Centurion's Rise (42 page)

Hastelloy released Tomal’s
skull from his grasp and left him to wallow in his own constructed state of misery and moved on to square off against Cleopatra.  “This is not your fight, and if we truly are the agents of evil you describe, then making it your fight is a real bad idea.  Now, where is the relic?” Hastelloy said slowly while carefully driving dread and foreboding into every word.

“I can’t,” she whimpered in a soft voice lacking any of her former self confidence.

“Yes you can,” Hastelloy whispered back.  “You’re selfish.  It’s in your nature to survive at all costs, and your survival now hinges on turning over that worthless glowing ball of fire.  A few minutes ago you were willing to give up your son, your lover, your wealth, even your country to be spared.  This request, it’s nothing.  Now please go get the relic, so we all can go on to enjoy long and happy lives.”

Cleopatra silently considered Hastelloy’s words.  Hastelloy, for his part struggled to look relaxed in his outward appearance, but the task was nearly impossible considering
how close he was to final victory over the Alpha on this planet.  He had the selfish queen exactly where he wanted her - cornered with no place to go except fall back on her selfish nature and make another pay the price for her prosperity.

Finally
, she gave Hastelloy a silent nod and backed away with her head hanging low in resignation.  Hastelloy followed her to a wicker basket that stood waist high next to the doorway leading to Tomal’s private room.  Hastelloy’s heart skipped a beat as she hunched over the basket, removed the lid and reached inside.  Victory was just moments away, but as she spent entirely too much time fishing around inside the basket, Hastelloy’s usually keen sense of alarm finally pushed through the euphoria of the victorious moment. 

He suddenly recalled his last encounter with Goron’s relic.  An elaborate temple, complete with a secret chamber that men were murdered to keep unknown was constructed to protect the relic.  Once Hastelloy managed to
gain access into the impenetrable hiding spot, a trap door led Goron’s relic to safety.  ‘This is too easy’ a voice cried out from the back of his mind.

In panic, Hastelloy grasped Cleopatra by the shoulders and heaved her away from the basket.  He watched her hands intently as they came out of the basket and whirled around toward his face.  Coiled around the copper skin of her arms were black, textured shadows.  In the blur of motion he couldn’t quite make them out, but as her hands dre
w near, one of the black shadows opened a gaping mouth sporting inch long fangs that lashed out for his neck.

Hastelloy snapped his upper body backwards, nearly bending in half, just in time to avoid the deadly strike.  The set of vipers moved out of range when Cleopatra collapsed backwards to the floor.  Hastelloy made an initial movement to pry the deadly snakes away, but he noticed dozens of red puncture wounds up and down her arms.

She did not move much as the venom worked fast to shut down her nervous system.  Cleopatra’s eyes did manage to remain locked on Hastelloy, who stood over her a few feet away.

“Why?
” Hastelloy pleaded.

“The riches Jupiter promised me on Mount Olympus were far greater than the ones you promised here on earth,” she whispered in a fading voice. 

“Selfish to the end,” Hastelloy observed and then watched the last flicker of vitality fade from her eyes.  

“Damn it!” Hastelloy hollered.  “How does a being with no body manage to always stay one step ahead of me?”

The question drew no immediate response.  After all, what was there to say?  The enemy had once again slipped through their well conceived trap.  Eventually the loaded silence gave way to the faint sounds of battle outside the palace as Valnor’s agents succeeded in opening the gates to allow his forces to conquer the city.

Tomal emerged from his self pity to break the silence.  “Having, at best, a dead weight around your ankles, and at worst a turncoat with a knife jammed into your back didn’t help.  I’ve failed you, the crew, and every soldier still housed in the Nexus in every conceivable way.  I’m not fit for duty, or life.”

Hastelloy didn’t know how to respond.  The show of contrition from Tomal was unprecedented, as was his failure.  The engineer was on the brink of going mad with guilt and despair.  He couldn’t condone the man’s actions by saying everything was alright, yet he feared for Tomal’s mental state if he came down on him with the sledge hammer of military discipline.

