The Four Chapter 12

IN THE THIRD YEAR OF THE NEW ERA
So far, so good. As the ship sped on its way to Marram, Andrew refused to be discouraged by the fact that Romulus and Remus still hadn't spoken one word to each other. After all, who knows what the day will hold, and they couldn't stay angry forever. Andrew had initiated and organized this whole outing. Romulus, Remus, Julius, and himself were all enroute to Marram. The other six passengers on the ship had been chosen carefully, all mutual friends of the four: Helmus, Stee, Mulder, Boon, Katina, and Philan. Actually, Philan wasn't as close to the four as the others, but he was close enough, and he always kept a calm head under pressure. In fact, Philan might seem cold at first because of the little emotion he showed, but he was undoubtably the kindest of the group, always willing to sacrifice for someone else.
The ship landed in Marram without incidence. The town Andrew had chosen was hit hard by the famine. The town was in a very rocky area. In fact, one side of it was boarded by huge rock cliffs, about twenty meters high. If one were to travel up the cliffs, a flat surface would be found until about two miles later, when there was another dramatic drop. This Plateau was filled with all sorts of interesting twists and curves, and dents, and strange rock formations. Andrew actually choose to park the ship in one of the indentations of the plateau, so as not to alarm the natives anymore than necessary.
Ships had already landed in this area during the past two weeks, and the people had come to associate them with the food. They eagerly lined up to receive. The crew immediately set to work.
After about an hour, Julius had forgotten his anger and was doing his work quite enthusiastically, working harder than anyone else in fact. Such was the way with Julius, always acting impulsively, never stopping to think. Remus, on the other hand, was not affected by the starving people, and remained quite lethargic in his work. He was still angry, and made no attempts to hide it. It was obvious he didn't want to be there. Andrew decided it might be a good idea if he and Remus just took a walk. He suggested the idea to Romulus, who approved it. Andrew then approached Remus, who gratefully accepted, wanting something other to do.
The two began their walk through the village, at first in silence. After about ten minutes, Andrew finally spoke up. "Are you having a good time?" he asked.
"Hardly. This is the last place I want to be. I'm helping to do the very thing I worked so hard to try and stop, feeding Marram's army." Remus shook his head. "Why did you insist I come on this Andrew? Have you gone back to Romulus' side?"
Andrew shook his head. "No, no not quite. It's just that this thing was tearing us apart, I thought we all ought to see what's really going on, first hand, before things get out of control."
"You have good intentions Andrew, but-" Remus stopped suddenly.
"But what," Andrew asked after a pause.
"Listen," Remus said, signalling to be quite by putting a finger across his lips. Andrew listened, and off in the distance he heard a horrible screeching sound, a sound so terrible it sent shivers through his whole body.
Remus' face escalated into fear. "That's coming from the ship!" he exclaimed. Remus ran towards it, with Andrew close behind.


It all happened so suddenly. One minute, the eight of them were busy serving food to eager recipients. The next, they were under attack. The Marram had sent a special army to capture the ship and all the food inside it. They were human in all respects but one. The difference was they had wings attached to their back, large white wings that allowed them to fly with ease. They were called Harpies.
The Harpies had hidden themselves among the cliffs, and the above Plateau. Some had even hidden themselves behind the Plateau. Each Harpy was armed with a sword. At a signal from their leader, they all emerged. At the meer site of the Harpies, the villagers had fled for safety, hiding themselves in their huts. At first, the Harpies only circled above the ship, as they didn't know what kind of enemies they were up against. Some of them would swoop down and swing at The Watchers with their sword, but only briefly, and would not pursue them when The Watchers ran out of the way. All the while they screamed out the horrible screeching sound.
The Harpies mock attacks soon became more frequent and more of them joined in. Even these little attacks had their danger. Julius was almost stabbed as three Harpies swooped down on him at once, from three separate directions. Diving for safety, and then consequently rolling over several times as a result of his dive, Julius was able to escape. Once he was safe, he took a quick look around him, and surveyed the situation, before saying, "Enough of this crap."
Julius ran toward the ship, his journey being obstructed on two separate occasions by diving Harpies, but he dodged each one without incidence. Reaching the ship, Julius rushed inside to the nearest replicator, and replicated a laser gun. Running back into the middle of things, Julius yelled out at his enemies before holding down the trigger, and firing at the Harpies. Winged men began falling out of the sky, dead. With a screech that outdid anything the Harpies had done before, they attacked.
Helmus picked up a stick that was lying on the ground, and used that as his weapon. As one Harpy came flying towards him, Helmus jumped out of the way, and clubbed the Harpy in the back of the head, sending it rolling to the ground. Helmus quickly spun around to hit another Harpy in the face as it charged towards him.
Mulder, meanwhile, had taken to throwing rocks at his adversaries, and there certainly was no lack of these on the ground.
Boon fled into the village. Two Harpies pursued him. One swung his sword at Boon, who quickly ducked, and the sword became imbedded in a nearby hut. The second Harpy was about to stab Boon through the back, when Boon made a lightning quick turn, just as the Harpy was accelerating to full speed. Before the Harpy knew what was happening, he had crashed into one of the huts. By the time either of the Harpies were ready to renew the pursuit, Boon was nowhere to be found.
