Wow stop the presses, I’m actually a day EARLY with this update. Must have had some serious writing vibes this week (well either that are an above average level of extreme boredom; either way). Really starting to get into the swing of things now guys; been wanting to write the next few chapters for the past couple of years now. Enjoy!
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Chapter 11 – A Meeting of Minds
“Hello and welcome to the BBC News at 10 o’clock, I’m Huw Edwards. Our top story tonight, a powerful blast that could be felt for miles shook the southern Afghan city of Sangin at approximately 12 o’clock this morning. Details on the matter are still hazy but it is believed that a large part of the residential district has been damaged leaving hundreds of casualties both civilian and coalition forces. With me is the Secretary of State for Defence, Mr Jonathan Mercer. Defence Secretary, what exactly can you tell us in terms of specific details at this time?”
“Well unfortunately Huw, not much. As you can imagine with a disaster of this scale there is very little information as of yet coming in from the ground. Coalition forces in the area are being advised to stay away and the satellite images are being almost totally blocked by smoke and dust.”
“Yes but is there any information as to what caused the explosion yet. What can you tell us?”
“I’m afraid I cannot give you a concrete answer at this time Huw, it’s too early for us to know exactly what has even happened yet let alone what the exact cause is. However, my initial reports from what few people we have in the area suggest that it could possibly have been the explosion of a natural gas chamber under the city district. Unfortunately though this is just speculation at this time and we won’t know more until we are able to get experts into the area which could take a number of weeks.”
“Secretary, what do you say to those who believe that this explosion was caused by some sort of weapon? There are reports in one local Afghan paper that suggest that it was in fact a coalition missile strike that caused the devastation.”
“Oh that is completely ridiculous and unfounded Huw. I have spoken to the Chief of the Defence Staff, Sir David Richards and to my opposite number in Washington, Robert Gates and they both assure me that there were no aircraft or warships with the capability of this scale of destruction anywhere within range of Sangin. The only military activity currently going on in the vicinity is a series of small-scale infantry movements designed to protect the city from any Taliban resurgence.”
“Moving on to that point, what can you tell us about the military casualties that occurred? We’ve heard that they were quite significant.”
“Yes I’m afraid to say that this is unfortunately looking like the most costly incident in terms of casualties for the army since the Falklands War. As I’ve said before we have no confirmed numbers yet but preliminary dispatches report that there could well be over thirty dead and many more injured from the British Army alone. I have no statistics on the numbers of U.S or civilian dead as of yet.”
“Tell us more about the coalition operation that was going on in Sangin at the time of the explosion. Was that the reason for these extremely high casualty rates?”
“Yes, I’m sorry to say that this disaster occurred at the most unfortunate time for us as a significant military operation was indeed in progress at the time of the explosion.”
“Ok… can you tell us anything specific about the exact nature of this operation?”
“Well as you can imagine Huw, exact details are classified however I can say that it was a completely non-violent undertaking in which the combined British and American forces were acting as protection and nothing more. This is why no heavy weapons were in the area and so why this terrible disaster cannot possibly be attributed to us.”
“Very well, as a final point then: It is my understanding that elements from the Du’hadrin regiment were involved in this “protection” mission. Can you make any comment on this?”
“All I can tell you is that several units of the Du’hadrin were indeed involved in the operation and that some are believed to be among the dead. However beyond that we have no information and so I cannot give any more details at this time.”
“Ok we’ll leave it at that for the time being. Defence Secretary, thank you very much for talking to us tonight.”
“Thank you to Huw. We will of course give updated information as soon as we possibly can.”
“As soon as we possibly can”… that was the official Ministry of Defence line of course. In reality, information would be delayed as late as possible so that some of the storm had blown over by the time it came out. That way, people would have had longer to come to terms with it and so there would be less of a public backlash when the full scale of the disaster finally left the confines of the MoD and Foreign Office’s private memos. That of course meant less angry letters from people without the faintest clue, who were enraged simply because the modern view of life demanded they be. Bah… people, how simple they were, how stupid. If only they knew the half of it they would never sleep another peaceful night in their lives!
