Valkeryn 2: The Dark Lands (32 page)

‘Jesus.’ Brown swore softly. The trees were alive with the small warriors moving like ants along the tree limbs.

‘Incoming!’ Teacher crouched as more rocks swung out of the dark foliage. Sorenson threw his arms over Grimson, making his own body a shield. A rock, easily three feet across, struck Doonie in the back. With a grunt, coupled with the sound of crunching bone he was flung forward into the centre of one of the sinkholes. He immediately disappeared to his waist.

Teacher dived as close as he could to the edge and stretched out his hand. Brown also leapt over, landing on top of the Delta leader’s legs just as he started to enter the pit beside the sinking Doonie. Teacher reached out, his fingertips almost touching his soldier, but the man’s face was twisted in agony, his body too broken to allow him to reach back towards his captain.

Doonie shook his head. ‘Sorry boss, I’m done for.’ He exhaled and shut his eyes, leaning back and grimacing. ‘Get the weapons, and then get the hell home.’

‘Don’t you dare, soldier.’ Teacher strained, and Brown held on tight while digging one hand into the soil to anchor himself. 

Donnie’s face calmed and without another word, he slipped beneath the sinking soil. Teacher roared and rolled onto his back, loading a grenade into the underslung launcher and firing it up into the canopy. He loaded and fired, loaded and fired, screaming his fury to the Panina. The other Delta soldiers did the same, and soon burning branches and bodies rained down around them.

After another few seconds, Arn stood, covering his ears. ‘They’re gone.’ He yelled over the mayhem unfolding around him. ‘You’re wasting your ammo.’

Teacher blinked, and then nodded. ‘Cease fire.’

The flames had lit the clearing brighter than day, but the lush vegetation didn’t burn for long and soon they were plunged back into darkness and silence.

Simms was on one knee, still sighting on the canopy. ‘They killed Doonie, those sons of bitches.’

‘Forget it… for now.’ Teacher half turned. ‘We’ll mourn later. Let’s do what we came to do, and then get the hell out of here.’ He waved them on, walking on the ridges between the holes as he had seen the king do before.

Teacher turned to Arn. ‘How did you know they were above us? They were out of sight, invisible amongst the dark foliage.’

Arn shrugged. ‘I could sense them, smell them.’ 

Teacher stared for a few seconds. He frowned and looked away. ‘Sure, okay.’

In another few minutes they stood at the cave entrance, and without hesitation Teacher entered. Arn and the others followed. The cave was huge, empty, but showed signs of habitation. There were cave drawings, some primitive and faded, but others not so old. of the newer ones showed exquisite detail, raised up in an indication of many layers of paint applied over th
e generations. Perhaps they were so important that the messages, myths or legends they portrayed had to be preserved.

Arn traced one of the larger murals with his hand. ‘Maps, and some sort of history of the Panina.’

Sorenson jabbed a clawed finger down on an image of a giant wolf standing amongst tongues of flame. ‘Fenrir, the father of us all… and the fire he was born in. All paths start with him, and lead from him.’

‘Must have been quite a creature, er, thing… I mean Wolfen.’ Sharp shrugged as Sorenson glared.

Teacher followed the map along the wall. ‘This is where we are, and here… the lake, and the Far Wolfen maybe…’ An image of a snarling wolf was painted on the opposite bank of the giant body of water.

Sorenson stepped forward, staring and measuring, his eyes narrowing. Teacher continued to trace a ribbon of blue – a river along the wall, noting its twists and turns, and where it finally disappeared below the cliffs, to reappear on the other side of the giant wall of mountains.

‘This might be a shortcut to Valkeryn. The river travels all the way back through the jungle and then passes by the kingdom.’

Grimson shook his head. ‘We should stay out of the water – bad things in the water – big things.’

Teacher grunted. ‘We can deal with them. We have to.’

Brown was checking the clip in his rifle. ‘We better watch the ammo, Boss.’

‘Heeey, look at this.’ Alison Sharp was further along, and shining her flashlight onto a human figure that looked to be growing out of the wall – a bronze statue, embedded in the stone.

Arn frowned, ‘I’ve sent that guy b
efore. But in giant form – it’s carved into the cliff wall, hundreds of feet high, but that one had no face. Grimson though it might represent Fenrir.’

‘I do, I did… then.’ The young Wolfen had folded his arms.

