The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell (22 page)

  By the time they got to the other side of Yynol’bkko, perhaps some three thousand miles, what was left of that so-call army of mine was quite small. We found their camp, and I left to gather some Intel. While I was in the forest I heard that so-call army of mine being wiped out of existence. I had no reaction. I just didn’t care what happen to them. Even though I guess I should have.

  After that, I noticed where Tsk’llk and Llyysta tent was. So I decided to go in and confront them. In a way, I just didn’t care how it all ended. I just wanted it all to end. So I went in and I saw her husband standing there. So we got each other to put our weapons down. Then we talked, trying not to let our guard down. I thought he was alone, but he wasn’t. I think that Llyysta was standing in another part of the tent. It was a very large tent with different areas. In any case I let my guard down. She came in and run me through with a sword. I ran out and grabbed my sword. While I was in the forest I could hear them laughing at me. I knew why they were. It was my situation, the likelihood of my survival. It was the probability of me making it back to friendlier lands. Namely... Natas.

  Later on, I treated my wound with what little medical knowledge that I had. And then I began my long journey back to more... well I guess you could say... friendlier lands. At first I walked for so long that at one point I just couldn’t continue on. My feet were killing me. So I set down and took off my boots and it look like they were filled with blood. I couldn’t even stand up. I had to treat them right away. So I made some bandages, got the right type of medicine, and then soak those bandages in them. While I was putting the bandages on my first foot I felt excruciating pain. I fainted after I put the bandages on the other foot. After that... I learn my lesson about walking back.

  By sheer dumb luck I managed to avoid all of the tribes that my so-call army encountered earlier. At one point I had to make a decision: hug the coast where a tribe was that we encountered earlier, or go through the desert. I picked the desert relying on my training as a warrior.

  When I got back to the first city that my so-call army encountered on that continent, it was nighttime and I had to acquire a boat. I managed to acquire the boat without anyone noticing me, and I got away by the skin of my teeth.”

  “How long did it take you to get to that city?”

  “Long enough and too long at the same time. I eventually ended up on an island that I recognize from the story the Noble Warriors. It was the first time that I ever been there. I remember being in a port city on the island that was abandoned. It was a cloudy day with the sun shining through off-and-on. On that day I saw something that was quite amazing. The sun was out and I saw that all around me, and on me, there were colored light. When I look to find its source, I noticed that it was coming from the Castle of the Damned that was mentioned in that story. I realized that either the stone that the castle was made of, or its façade, was of this very rare stone. That stone when polished had the same properties of a crystal.

  Although I wanted to go and explore that castle, I couldn’t afford to. I was starving. I haven’t eaten in days. And what’s more I was dehydrated. I was sick, either because of my wounds or it was something else. I had to continue on looking for both food and water. Then I needed to find some shelter. There was a part of me that was seriously thinking about staying there.

  I stayed there for several days trying to rebuild my strength. Not traveling that far from those ruins. Then one day I traveled to far and stumbled into a pirate nest. I was hit three times in my front torso with arrows. Luckily for me I was wearing armor, so it probably helped in saving my life. I did manage to get back to my boat and got away. I passed out on my side and when I awoke I was on my back. So I guessed they must have found me and mistook me for dead. So I couldn’t stay there. And therefore there was only one place that I could go to as much as I hated to.

  Later, when I was 238 years old and I was doing research on my book about Natas, I came back with some of Tsk’llk men. We didn’t find any pirates there, let alone their nest. But we did learn something quite interesting about Natas. Apparently his ancestors came from there. His ancestors were one of those Elders of the Profane. A high priest if I’m not mistaken. The ironic part is, the leader of the Noble Warriors was an Iomiyyan. That might explain why I always felt drawn to that place. So I had to go back.”

  Vaistll then showed Ramirez a necklace that she was wearing. “You see this necklace?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You see that stone?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s a piece of that castle’s façade. When I returned I got a large piece of it. The rest of it is in some government laboratory on Earth. The necklace itself is Earth-base.

