The Vitalis Chronicles: White Shores (21 page)

“That box is the shelter?” He was looking just below the statue at what appeared to be nothing more than a large circuit breaker covered in buttons with a lever.

“No, sir,” the major responded politely. “That's the power supply and circuit breaker. That's the shelter.”

He gestured higher to a long metal rod sticking in the air with what appeared to be a mushroom's head at the end. The bottom half was twice the diameter of the top, as if it were an extendable piece of equipment. Nothing lit up or moved to show if it was active or not.

“And it's powered on?”

“Yes sir.” The major put his hands behind his back and turned to his superior. He seemed calm enough to Brutus. “It's covering the whole square right now. If he does enter he'll be exposed to our weapons and unable to assume his ethereal form.”

“His what?” The general turned back to his major.

“His... Shadow form sir.” The major waited to be sure the general understood.

“Ah, yes.” The general had heard about the Shadow being able to move between forms. He didn't really grasp the concept, but who would? “So we'll be able to kill the bastard.”

“Exactly sir.”

“Seems like a hell of a lot of trouble for one man.”

“Aye sir, it certainly does seem that way.”

They stood there on the steps of the monument, hands behind their backs, awkwardly staring at the shelter before the major finally let out a light cough.

“I'd best be back to making sure my men are at the ready, sir, if that's all.”

“Of course, yes. Get on with it then.”

“Thank you sir.” The major wheeled about after saluting and walked off towards a group of soldiers who were standing around talking.

He'd make a fine replacement for Silvers someday, Brutus thought for a moment before turning and surveying the scene. Lightning struck somewhere in the distance as thunder rolled through to prove it had. It would start to rain soon. That was the last thing he needed for morale right now.

There were a dozen vehicles lined in a semicircle around the gates, mounted gunners standing at the ready in the back of each with his machine gun primed and ready to unload. Surrounding the vehicles were a few hundred soldiers, each ready to take the place of the man directly to his front in case he should fall. The Shadow King would have a fight on his hands if he wanted to work his way into town this way, especially if he couldn't change forms.

Brutus began to feel better about the whole situation, and almost wished that the Shadow King would show his face. The rain began to pour as he thought of Silvers and bristled at the image of the man's face. He did wish that Silvers would show up. He wanted the chance to prove himself the better general. The better man.

As if in response to his wishes, the Shadow King arrived.

The giant lights hundreds of feet above on the walls began to flicker. Not many of them, just the ten or so that lined the space directly above the square at the gates. They flickered again as a hushed murmur spread through the soldiers and onlookers alike. Brutus took his place by shouting orders at the men in the square to stand fast. His voice bellowed again before the lights went out completely and cast their corner of the city into utter darkness.

Guns cocked and men knelt at the ready as they anticipated the action to come. Silence gripped the stillness of the air and wouldn't let them breathe. Every man woman and child within sight of the gates forgot to exhale as the tension reached its apex. Then, with a suddenness in direct contrast to which the lights had gone out, the gates burst open with an unearthly violence. The shock took every soldier in the square back a step. A single shot rang out in the darkness from the gate. The circuit breaker below the shelter began to spit sparks into the night.

A lone figure stood in the immense space of the archway, filling the entrance to the city with its presence as if it were truly twenty times the size of its body. It lowered its outstretched hand slowly as lightning in the distance highlighted its silhouette for a lingering moment. The pistol clattered sharply as it fell to the ground. General Flavian Brutus could almost swear he saw a smile cross the creature's face before he hollered at his men to open fire.

M
ERODACH WANDERED FROM
room to room in the complex of chambers that lined his office. Some held live security feeds, others were just full of annals and archives. He was more interested in the security feeds and spent a good deal of time surveying the city as more and more people crowded into the streets.

There weren't many cameras up as the whole concept had been distasteful to Elandir's citizens. But he had managed to get a few set up in critical defensive positions around the walls in particular. They weren't much better than the cameras installed in the outposts; greenish tinted black and white images that crackled and wavered at maddeningly sporadic intervals.

Nothing was happening outside. People amassed for short spans in front of gates or the tunnels the river ran through, but they would wander off again as boredom pressed the uneventful nature of the evening. Even the soldiers were beginning to relax, leaning on their rifles or even sitting by their posts. Merodach wished he'd installed loudspeakers near every camera so he could yell at the soldiers to get their lazy corpses back to soldiering.

The circle of the broad city sat quiet however, as nothing passed to break the eerie silence beyond the walls. He tried calling Brutus, even a few other officers that might be near a phone, but the only people he could get were snot-nosed clerks who knew even less than Merodach about the evening's events.

A few hours passed before the Mayor began to let himself relax. Perhaps this was all just a big mistake, it was possible he was overreacting. But the images from the outpost haunted him. He knew what he had seen and he knew that it was no coincidence. Why kill those men? The Shade could have easily passed by unnoticed and arrived in Elandir without causing such a stir.

Merodach worried that it was Silvers' way of letting him know he was coming. If the point was to terrify the Mayor, it was working. He couldn't get the thought of having his face split open out of his mind. The images he had seen left his imagination with inspiration and plenty of room to run with it. What he needed was a good drink. That would take the edge off things.

He walked back through a couple of rooms and into the hallway leading to his oversized office. It was dark outside, pitch black in fact, and the bright security lights ringing the city on top of her walls washed away any hope of seeing the stars. Not that Merodach cared for such things.

He walked up to the windows and stared out into the night beyond, the air conditioning units below still working lazily, glinting with the artificial lights to either side. The shelf they rested on jutted out a stone's throw from the tower, but at about the same level as the tops of the walls.