‘It had words carved as well – something like “HE STILL LIVES”.’ Could also be a message for the new peoples of the planet, telling them that we, the Ancients, still live somewhere… or we did.’

Teacher stepped up and wiped away some cobwebs, dust and then scraped away some green corrosion extruding on the base. ‘And here it is – HE STILL LIVES”.’ He wiped more scree away from higher up on the figure and laughed softly. ‘Hey, look familiar?’

Sharp snorted. ‘You’re famous.’ She turned and shined her light into Arn’s face. ‘That’s you, sunshine.’ 

Arn’s mouth hung open. It could have been him – no, it was him – like it was taken from a photograph… an old one, where he had short, neat hair.

‘But… why.’

Teacher shrugged. ‘Maybe we cast it when we knew the planet was going to crap. We made it hoping that you, or someone who knew you, would see it. Telling the people not give up hope because you still live somewhere. Who knows, maybe even trying to get you to come back – our last chance.’

‘But… if it was carved, then I can’t have gone back. Because if I went back, then why would you need to make it?’ Arn scratched his head. ‘Paradox?’

Teacher turned away. ‘I don’t care. Maybe when you get home, this disappears – nothing is guaranteed, the future is fluid – isn’t that what they say?’

‘Who? Probably a sci-fi writer.’ Arn touched the statue’s face.

Teacher had already disappeared into the deeper caves. He called back from the darkness. ‘Let’s go people.’

*

Further in they found the door, or rather a steel wall with the
faded fist and lightning bolt symbol.

‘The steel caves.’ Arn’s voice was hushed, but still echoed.

The steel showed signs of having been bombed, burnt, and bashed as if over the millennia many had tried their best to break it down or punch a hole through the blast resistant doors. Teacher guessed that they never stood a chance of breaching the barrier using primitive tools. In fact, he had counted on it. He found a control panel, and levered the cover out of the way. The contents came away in a shower of rust.

‘No power, and dead as a dodo… and not going to be able kick start this baby with a few high-erg batteries either.’ He stood back a step. ‘Going to stick to Plan A – punch a hole right through.’

Weng grunted softly. ‘Not easy – three inches of high density, composite steel.’

‘That’s why it’s unopened.’ Teacher pulled his rifle and loaded a grenade. ‘But, we get in, or go home with nothing but fond memories.’

Teacher looked around on the floor, and bent to pick up a loose stone. He went up to the door, and drew a three-foot circle. ‘We concentrate grenade and armor piercing rounds, right here.’ He banged on the steel. ‘Let’s hope we get some go-forward before we run out of ammunition.’

The group took cover, and the five remaining Deltas took up positions either side of the cave and sighted on Teacher’s target.

‘Fire.’

Blast after blast pounded the door, making a sound like an enormous gong being continually struck in the small enclosure. Teacher was first to switch to uranium-tipped armor-piercing bullets. They left a tracer-like path as they streamed towards the armored wall.

Inside the marked circle the steel had become white hot from the impacts.

‘Cease.’ He held up a hand, and got to his feet. He pushed his rifle up over his shoulder as he walked forward. The steel wall was heavily pitted and now concave in the centre of the ring. But there was still no break.

‘Damn it.’ Teacher picked up another stone, and drew a smaller circle, this one only about twelve inches in diameter, and over the most heavily scarred area. He took up his position again.

‘Keep it tight; another twenty second burst on mymark. Three… two…
one
…’

Once again the rain of steel and explosives flew forward, but before time was up…

‘I’m out.’ from Simms.

‘Me too.’ from Brown.

Sharp fired her last grenade, it burst in an orange plume, but there was little flashback this time. Teacher held up his hand.

‘Good.’ They’d punched through; Teacher’s circle was red and cooling rapidly. He trotted forward and kicked out with his boot. The hot steel sizzled against the synthetic material but crumbled inwards, leaving a two-foot jagged porthole.

‘Let’s hope the cupboard isn’t bare.’ He stuck his head inside, and then climbed through, carefully avoiding the near molten steel at the edges.

Teacher’s head popped back out. ‘Stale but breathable air – Brown, Weng, Simms come with me.’

The Deltas scrambled through.

‘Go to lights.’ Beams flicked on from their head and belt-mounted lights, throwing tunnels of illumination into the ancient structure.

‘Weird; it’s more modern than anything we knew, but seems as old as time itself in here.’