In like manner to these three, as the battle exploded Philan, Stee, and Katina all struggled against the Harpies. Romulus had an entirely different reaction. No sooner had Julius started firing, then Romulus ran up and took hold of the gun, trying to pull it from Julius. "What are you doing?" Romulus yelled. "This is a mission of peace."
"Get off of me!" Julius screamed, frantically trying to pull the gun back. "Let go! Let go!"
"Don't kill them! You can't kill! Fight if you must, but don't kill! We are on a mission of peace."
"Damn it Romulus, let go now! There's no time for this!"


It was over a mile back to the ship for Remus and Andrew, but they ran it hard. Once they got back, they were worn out, and hardly in the condition for what awaited them there. Seeing the battle, Remus reached down into his boot and, to Andrew's surprise, pulled out a rather large knife. The handle of the knife was wooden, and the blade was in the handle, like a switchblade. Remus had taken the knife with him, because he didn't trust Marram at all, and didn't know what would await him there. Perhaps a paranoid gesture, but in this light it could be seen as nothing less than visionary.
Remus pulled out the blade of the knife and surveyed the situation. Only about twenty meters away, Remus saw Romulus and Julius both grappling over the laser gun, shouting at each other. To his horror, Remus also saw a Harpy swinging down, about to run Romulus through with his sword.
Shouting to Romulus would do no good, he wouldn't even be able to hear it over the screeching. Remus began sprinting over to him. A Harpy swung down and blocked Remus' path. Without even stopping to think, but acting on reflex alone, Remus plunged his knife into the Harpy's chest, then ran on, leaving Andrew to recover the weapon. Adrenaline pumping, Remus was now running faster than he ever had in his life. The encounter with the Harpy had slowed him down just enough so that it looked like he wasn't going to make it in time. The Harpy's sword was inches away from Romulus. Closing his eyes, and with one final burst of speed, Remus slammed into Romulus, knocking to the ground, and to safety. After saving Romulus, Remus barely had time to twist his body, in a futile attempt to avoid the blade. It entered Remus just below the rib cage at an upward angle.
In an instant, Romulus was on his feet. Before the Harpy had time to withdraw his sword, Romulus slammed his right fist into its nose. This was quickly followed by his left fist, his right again, and a turning kick that hit the Harpy square in the face. As the Harpy tumbled over, Romulus turned to see how Remus was doing.
Remus was lying on the ground, motionless. Blood poured out of his wound. The blade had almost certainly pierced Remus' heart. "He's dying," Julius said. "He needs a medicine ball immediately. Quick, go replicate one now."
"And leave you here to kill with that laser gun? You go replicate it."
"Romulus he's dying. We don't have time for this."
"I won't let you kill them!"
"Damn it Romulus! Look around you."
Romulus took a quick look around him. Katina was on her back, having been knocked to the ground. A Harpy swung his sword, but she rolled over to avoid it, and grabbed the sword of one of the dead Harpies, which was lying next to her. Using the sword was obviously awkward to her, but she was able to protect herself with it. Romulus continued his look. Helmus was still swinging his stick, but was quickly being overwhelmed by the oncoming Harpies. Mulder was struggling against a Harpy, trying to force its sword out of its hand. Andrew was wildly swinging the knife, trying to keep the Harpies at bay. Philan was running as fast as he could, trying to escape Harpies that were pursuing him. Stee had been grapped by two Harpies, a third was about to stab him.
"You win this one," Romulus said. He reluctantly, but quickly, released his hold on the gun. As Romulus ran towards the ship, Julius started firing again.
A lot had changed since the days of Jistap, when Julius had never practiced his aim. After the invasion, he decided he needed to perfect his aim with the laser gun. Already during the invasion he had displayed a natural talent, and he had improved on it over the following years. Julius now had an admirable aim. He picked off the three Harpies about to kill Stee. He shot down Philan's pursuers. Mulder's antagonist soon suffered the same fate. Katina was relieved of her adversary, Helmus soon found the crowd he was battling thinning out, and the Harpies that were plaguing Andrew soon were no more.
For a short time, everyone was free from engagements, as Julius shot down Harpies left and right. Romulus was able to get a medicine ball and heal Remus. Remus was still dazed from his brush with death, and Romulus thought it best to help him back to the ship.
The Harpies now concentrated their energy on Julius. Julius shot three as they dived towards him. He heard a screeching sound from behind him, and whirled around to kill four more. When Julius turned around, he was horrified to see a Harpy only a few feet away from him. Julius quickly shot him, but the dead Harpy's momentum still carried him into a collision with Julius. The Harpy had been flying at a high speed and although the speed had been somewhat diminished by the laser beam, it was still going very fast when it hit Julius. Julius was sent flying a short distance through the air, before roughly landed on the ground, unintentionally tumbling over, and then skidding to a stop. Julius picked himself up, dazed at what had happened. Katina saw the danger before Julius realized it, the gun had been knocked out of Julius' grasp. Katina ran for it, but one of the Harpies got it first, and carried it away.