“Keep it simple, keep it safe and keep it secret.” The one phrase by which politicians ruled the people.
Jonathan Mercer finished reviewing his performance on the newsfeed. Not bad, not bad. Maybe a little too evasive near the end but that couldn’t really be helped given the situation. The minister grimaced: In less than half an hour he would be in the hot seat with Jeremy Paxman, the scourge of politicians everywhere, in which he would be reciting the same drivel and half-fact-based lies as he had just told Huw. How he hated some aspects of his job.
Still, if his gut was correct, the worst was still to come. A colossal explosion in the middle of a desert that could destroy half a city and left no disenable footprint and no nuclear fallout. He knew of only one person who was studying technology that had those kinds of hallmarks. The minister shivered. If Orland and Keiser had somehow met up then there would be hell to pay and a lot of collateral damage in the near future. Keiser was tenacious and if he learned that more from the Old World had survived then there would be no stopping him from carving a bloody swathe of vengeance across the world for what they had done all those years ago. Mercer breathed hard. Always assume the worst and be prepared to fight. He had better get to work.
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“You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be I guess…”
Keith nodded.
“[censored] makurda! Die!”
Keiser bellowed out the expletives at the top of his lungs before drawing his pistol and firing off two shots into the cave wall. The thunderous echo bounced around the craggy facets until it reached a cacophony of pure sound before retreating down the rocky corridor and back towards the lava field. The two looked at each other. Too late to go back now. Hawk lay down on the cave floor at the centre of a small junction where three paths branched off, deliberately turning away so that the creature couldn’t see his face or any missing wounds. Keiser meanwhile crept off down the left hand path which in fact looped round and joined up with the corridor they had just walked through about ten meters further back. There he hid behind a jut of stone that shielded the offshoot’s entrance from view until you came very close. Fortunately for him, from that position the creature should be able to see the motionless body at the split and so pay no attention to the slightly deformed looking rock wall that was in fact Keiser’s hiding spot. The whole tunnel network was lit with the same pulsating orange glow from the magma chasm that the cave had been, but this far in the glow was reduced to make anything further away than the next bend in the wall invisible in the blackness. All he needed now was a little luck and the hope that it was too fixated on what was in front of it to notice the trap until it had already been sprung. Overall, today had not been a lucky day for him.
The two waited in absolute silence for ten minutes, ears straining for even the slightest sound. Nothing.
Until…
A soft, barely audible scraping sound was approaching up the tunnel. They both held their breath for what seemed like an eternity, the seconds ticking by as the sound came closer and closer.
Suddenly the noise stopped.
[censored]! Had it noticed something? Had it become suspicious? But no, the scrapping came on again now, advancing towards them like a harbinger of death and destruction. With the faintest of swooshing sounds, the creature passed by Keiser’s rocky hiding place, its displaced air sending shivers up his spine. But there, in amongst the swirling air… he felt something… familiar. It was too late to worry about that however, within seconds the creature would reach Hawk and he would have to move.
Silence. Nothing but the slight rustle of wings disturbed the frigid atmosphere.
Now!
With a giant leap that was almost totally soundless, Keiser leapt at the shadowy void in front of him with sword raised high above his head. When he was but centimetres away he brought the blade slashing down in the direction of what he assumed was the creature’s back… yet the steel passed through thin air and clattered nosily against the stone floor.
“What the hell-?”
Smack! With the force of a freight train something smashed into Keith’s skull, sending stars flying in front of his vision and him reeling back into the rock wall, his sword flying out of his hand. Within a moment though he had gathered himself and leapt back at his attacker, its form barely illuminated by the glow. Up close he saw that it much taller than he had thought: a good half a head taller than he was in fact, and standing almost upright like it was a man. Grappling with the creature, the two locked forms with Keith trying to push the thing back into the jagged cave wall all the while Hawk remained paralysed on the floor, his legs not responding to his commands. All he could do was watch the two combatants in their deadly struggle, each fighting to push the other back on his haunches and so gain the upper hand. Never in his life had he ever seen someone more powerful than the Captain, his strength and agility being quite the stuff of Du’hadrin legend and yet the creature looked like it was winning, its bulky form now pushing Keiser back, inch by inexorable inch towards what would be his certain doom if entity managed to force its bulk down on top of him.