Valnor’s only response was a disgusted snarl.  He then turned and paced into Tomal’s room while shaking his head in disbelief.  Valnor soon re
-entered the chamber carrying Tomal’s ornately crafted gladius sword with the two foot long blade nearly dragging on the floor by his side.  In an all too casual motion, he slid the sword across the stone floor so that it came to rest in front of Tomal with the handle pointing right at him, begging the engineer to pick it up.

“You were hell bent on being the master of Rome, regardless of what that meant for anyone else,” Valnor said with a malice reserved for the very few.  “Now’s your chance to be the ultimate Roman.  True Romans take their own lives after a complete failure.  They consider it the only noble thing to do.”

“That’s their way, not ours,” Hastelloy protested.  “Suicide is not an option, we cherish and value a life to its natural end.”

Valnor went on as though Hastelloy were a mute observer.  “Which is the greater dishonor, Tomal, living the rest of this life as a vile traitor or living the rest of your
existence with the mark of a Novan who committed suicide?  Whichever you deem  most humiliating is what you deserve.”

“You are not in a state of mind to make this choice, Tomal,” Hastelloy insisted as he slowly paced his way toward Tomal.  “When I took my life back in Egypt it was to accomplish a specific end for the greater good.  I can live with the dishonor because I had justification.  Nothing justifies this.  By law I will have to expel you from the Nexus, your life force will end if you do this.”

Tomal’s eyes glistened with regretful tears.  Every time he glanced down at the stout blade he barely managed to fight back the urge to vomit.  A single tear escaped his eye, ran down the side of his nose, and dripped off the end.  It landed with a soft twang on the sword’s broad blade.  The faint musical note seemed to make the decision for him.

Tomal slowly wrapped his right hand around the ridged handle to
lift the weapon.  He dragged it up until the blade stood vertical with the tip resting on the stone floor.  He added his left hand to the grip and raised his hands above his head, bringing the business end of the weapon to rest on his chest.

Hastelloy still had entirely too much ground to cover to put an end to the madness.  Tomal allowed himself to be deceived by the Alpha.  His betrayal was out of weakness of character, not traitorous intent.  This punishment did not fit the crime. 

Hastelloy looked to Valnor, who stood close enough to stop the blade.  With his eyes he pleaded with the helmsman to come to his senses.  This was too much, but to his great disappointment, the young man simply stood there and waited for the unthinkable to transpire.

Tomal steadied himself and thankfully paused for a moment so he could summon the courage to plunge the blade through his heart.  This was going to be close. 

Tomal drew one last deep breath and then pulled down on the sword, but Hastelloy’s iron grip on the hilt prevented the blade from moving.  Tomal’s watery eyes narrowed with intent and he redoubled his effort to move the blade into his body.  He succeeded in piercing the flesh that caused a narrow stream of blood to run down his chest exposed just above the collar of his blue silk tunic.

Hastelloy shift
ed into command mode as he felt his grip on the sword slipping away.  “Release the sword, Lieutenant.  That’s an order!”

In typical Tomal fashion, the order was not met.  Hastelloy turned his head in desperation to Valnor.  “Ensign, you are ordered to help me stop this.”

A dreadful moment of inactivity passed, causing Hastelloy to wonder if he’d now lost control of the youngest soldier under his command.  Before he could give the matter any serious thought, Valnor sprang into compliance.  He grabbed Tomal’s hands and pried his fingers loose from the blade, one-by-one.  When the tenth digit was removed, and Hastelloy had full command of the blade, he kept it pointed at the lieutenant’s chest.

“I’m in command,” Hastelloy barked.  “Your life belongs to me as an asset to accomplish this mission.  You live and die at my pleasure, not your own.  I still need you.”

Hastelloy then plunged the blade into Tomal’s chest until nothing protruded except the hilt and handle.  The look on Tomal’s face was that of shock rather than pain.  “I thought you . . .”

“You can do your thinking in the Nexus chamber,” Hastelloy stated sternly.  “Stay there until the entire crew has returned, which will be a very
long time from now.  Until then, get yourself right in the head.  That’s an order.”

