were drawing nearer to our goal, namely, the trees lessening in
proportions, the terrain becoming flatter, and the air growing moister
and more vibrant. Still, the trees continued to spring up from the
ground like great earthen tentacles, for while their size diminished, it
was not by enough to change their demeanor, the trees anywhere on Daem
being great in size.
The sun journeyed with us, and by the time we reached Lake Umquam
Renatusum, twilight's last agony was being performed in the heavenly
theater, and the rippling waters mirrored it, adding only a strange,
flowing texture. The lake's current caught my eye with its subtle
oddity, for it was amiss and it appeared upon close inspection that
there was an undertow, as if there was an underground river flowing into
the lake and bringing about its swirling currents.
Bernibus saw me looking down at the waters from the lofty road with a
puzzled look, and asked me if I was wondering about the water's current.
I replied that I was, and he told me that it was the fervidus flamma
being pumped into the lake through the underground aqueducts, which, of
course, was for the purpose of igniting it to decoy for our raid. Once
it was explained it made sense, yet I looked at it anyway, for it was
still a gorgeous and inspiring view.
We were moving quickly, however, and it soon was out of sight, and I
again turned towards our destination with apprehensions of failure. They
seemed to place great faith in my presence, as the emissary of Onan, and
while I was, I was also Jehu, and I wasn't confident with my own
abilities. But it was upon those the situation mostly rested, it being
the resolve of the gods after the Homeric period to take a more removed
role in the lives of men. I wonder how many from my own times were
divine agents, for better or worse. Either way, my main concern then was
making the correct decisions, for I rightly believed that my involvement
would decide the matter, although not in the manner I had anticipated.
As I looked about myself to reconnoiter the feelings of my comrades I
was fruitless, for they all wore impermeable countenances, though that
was itself an indicator of their resolve.
Within an hour after the fall of darkness we reached the outskirts of
Nunami, or rather, its edge, for it was walled in with massive stone
walls and battlements, with a sturdy gate of twenty foot width being
placed at the northern, southern, eastern, and western ends. The trees
hung right over the walls, and as such we were able to take positions
from which we could descend into the city when the time to do so came.
Yet we were still rendered invisible by the thick foliage.
Night's zenith blew in slowly on the wind like the belabored breaths of
a dying man, and after a period of worry, it came: midnight, the
appointed hour. No sooner had the moon reached its utmost height,
shrouding the lands in a shadowless vortex, than a great blaze erupted
from the northern lands, and it rose almost instantly to its estimated
height of five miles. It was a terrible sight to behold, for any flame
is a captivating display of inorganic life, but a pillar of flame
several miles high is more than just an enlarged specimen, for it plays
host to a great horde of phantasmal apparitions that wrestle ferociously
with one another. As the flame shot upwards it cast a great light down
on everything that rivaled the illumination of midday. At first I feared
lest the light should show our silhouettes to the Zards, as we were
between them and it, but it did not, or at least they took no notice of
it if it did, for we were quite undetected in our hiding place.
Our worries were far from over though, for now came the crucial point in
our plans: in order for our small force to infiltrate the city and place
the atomic anionizers, the Zards must not only have been distracted and
preoccupied with the blaze, but they had also to leave the city almost
empty and go to the lake itself, for if a cry was raised, or any
substantial resistance attempted, the complex procedures to detonate the
anionizers properly, so as to level the city but not the surrounding
country, may have been hindered. There were several factors on our side
though, the element of surprise being the foremost, for in their
excitement the Zardovian resistance would likely mistake us for a
regular sized army and flee in fear at our supposed superiority,
especially since the presence of me, the kinsman redeemer, was known to
the Zards. Also, the Zards were known to be curious and careless and
ruled by the desire for excitement, meaning that if an entertaining
undertaking was possible, they would pursue it, no matter how dangerous
or ill-advised.
Within a moment after the flame was lit, all of the Zards outside, which
were many, were gazing with silent wonder at it, and in the second
moment, all the rest had joined them in their confused contemplation.
But the third moment witnessed a drastic change in their behavior, for
their initial bewilderment wore off and suddenly, with a united prelude
of the drawing in of a breath, they all began speaking at once,
resulting in a clamorous din that lasted for a few moments, before
things hushed again and we could hear a few individual voices discussing
loudly. Though we couldn't make out their exact words, they were
apparently conferring with one another about what action to take. Our
breathing became slow and heavy and our brows were knit tensely, for we
knew that the fate of our mission rested on what they did then, whether
or not the long planned decoy would work.
It was an anxious moment, and one with a heavy burden attached to it.