The lights themselves were massive; three times the height of the average man and just as wide. They were pointed in three different directions, intended to illuminate as much of the walls and surrounding territory as possible. The first in a line would be pointed at the ground to the outside of the wall, the second after it would be pointed towards the inside of the wall, and the third shone on the top of the wall facing back towards the first two.

This pattern was repeated all the way around the perimeter of the city and it cast dramatic shadows everywhere Merodach looked. Shadows through which dark enemies could slip. He shuddered as the knot in his stomach tightened.

As if in response to his paranoid premonitions, the lights over the city gates began to flicker. They faced west and stood half way between the Northern Tower, where Merodach's offices were, and the Southern Tower directly opposite his own. He turned and walked over to the western wall of his office where the windows continued for a dozen paces or so.

He stopped and stared down the line of the wall towards the Gates in the distance as the lights flickered more violently and went out. The concussion of explosives attached to the gates could be felt all the way in his office as their large gears were rent and the massive hinges permitted their charges thrown open.

The rain intensified, pounding and rolling down the windows in waves. The water made it maddeningly difficult to see what was going on below.

Darkness enshrouded almost an eighth of the city for a moment before it was lit up in the strobe-like fire spit by hundreds of guns unloading their munitions into the night. Merodach couldn't see anything, fidgeting with his hands as the flashes died down in the midst of a cease fire.

He almost jumped out of his socks as he bobbed up to his toes to try and see what had happened. Suddenly more flashes could be seen, sporadic, dull compared to the concentrated fire of a moment before. The fat Mayor couldn't take it anymore, shuffling as quickly as his short legs would take him into the security chamber. The feeds covering the gates were mostly blacked out, though flashes from the gunfire lit up sections of the screens as he focused every monitor on the scene.

Finally lights started to come back on in the area. Street lights at first and then eventually the perimeter lights above the gates. To his surprise Merodach hardly saw any bodies on the ground. There appeared to be a few men shot in the crossfire, but he didn't see the telltale slashes and gaping wounds that the Shadow King's blade would leave behind.

He scanned the screens, looking for any evidence that the Shade had even been the cause of the explosion, searching more frantically as the soldiers looked around in their own dazed confusion. Medics were being called in to tend to the wounded, and then Merodach noticed a concentration of officers at the monument of Elandir. They were gesticulating wildly, pushing soldiers back and hollering for medics.

Merodach couldn't see through the crowd from this angle. He looked around at the other monitors but didn't see any better from which to get a view. The Mayor was about to pick up a phone in his frustration to call down and demand an answer to what had happened. But then the crowd of officers on the steps of the monument parted for an approaching doctor.

It wasn't the doctor that caught his attention, or even the movement of the officers on the screen. It was the glint of bright steel that shone as the shadows parted from the stairs. It was a sword lying on the ground, and not just any sword. Merodach recognized it immediately. His jaw dropped with his drink as it crashed to the floor in the silence of the ringing in his ears.

The saber of the High General of Elandir lay broken on the steps of the city's monument. Gunfire spat again, but Merodach couldn't tell where it was coming from on the screens. He came back to reality and his ears perked up as his heart began to race. It came again, short bursts followed by men yelling and screaming.

Then he realized it was coming from the monitors behind him. He whipped around as the screens which displayed the internal cameras of his own tower flickered and went black. They were followed shortly by the rest of the lights in his office.

The Mayor stopped for a moment, his own heavy breathing grating on his ears in the still air of his chambers. He suddenly realized how very alone he was. The emergency lights began to blink on; far too slowly, he remarked, as he made his way through the dim light towards the lobby outside his office.

The doors between the lobby and his office had been barred shut and guards stationed by the stairs and elevators immediately outside. He didn't want to be alone any more. The thought of having his bodyguard physically surrounding him nearly drove him mad with its promise of comfort. He picked up the pace as he reached his office, the bright lights on the walls outside glimmering through the glass to his right as he almost ran.

Merodach slowed, gathering himself and smoothing his hair so as to maintain some form of dignity when he opened the doors. Shouting erupted from the lobby beyond as he twisted the heavy lock set in the doors. He could hear the thick bolts within slide slowly back into the doors from the walls and floor as the noise on the other side intensified. He stopped, uncertain of whether or not to lock the door again when he heard guns fire.

Startled, he backed away without thinking as a soldier's scream was cut short. Merodach could hear the body thud into the now unlocked door and slide against it to the floor. Dark blood began to pool and work its way into the room, causing the Mayor to shudder involuntarily. A silent calm emanated from the lobby beyond, belying the carnage he was afraid lay in the darkness.

The pudgy Mayor was about to take a chance and move to lock the doors when they started to open slowly. The darkness beyond them seemed to absorb what little light the emergency fixtures in his office could offer. The doors themselves swung half open until they gaped, small drops of blood arching out on the floor in their wake. One of the lights behind Merodach flickered brighter than the rest, allowing him to see the slumped-over form of the guard who had died just feet from him.

He was suddenly very, very aware that he was standing in the middle of his open office with nothing at hand to defend himself.

“Hello, Pompidus,” the voice in the darkness spat his name like a slur. “It's been a while, hasn't it?”

“Who's...” He stuttered, in spite of his efforts to sound in control. “Who's there?”

“I think you know who it is, Merodach.” The voice seemed to fill the room. “If you don't, I've certainly been giving you too much credit all of these years.”

Merodach turned in place, eyes searching frantically for the source of the voice. “Silvers?” He looked towards his desk; he had a revolver stashed there if he could just make a dash. “What the hell are you doing here, Silvers?”

“I would imagine that should be apparent to you of all people.”

Merodach glanced at his desk again as he started to edge toward it. “Why'd you do this, Silvers? You murdered your own men, betrayed your city. What are you doing?”