  While everybody was asleep, I decided to go inside that castle. Since I felt drawn to it, some people might mistake that for past life memories. But it wasn’t. I went inside the castle searching for some answers to my life. Knowing that there were booby traps in there. Lucky for me all of the booby traps, like the Archer of Stone, no longer worked. After I got inside I learned something odd about that story. The story suggested that they may have died. That is not the case. They all lived. But for some reason they all choose not to return home. The people built a monument to them. And they built a statue to the leader of the Noble Warriors. But there is nothing to suggest that the Noble Warriors ever betray their people. They just didn’t return home.”

  “Maybe they were lost at sea.”

  “That’s what I always thought. But there is no evidence to suggest that they ever left. Then again... there’s no evidence to suggest that they stayed either. Anyway... what happened next changed my life forever. But not in the way in which you might think.”

  “Why? What happened?”

  “Later that night I went to sleep under the statue of the leader of the Noble Warriors. People did stuff like that back in the ancient times, whether it was on my planet, or on the Earth. When I fell asleep, I had a dream in which he came to me. He told me that one day I too will go on a journey like the one that he did. Coming to the island. Going into the Castle of the Damned. And never returning home. When I awoke, I said out loud for him to take me with him. I then had the immediate thought that it was a metaphor. And that my journey will be similar to his.”

  Vaistll excused herself as she got to go to the bathroom. After she returned she went to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat. She then put some Pepsi in a glass and mixed it with whiskey. She came back and sit down on the couch and eat what she grabbed. She then sipped on her drink. In her own way, she was preparing herself for what she was about to say next. Yes she didn’t want to talk about it. But she knew that she had to. Not because she told Ramirez that she would, but it was the only way that she could heal herself from the pain.

   After a few moments of her preparing herself, she continued on. “On the day that I got back to Natas’ palace, from that long journey home. I remember that I walked up the beach to where two guards was standing. As I came near enough, one of them, who obviously smelled me, said, ‘The dead walks.’ I then fell to my knees out of psychical exhaustion.

  Everybody but Natas and his wife showed concerned for what I went through. Some, including the nobility, came out of curiosity. I did have some amusing moments with those people. Their reaction told me that once again, I ended up in some myth. But whatever was mentioned in those myths about me had no impact on Natas or his wife. They just didn’t care one way or the other. They only cared about any Intel that I had on Tsk’llk and Llyysta.

  Natas sent people to find as much information as they could. Eventually, those people did find what they were searching for. It was the civilization that Tsk’llk and Llyysta, and the people who came with them, founded. It was called, Plryu’nwtus (prue naw-toos). They also found a sector with a Half-Wit civilization, and Half-Wit tribes. That entire sector became a major problem for Natas’ people. It’s one reason why it took them little more than three decades to find the Plryu’nwtus civilization.”

  “What were you doing during that time period?”

  “Luckily... nothing. Accept for the obvious. It took a few years, but Natas eventually got the Half-Wit civilization on his side. Once again Natas wanted an army to destroy Tsk’llk and Llyysta. And I had to be the one to do it.”

  “Do you know what Plryu’nwtus means? Was that what they called it before, back on that island? If not, then what did they call it? What was the name of the island?”

  “The Iomiyyan name of the island was Bromm’nyxx (sound like prom nix). It meant, ‘The Copper Island.’ I don’t remember what they called the city on that island. I only heard it once. But it did go by a different name than the capital city of Plryu’nwtus. I’m not familiar with the dialect that Plryu’nwtus comes from, but I think it means something like, ‘A new life,’ or ‘new hope.’ It could have been the meaning of their civilization on Bromm’nyxx.

  Despite the fact that I had poor knowledge of Half-Wits, I did know enough to know that what Natas was asking, would be suicidal if another group of Half-Wits took the side of Plryu’nwtus. There was a saying that went as follows, ‘If Half-Wits fights for you and not for your enemy. Then you will win the day. But if they should fight one another... you will lose the day.’ The obvious occurred to me and that army of Half-Wits.