Suddenly, Keiser seemed to rally himself, “Bah! Let’s see if you can cope with a bit of speed eh?!”
With a whirling motion Keith twisted his body, ripping away from the clawed hands which were fastened around his own and dancing backwards, giving the void a powerful shove in the midriff for good measure. It all happened so fast that all Hawk saw was the two of them locked together one moment and suddenly apart again the next, the creature doubling up in pain. Without giving it a moment to recover, Keiser drew his second Burrick quick as lightening and with a roar slashed it viscously across the unprotected torso of his adversary, a spray of oddly dark blood painting the wall behind it.
“Gah! Bloody hell Keith what did ya do that for?! That was a perfectly good fight before you go ruining it. Why’d ya draw a sword on a guy anyway? Could have done some serious damage that could!”
The look on Keiser’s face was a ridiculous mix of triumph and utter disbelief.
“…Crow?”
The being now stood up properly for the first time, rising to a full head above Keith’s 6 foot 2 inches and glowered down at him.
“Damn right it’s me ya sly bugger; thought I was just some common fiend stalking you eh? I’m hurt old friend, hurt deep…”
‘Crow’ glanced down as if only then remembering his free flowing chest wound,
“And don’t even get me started on this! You’re getting a bit too jumpy in your old age my friend. Might want to lay off that Scotch I know you’re particular to; might actually kill someone one of these days…”
With a sly smile Crow raised one of his hands and a very peculiar thing happened. To Hawk it looked like the very shadow around them was coalescing and condensing down into fine tendrils that swirled around in the air before them, throwing off wisps of shadow and motes of dark light as they curled their way towards the figure still veiled in partial darkness. Then without warning there was a sudden flash of bright red light and Crow’s eyes seemed to suddenly be ablaze with crimson, properly illuminating his form for the first time.
The sight in front of him took his breath away. So this is what it had been like for the humans when the Basitins had first arrived on Earth all those years ago. Crow was truly a giant, standing at least 6 foot 6 inches and built like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan with features that looked faintly draconic. However, his impressive size was not his most defining factor. In addition to the pair of great, jet-black, feathery wings extending from his shoulders, Crow had a most unusual skin colour and set of markings on his bare torso. The majority of his skin which was visible in the now half-gloom of the cavern was of a dark orange hue but more of note were the cream coloured patterns which extended across his body. He had an upside down triangle under each blood-red eye and the entire front of his muzzle and lower jaw were also of a creamy-white colour with a long strip that continued downwards to cover most of his chest and stomach. On each arm just below the shoulder there was a strange symbol: two thin stripes circling the limb on his right and what looked like a flaming eye that seemed to stare balefully out on his left.
His head was covered in long, raven-toned hair that extended down in front of his eyes in a casual manner and around his neck hung a simple necklace consisting of one large and two smaller fangs suspended on a leather thong which appeared to somehow glow with a faint, ethereal light. In addition to this he was dressed in only one item of clothing: a pair of long, brown cargo shorts that looked like they had seen better days in about 1990. He wore no shoes despite the jagged stone floor and the fact that he had feet rather than adapted paws. How he hadn’t bled to death from uncountable lacerations was beyond Hawk. Between his legs, he could just make out a thin, whip like tail that ended in an arrow-head-like point of the same colour as his distinctive markings.