‘Yeah well, we’ve been gone a long time. Let’s hope we can find more than rust, dust and stale air.’

They stood in the centre of a room the size of an aircraft hangar. Teacher walked to a wall with a tattered imprint under glass.

‘Level One – Administration, no interest there. Level Two – Research & Development, that’s more like it. Level Three – Nucleonics and Propulsion. Nice. Levels Four and Five are mobile multi-carrier technology – forget it. Unfortunately, I doubt the maintenance elevators are going to work long enough to lift some sort of tank up from the basement.’ He turned.

‘Okay, let’s make this quick – Simms, with me to Level One. Brown, Weng, get down to the lower levels and see what you can find that’s useful, portable, and still operational. Stay in contact and keep your damn eyes open.’ He spun one way then the other. ‘Spread out and find me that elevator shaft.’

The door to the elevator needed all four of them to lever it to open, and the cabin itself was stuck somewhere deep in the bowels of the substructure.

Teacher leaned in for a moment, and then pulled back. He turned to Brown with a grin. ‘After you.’

The climb down along the metal struts was fairly easy, and the lower doors, less exposed to the upper atmosphere were still sliding with little trouble.

Simms pulled back. ‘Phew, dead air.’

Teacher pushed him in. ‘Been sealed for too many eons to count. Let’s just hope it’s not toxic.’

He nodded to Brown and Weng, who continued on their downward climb, and followed Simms into the dark room. He adjusted his light and walked to a row of metal doors set into the wall.

‘You check over that side – move quickly.’ Most of the rooms and storage chambers were empty. Some contained interesting but useless items such as boots, belts, new helmet technology, and then from the others side of the chamber…’

‘Oh yeah… this’ll do.’ Simms backed up a step and smiled.

Teacher joined him. ‘What’ve you got?’

‘I think they’re CL Suits – I thought this stuff was still on the drawing board.’

‘Well, looks like they perfected them.’ Teacher reached in and pulled out one of the suits. He held it up. ‘Oh yeah, this is it – Carbon Lattice Suit.’ He spoke softly, reeling off what he knew about the modern combat uniform.

‘This baby is one of the most expensive materials in the world – actually grown like a diamond. The research and development eggheads wanted to make use of the way carbon atoms are arranged. It’s organised in a specific type of cubic lattice mesh called diamond cubic.’

Simms frowned. ‘Tough huh?’

Teacher grinned. ‘Oh yeah. Diamonds are the hardest naturally-occurring material on the planet and they’ve managed to duplicate the structure for the suit material – virtually impenetrable… and…’ he sorted through them, ‘… one size fits all. Put ‘em on. And let’s grab some for the team.’

‘Boss.’ Weng’s voice in Teacher’s ear.

‘Go.’

‘We found some shoulder-mounted mini-nukes, something that looks like a mobile land mine, mini propulsion units, laser cutters… and the biggest high-temperature incendiary bomb I’ve ever seen.’

‘What yield?’

‘Good size hammer, probably a kiloton, and all in a tidy little package.’

‘Good. Pack all you can carry, and one of the incendiary hammers. We’ll need to seal this place up, or within a month King Willy of the Jungle and his boys will be the best armed force on the planet.’

‘You got it. Brown and I will do a quick reconnoiter of the two bottom levels. Check in then. Out.’

‘Roger that; stay on comms.’ Teacher and Simms went back to pulling open drawers and sliding back doors that were sealed shut.

Simms paused at one small chamber. It contained a single item – a silver metallic square, the size of a cigar box. He lifted it, and slid open the lock. Inside was a small booklet covering a row of dull looking capsules. He flipped it open and read.

‘Morph steel. Ten units – field-test approved.’ He flipped through the pages. ‘Do not use if suffering from hypertension, diabetes, psychotic episodes. Hmm, that’s comforting.’

Teacher frowned. ‘Morph steel? Let me see that.’

Simms handed him the box. Teacher saw there was ten metallic capsules inside, each in their own compartment. Simms read more from the small booklet.

‘Morphic body weaponry, twenty-four hour duration. Take with water.’

Teacher looked up at Simms, holding one of the capsules between thumb and forefinger. ‘Well Morpheus, do I take the red pill or the blue bill?’ He grinned and tossed it into his mouth, dry swallowing hard.