Fortunately, though, as our fate was decided, it was done so in our
favor, for the Zards began exiting the city in a great multitude of
scales that swept along the savanna like a tidal wave over a sandy
coast. They came out fast and strong, and through each of the four
gates, though only the northern was fully visible to us, the others
being too far to be seen distinctly. Still, we could see them rushing
out of Nunami at a quick pace, not hurried, as if frightened or finicky,
nor slow as in deliberation and meditation, instead it was a steady trot
that they took, allowing them to move safely and swiftly.
The tide of Zards swept steadily past us, and it was a good half an hour
later that the final ones had left the gates and the city far behind.
Most had taken some type of weapon, a pitchfork or club or occasionally
a sword, for the threat of war was a constant, but none of them had any
idea that their only danger was behind them. It was not all in the clear
though, for a patrol of guards equipped with long spears and clothed
with a tough, leathery armor were making their way to and fro along the
tops of the walls, where there was a platform of about five feet across
that served as a road to the soldiers in their watches. It was evident
by their countenances, though, that the guards now on duty were more
interested in the fire than in their immediate vicinity, thinking, no
doubt, that the laurels were to be won there and not at Nunami, and as
such, they paid little heed to the walls, instead walking with their
necks craned precariously to the north.
We were able to jump unto the wall silently from our concealed roost on
the treeway when the nearest patrol had passed by. From there we went
along the wall a short way until we came to a battlement, there taking
the downward leading steps that brought us to the ground. Once there we
were pleased and hopeful at what we saw: everything was abandoned, and
no Zards were in sight save those on the walls, whose gaze was cast
elsewhere. We set to work, then, according to our preset plan, which was
to break up into groups of two and cover the city with our atomic
anionizers, so as to spread the destruction as evenly as possible.
Wagner and myself were partners, and we took the central district, near
the government's center, the palace, and the Temple of Time, which rose
above the city like a great tree amidst a desert. It was, in fact, the
very structure that had so stood out to me during my journey through the
prairie upon my arrival, and once again its sobering sensation struck
me, and I found myself staring up at its top, a full 800 feet high, the
bottom being an ornate and elaborate temple. The middle, which supplied
most of its height, was a long, round tower, and at top there was a
spherical pinnacle which had what looked to be a room in it.
Wagner soon called my attention back to our work, and we busied
ourselves with planting a bomb at the base of the palace, using a
smaller type anionizer, which, I noticed, was set just right so that
while all of Nunami would be leveled, the temple with its great tower
would be beyond the impact and left standing. Just as we had set it
correctly, we heard a high-pitched whistle, which was the preconcerted
signal among the raiders to use if any danger was nigh. We looked up
directly and saw its reason: a squadron of Zards had been garrisoned
inside the palace and had not left like the others, apparently because
its sole purpose was to protect their king, who did not leave the city,
being preoccupied with business and not seeing the flames. When he did
go to the window, he saw the fire, and rushed to see what was about, but
instead of finding out, he ran into us, who were right outside the
palace.
Wagner dashed wildly through the streets in an impressive show of
dexterity, and did a wall-jump between two lofty buildings to gain the
wall. The others had done likewise, having been trained by a lifetime of
conflict to have nerves of lightning speed and earthly strength. Their
instincts had come in subconsciously when they had seen the cause of the
alarm and they escaped, without thinking of me in the critical moment. I
lacked such strength and speed of mind and was caught as soon as I had
seen the squadron, aided, probably, by the fact that upon seeing me the
king had become excited and rushed at me with great speed. When Wagner
had first turned around and saw me their prisoner, he looked crestfallen
and hopeless, for he had no way to rescue me. He held the remote control
for the atomic anionizers in his hand and was about to set them off and
make good the plan, but before he could, our eyes met for an instant,
and we connected beyond time and space, experiencing a strange
intra-personal deja vu. All was silent and still in that instant, and I
saw him struggling inwardly: would he detonate the anionizers and make
good his long awaited plan, or would he retreat and leave the city
unharmed, for though I was wearing the electron reflecting suit, the
collapse of all the high rise buildings would litter the ground with
debris from them, and all on the ground would be crushed. Would he spare
me from death, or his people? In that instant his face spoke more than
many others' do in their entire lifetime. It was cut through with a
contrasting countenance, and yet inside of his eyes there was something
foreign to them shining through, something that I had never seen on his
fretless features before: evil intent. I could not tell if it was
natural to them and simply well hidden, or if it was an alien
expression, but it was fearfully expressed, and his eyes seemed to say,
even at that great distance, that he took a third course, that he would
save me, but not for my sake, instead for his peoples'. And then it
passed, for he looked away, replaced the remote to his belt, and leapt
to the ground, where the other Canitaurs were awaiting him. I saw him no
more until the situation was much changed.