All in all he was perhaps the most imposing physical specimen that Hawk had ever seen, not to mention the strangest. But wait… what was that? While Crow’s eyes still glowed with their inner light, the tendrils of shadow he had noticed earlier seemed to wrap around his chest, obscuring Keith’s long slash wound with their combined forms. They swirled round for a few more seconds before suddenly sinking into the cream-white flesh, sending out what looked like dark sparks and eliciting a strangled gasp from Hawk. No sooner had they disappeared then the rent skin knitted itself together in front of his very eyes, leaving barely the faintest trace of a scar. He was totally lost for words. Surely this couldn’t be… magic? But he knew instantly that it must be; no scientific theorem could explain what he had just witnessed. So this was the power that had destroyed their homeland all those years ago…
Crow was looking rather bemused by his shocked expression.
“What’s the matter Basitin? Templar got ya tongue? Bit of magic frighten you? What, you didn’t think that Basitins, Keidran and Humans were the only three intelligent species in existence did you? You certainly do pick some strange company these days Keiser. And anyway, aren’t you a bit wrongly dressed for a trip to Kärsi? Last time I checked there wasn’t a sandy desert here.”
He glanced at their webbing and rifles, “Or a war. Or any intelligent life for that matter…”
Keith shook his head vigorously as if trying to clear a mental obstruction, his hands visibly shaking with distress,
“How… why… what the [censored] are you doing here Crow?”
Crow leaned back into the shadows,
“Hey, no need for the language old buddy. It’s been, what, ten years after all. A bit of friendliness wouldn’t go amiss here and there. In response to your question of “Hi old friend, how ya been and what are you doing here?”: Fine thank you and I’m on holiday. What pray are you two doing here?”
Keith looked like he was about to pop a vein.
“HOLIDAY?! We’re [censored] STRANDED here Crow! We were… betrayed. We all were by that [censored]…”
He slumped down to the floor in resignation, all the fury suddenly leaving him like somebody flicked a switch. Suddenly Crow was all serious, his playful voice changing tone to become austere and humourless.
“Who? Who betrayed you Keith?”
Keiser glanced up in Hawk’s direction, clearly unwilling to speak in his presence.
Like a dry twig bent to far back, James Hawk suddenly snapped.
“I am sick and tired of you keeping things from me Keiser! At the beginning of today I was just another soldier, a regular guy living a regular life, safe and secure in a world that had certainties and boundaries and now in a few hours YOU have turned everything upside down! It was when I met YOU that things started going wrong! It is because of YOU that my best friend now lies dead in some desert in the middle of [censored] nowhere and it is because of YOU that I am now standing on a strange planet with absolutely no idea if I will ever see home again and talking to magical alien!” He was gesturing furiously at this point, “Enough is enough Keiser! I have patiently followed you for hours, hoping that you would tell me what the [censored] just happened but I am not going to wait any longer!” He lunged forward and grabbed the captain by the lapel, bringing his muzzle close to his own.
“Tell me exactly what is going on right now, Keiser. Or you will rue the day you decided to mix me up in this.”
Keith stared back into Hawk’s eyes, a tinge of sadness permeating his being. He was right of course. He had just destroyed the boy’s life in more ways than one and now he was trying to get away without telling him why. When had he become so selfish? When had he changed? Of course.
He leaned his head back against the jagged wall, collecting his thoughts and trying to make sense of them himself.
“You’re right, Hawk. I should never have tried to keep things from you. You of all people deserve to know the truth. Whether you believe me or not, know that I am sorry for what has happened today, truly I am. It was never my intention for any of this to happen. I have been played for the fool to it seems. Tell me what you’d like to know and I promise I shall tell you everything. No lies.”
Hawk withdrew slightly, turning his back on the sitting figure and raising his head in I silent plea.
“Start from the beginning,” he said. “I want to know everything.”
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The character of Crow was created by Iva Fany Vyhnánková over on her web comic
“Dragon Heroes”. A very talented artist who is certainly worth a watch. Character used without permission (pls don’t kill me Fany!).
The character is essentially the same only in tAoW he is quite a bit older (think mid-20s looking). Obviously as the actual story arc with Crow in it is only 20 pages long, I’ve made up his own personality as well.