  Plryu’nwtus had a general by the name of Zell’tlaxx (zel tel-la-ox). He was born into a rich home, and inherited part of his wealth from his family. He was forty-four when my first so-call army... destroyed the capital city on Bromm’nyxx. Because I was pursuing them across Yynol’bkko, combine with his actions, he rose through the ranks. Becoming a general at an early age. He turned out to be quite the formidable adversary. Without a doubt he was a military genius. He spent as much time as he could, after the lost of Bromm’nyxx, to build up a network of intelligence. Zell’tlaxx used part of his wealth to create a bogus maritime civilization. It gave Natas the impression that it was loyal to him. Zell’tlaxx had outposts built that spied upon the movement of Natas’ forces. They also were positioned in such a way as to convince Natas that they were there to protect his interests. None of Natas’ forces could move without Zell’tlaxx knowing about it.”

  “Did Zell’tlaxx build any cities? How rich was he, in the sense he could build an entire civilization? Or did he tricked Natas into thinking that there was a maritime civilization that was protecting his interests?”

  “That one.” Vaistll said referring to the third question.

  “Why is it that Natas didn’t realize that it was a bogus civilization?”

  “Because he was never much of a diplomat. He never traveled around all that much. I guess it had something to do with his looks, or something else. Then again his palace was more like a trading outpost. Goods came to him, not the other way around. What’s more, he always had bad intelligence gathering capabilities.

  So not only did Zell’tlaxx trick Natas into thinking that here is a civilization that he can count on; he had other brilliant tricks up his sleeve. Any wealth that bogus civilization made went to pay off the tribes that worked for Zell’tlaxx. They were his eyes and ears on Yynol’bkko. They gathered all the intelligence for him. He also trained them in hit-and-run tactics, as well as guerilla warfare.

  Zell’tlaxx also had a very simple way to communicate over Yynol’bkko. Up in the mountains he had beacons built that were placed just far enough to be seen. He also used a simple color-code system that gave the direction, and the size of any army traveling on Yynol’bkko. He also used the same technique at sea. No army could move on Yynol’bkko without him knowing about it.

  I didn’t stand a chance when I lead that Half-Wit army. With all of those tribes hit-and-run tactics, combine with the guerilla warfare; I started to have nightmares about being on another long journey home. It through my planning out of whack. Those tribes kept on coming out of the woodwork and doing a hit-and-run. Combine that with those tribes knowing our every move. That Half-Wit army started to think that they were under the all-seeing eye of Horus. They were freaked out by it. I can’t blame them I felt the same way. I may have a much larger army, roughly three thousand, but it didn’t helped that much. Those tribes under the leadership of Zell’tlaxx waged a scorched earth policy. I think you can imagine what state that Half-Wit army was in when we finally got to our destination. 20% was of them was killed in action. Their discipline was hanging by a thread.

  We laid siege to that city and it meant nothing to a skilled general like Zell’tlaxx. I lost a full third of that Half-Wit army just trying to overcome his outer defenses. Since the city was a port city, he built a ring of defenses around it. Two rings place far enough away from the city so that he can put an army in between them, or in between the city. He connected both the city, and the rings, with a tunnel network. I called the place between those two rings, the ‘Field of Blood.’ And he pulled another dirty trick upon me. This one was the worst of them all.”

  “What was it?”

  “Zell’tlaxx got Tsk’llk and Llyysta to leave with a small army. It gave the appearance of them leaving to go look for help. They did that at a time when it appeared that their defenses are starting to crumble. So Zell’tlaxx needed a tactical deterrence. And both Tsk’llk and Llyysta was the bait. I had no other choice but to go after them. It was both of them that Natas wanted, so of course I had to go after them. While I was chasing both of them through a Half-Wit forest, there was a group of Half-Wits following close behind me. Zell’tlaxx tricked me, and that Half-Wit army of mine, into believing that they were our reinforcements.