‘Kack.’ He gagged, and grabbed for his water canteen and gulped hard. He coughed and took a deep breath. ‘Yech, tastes like metal with a crap after-taste.’

Simms frowned. ‘Now what?’

Teacher shrugged. ‘You’ve got the book; you tell me.’

Simms shook his head, flipping pages. ‘Cerebral controlled morphic weaponry – sounds pretty straight forward.’ He laughed. ‘Just remember, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’

Teacher grimaced. ‘Feel strange.’ He held up his hands, turning them in front of his face. He frowned, concentrating – an image started to form in his mind. There came a tingling at the back of his neck that travelled down his arms to his fingers. And then…

‘Jesus Christ.’ Simms jumped back.

A blade appeared in Teacher’s hand… not actually in it, but
of
it.

Teacher nodded. ‘I understand – Morph steel is nano-tech. The chemicals stay inside you for twenty-four hours, producing the hardest metal known to man. The nano fragments are organised by your nerve endings, and directed by your brain. They basically use your body as a factory, using the other chemicals in your system to produce anything you can imagine.

‘Great – guns?’

‘Sure, but they’d be a solid mass – no working parts. Consider it a built-in close-quarters combat kit, without all the carrying weight.’

‘I’ll take one.’ Simms held out his hand.

Teacher snapped the box closed. ‘Nope, not yet. We save these until we need them. I was just the guinea pig.

‘Boss, we’re coming up.’ Weng again

Teacher heard the stress in his soldier’s voice – unusual for the normally self-controlled man. He didn’t like it.

‘What is it?’

‘Bodies… I mean skeletons, everywhere. Bite marks on the bones. Something has been eating them. They were people, the scientists I think. The damn chamber has been opened up – the walls are like Swiss cheese down here. Something got in, and ate them up.’ There was silence for a few more seconds. ‘Creepy as all hell down here, and I can hear something… laughing or giggling far away in the dark.’

‘Okay, we’ve got all we need. Get back up here, pronto.’

‘Half way there already, Boss.’

*

Arn watched as Weng and Brown stepped through the hole in the metal wall. Each had bulging backpacks and armfuls of all manner of pipes and packages. Simms, with Teacher climbing through last, quickly followed them. The Delta leader spent a few extra seconds staring back into the dark void, as though… listening. At last he turned and joined the team.

Alison Sharp was first to notice the outfits Simms and Teacher wore. ‘Wow.’ Her mouth hung in an open smile. ‘Well, well, looks like someone found the menswear department.’

‘Now that looks cool.’ Arn grinned.

Simms took a small bow and held his arms wide, turning slowly to show off the new technology uniform. The suits were tight and made of a black lattice material. The Delta men and women were physically fit, but the suits also had a form of flexible armor plating covering the chest, arms and thighs, resulting in a slight bulging effect over an already muscular physicality.

Simms finished his turn. ‘Light, flexible and about fifty times tougher than Kevlar.’

Alison Sharp continued to walk around him, running her hand over the material. ‘Is this what I think it is – CL technology?’

Teacher nodded. ‘You got it in one – CL suits, and one each for all of us.’

‘Outstanding.’ Sharp started to take off her uniform.

‘And watch this.’ Simms touched a small stud on the raised collar. Immediately, the suit telescoped up over the back of his head and down over his face. A single slot over the eyes had a tinted but transparent material which allowed vision. It also resolved itself so the carbon lattice mesh was more open over his mouth for breathing.

‘Full face helmet.’ He reached up and ran his hand up over the metallic material. ‘Feels great. Hey Brown, punch me in the head.’

Brown pulled a face. ‘Sure, and I’ll shoot you as well if you like.’ He raised his gun.

‘Knock it off.’ Teacher handed the suits out. ‘Put ‘em on, and everyone spend a few minutes familiarizing themselves with the technology.’

Sharp held hers up. ‘Hey Teach; don’t worry about the head bit for Brown. His noggin is hard enough.’

Brown stood in his boxers, and pulled the suit up over one leg. He snorted. ‘And Sharp wants to know if it comes in any other colors.’

The female Delta grinned, and held out her fist. ‘Pay that.’ She and Brown bumped knuckles.

Once suited up, Teacher held one out to Sorenson. ‘Not sure you’ll get into it, but…’

The huge Wolfen shook his head. ‘I have my Valkeryn armor that has the crests of Grimvaldr, my forefathers, and my kingdom. It will be enough.’