Hastelloy
released the handle protruding from Tomal’s chest, took Valnor by the arm and led him out of the room while Tomal collapsed to his knees and flopped over onto his side, letting a random, fading wheeze escape his collapsing lungs.

“Die with honor,” Hastelloy said without turning around.

Gallono stoked a fire softly glowing at the center of his circular hut.  His muscles ached from spending all day plowing and planting crops in the fields along with the other villagers.  The work was taxing and mundane, but he enjoyed it.  He loved the fact that at day’s end he could look back and see how many rows of corn he helped plant.  Hastelloy had the patience to invisibly move pieces behind the scenes to accomplish an objective, but Gallono much preferred immediate results.

That said, spending the last
ten years working the same land with the same people and the same tools was getting monotonous.  He wanted to move on with his mission to help Tonwen in Israel but for the time being he felt a greater need to stay and protect the Nexus. 

It had been eleven years since he prevented the Egyptian soldiers from reporting their discovery in his fair village, but so long as Cleopatra was in power and under Alpha influence to find the Nexus he would stay put.

News of happenings in the outside world still managed to find its way to the tiny farming community.  He learned a few years back that Tomal was banished from Rome but allied himself with Cleopatra in retaliation.

Gallono was fairly certain Tomal knew nothing of the exhaustive search going on for the Nexus by his queen, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to run the a
rrogant little engineer through with a sword. How could Tomal be so foolish and blind to allow himself to be manipulated into serving the Alpha?  It just baffled the mind.

A soft knock came from the door.  Gallono paced over and pushed the door open to greet his visitor.  It was pitch dark outside so only half his guest’s face was illuminated by the deep red glow from the dying fir
e, the other half covered in long shadows.  A set of dulled eyes resting in front of a hollow soul stared back at him without emotion.

“What’s happened,” Gallono asked.

“Cleopatra is dead, Hastelloy and Valnor rule the known world, and the Alpha are still a threat on this planet,” Tomal reported in a monotone voice.

“Come in,” Gallono offered.  “I think we have a lot to talk about.”

Tomal entered and flopped to the dirt floor sitting opposite Gallono from across the fire pit.

“Care for a pillow?” Gallono mocked.

Tomal absorbed the subtle insult and buried his face in his hands.  “I worked for them you know.  I helped propel Caesar to greatness, and I kept Cleopatra in power.  All according to the will of the Alpha relics they worshiped and followed.”

“I know,” Gallono said quietly.  “Cleopatra’s soldiers have been scouring the entire
kingdom looking for the Nexus.  I’ve stayed here this past decade to protect it from her Alpha masters.”

“Master,” Tomal corrected.  “Hastelloy managed to destroy the Alpha relic masquerading as the goddess Vesta, but the other is still at large doing
who knows what.”

“Well we know he doesn’t control you anymore.  That’s a start I’d say.”  A soft huff was the only reply as Gallono continued.  “Now that you are here I can finally follow up with Tonwen in Israel.”

Tomal’s mood brightened slightly as he raised his head from his hands.  “Shouldn’t I go instead?  I appointed King Herod when I conquered that region.  I know the man and I’m pretty sure I could solicit his help.  Besides, I need to make things right.  I need to fight the Alpha head on by attacking their religious protection.”

“Not a chance, Lieutenant,” Gallono said sternly. 
“You are in no condition to be in the field.  Your job right now is to make sure the Nexus remains hidden.  It’s the captain’s call when you are ready to leave again.”

Tomal returned his face to his palms and simply nodded in agreement.  After a long, contemplative pause Tomal lifted his head up.  “Sorry I killed you back in Rome.  I was out of control.”

At that moment Gallono had a choice to make: dish out the verbal abuse the traitor so desperately had coming, or throw him a lifeline to speed him along on the path to recovery.  His inner barbarian demanded the former, but the commanding officer won out with the latter.  “Yes you were, but I punched you in the nose a couple thousand years ago so I kind of had it coming.  We’re square, Lieutenant.”

Gallono rose to his feet and extended his hand to help Tomal to his and held the handshake.  “You hear me?  We’re square.  Now get some sleep. I leave for Israel in the morning now that the relief watch has arrived.”