Teacher nodded. ‘Then let’s get to this inland sea; we got a war to start.’

Chapter 32

There Will Be No Return of the Ancients

Orcalion prostrated himself before Mogahrr; lying flat, arms wide, face pressed hard into the cold stones.

‘Their weapons, Mistress, were powerful. They surprised us.’ He lifted his head an inch. ‘And the Lygon are slow and stupid.’

Behind him the Lygon growled, but a furious glance from Mogahrr’s yellow eyes silenced them.

‘A Lygon waaar party, accompanied by Panterran archerssss; all wiped out iiin minutesss by a meeeere handful of Man-Kind?’

Orcalion’s head lowered to the stone floor once more. ‘Not just Man-Kind. They used a Wolfen to bait us.’

‘A Wolfen? Theeey fight with the Wolfen – what Wolfen?’

‘I think it was the one called Sorenson.’ Orcalion lifted again and turned to look to Goranx, who was standing like a mountain at the rear of the room. ‘The brother of Strom, son of Stromgard, and last of the Wolfen elite. I thought he had been defeated by the mighty Goranx.’ He lowered his head, a small smile twisting his lips. ‘Obviously not.’

Goranx exploded, and launched himself forward before the queen hissed, and her archers behind the throne raised their poison tipped arrows. She held up her hand as Goranx skidded to a stop.

‘They ssseek the Arnoddr.’ Her eyes closed for a moment. ‘And onccce they haaave him, what theeen?’

She reached out and began to stroke Brigg’s head. The female Delta leader stood docile, as if in a trance. ‘Will they be foolisssh enough to cooome for their llleader? Or maybe they will tryyy to flee to their homeworld.’ She opened her eyes. ‘There are ssso few of themmm. They will try and bring more warriorsss.’ She nodded. ‘We know wherrre they will runnn too, and we wiiill be there to sssee they never leave. Thisss land doesss not belong to the Ancientsss anymore, it belongsss to the Panterran.’

Mogahrr turned to Briggs, still stroking the woman’s head. ‘I think weee will need to have another little taaalk. Youuu cann tell mee how weee can dfeat these last few Man-Kind, and then perhapsss how weee can challenge the Man-Kind in their own wooorld.’ She sat back and hissed out a laugh. ‘Who can stop usss?’

She leaned forward, her face once again taking on its cunning mien. ‘Dark Wolfen, now you wiiill earn your keep. If this Sor-ennn-sssson leadssss them, then you will beee at the front of our forcesss. Wolfen fightsss Wolfen, yessss?’

Bergborr frowned and the queen showed her teeth in a decayed grin. ‘Yesss, time to fight for your new masssters.’ She nodded to Goranx. ‘Or end up in the beeelly of the Lygon.’

Mogahrr turned to one of her Panterran generals. ‘Take a forccce of Lygon and Panterran to where the Man-Kind wiiill try and essscape back to their home-world. Sssecure it, and then lie in wait for them. There will be no return of the Ancientsss.’

Chapter 33

They’re Hiding in the Dark

General Langstrom stood silently at the rear of the room.
Beside him Harper fidgeted as Lieutenant Bannock briefed the new Deltas. Their eyes were focused, alert, and they were absorbing every atom of information the returned Special Forces soldier imparted.

The assembled men and woman all knew that information was the most valuable weapon they had. If possible, they became even more focused when he talked of the Panterran and Lygon attack.

Bannock paced. ‘Do not assume these beings that you have seen on the image loops are big, dumb brutes that are just going to come at you in a straight line, begging to be blown away. These things are immensely powerful, armored to all hell, battlefield smart, and with them come a horde of smaller creatures that are the embodiment of cunning. To add to our combat complexity, they are now being led by Colonel Marion Briggs, and we assume they have several HK416 rifles with spare mags.’ He paced his face grim. ‘Plus grenade launchers, claymores and any other kit they acquired from our fallen Delta team.’

He stopped pacing and faced the new team with his hands on his hips. ‘We have one role today – hold the line. Our gut feeling is that these things are going to come at the portal. They must not… they
will
not… be allowed anywhere near our home.’

Bannock’s eyes blazed. ‘Questions?’

‘Numbers?’

Bannock shot back the answer.
‘Unknown – could be a few hundred or a few thousand.’

‘Expected contact duration?’

‘
Till it’s done. It’s a fight to the death – theirs.’