Romulus got into the cockpit of the ship and rapidly flipped the controls. He lifted the ship off of the ground a few feet, and piloted it into the middle of things. He fired a couple of warning shots at the Harpies with the ships laser guns, but it did nothing to deter them. The Harpies covered the sky and the ground, now unafraid of The Watchers and their technology. Remus, meanwhile, replicated a laser gun, and, keeping the door to the ship open, fired the gun where ever his friends needed help. At the same time, Remus called out for everyone to board the ship.
A flock of Harpies swooped out of the sky to attack Remus. While Remus was firing at them, a second flock flew over from the ground. By the time Remus was done with the first group, the second was right on top of him. Remus shot two Harpies, a third Harpy crashed his sword down on the laser gun. The sword broke in two, the laser gun dented in at the point of contact, rendering it useless. Remus used the broken laser gun to hit the Harpy in the face with. The Harpy fell backwards to the ground, got up, and with a terrible screech flew right into Remus, knocking them both against the wall of the ship opposite the door.
Katina, Helmus, Philan, Andrew, Julius, Stee, and Mulder all arrived at the ship more or less at once. With the swords they had picked up, they attacked the three remaining of the flock, who quickly flew away. All the rest of the Harpies quickly converged on the ship.
Both Remus and the Harpy landed on the ground, by the wall. The Harpy landed on top of Remus, so the first thing Remus did was kick the Harpy in the stomach. At almost the same time, the Harpy punched Remus in the face. Both of Remus' fist shot up, knocking the Harpy off of him. Remus quickly got to his feet, the Harpy flew to the same position. The Harpy threw a punch towards Remus' head with his right hand, but Remus blocked it with his left, and hit the Harpy with his right hand.
Well Remus and the Harpy were fighting, the seven quickly boarded the ship. As soon as they were aboard, Romulus wasted no time in elevating the ship, not even waiting for the door to be closed. All the Harpies flew for the door, and so Romulus quickly turned the ship one hundred eighty degrees, so that they crashed into a wall instead.
Before the Harpy could regain his footing, Remus struck him with the left hand, and then the right again, the final punch knocking the Harpy out the door and off the ship. As the Harpy fell, he reached out his hand to grab something for support, and grabbed Philan's shoulder, pulling Philan down with him. Since Philan proved to be little support, the Harpy let go of him, and, after falling a few feet, spread his wings and flew back up.
The ship was now about twenty meters high. As soon as Philan had started to fall, Stee had jumped down onto his stomach and extended his hand. He grabbed Philan just in the nick of time, taking hold of Philan's hand with his hand. And so, twenty meters above the ground, Philan dangled from the ship by just his hand.
Everyone rushed to help Stee out, but by this time the Harpies had flown to the other side of the ship. Romulus had tried to outwit them with the same trick, but they now surrounded the ship so that no matter which way he turned some of them could fly in.
Julius had already replicated another laser gun in the short time he had, but was only able to use it briefly before a Harpy smashed into him There were too many Harpies for Julius to shoot them all, one of them got past his laser fire and knocked into him, then grabbed the laser gun. Julius struggled to take the laser gun back, but Harpy refused to let go of it.
Helmus was inches away from helping Stee when a Harpy crashed into him. Both went flying to the back corner of the ship. The Harpy remained standing, while Helmus had been knocked to the ground. The Harpy swung his sword, but Helmus quickly rolled over to avoid it, and kicked the Harpy in the stomach. While the Harpy was bending over, Helmus leaped to his feet and grabbed the wrist of the Harpy's right arm, the arm he held the sword in. Helmus smashed the hand against the wall, trying to get the Harpy to let go of his sword. The Harpy refused, and the two continued fighting
Mulder, Remus and Andrew also had to deal with the Harpies. Katina was fighting one of the Harpies, when, with a well placed kick, she knocked the Harpy's sword out of his hand and out of the ship. The Harpy responded by grabbing hold of Katina and throwing her out of the ship.
Katina spread her arms and legs out to slow her descent. She grabbed onto several Harpies on her way down, to break her fall, and then let go before they could strike. Her landing was a little rough, but she reached the bottom in good condition.
Philan's hand had slowly been slipping out from under Stee's all this time. When it finally gave way, he followed Katina's example in his fall to the ground, and ended up alright.
Julius kicked the Harpy who held his gun in the stomach, then pulled hard on his gun. The Harpy still kept his grip, but Julius was successful in getting the gun pointed at the Harpy. Quickly squeezing the trigger, Julius killed the Harpy, and then turned to kill all the other Harpies in the ship. Everyone in the ship, with the exception of Romulus, who stayed in the cockpit, replicated a laser gun. The door was kept open, and everyone fired out of it, killing any Harpies who tried to enter the ship, and protecting Philan and Katina from any who tried to attack them. With six laser guns being fired at once, they were now impenetrable. The Harpies eventually gave up their attack, and flew away with a vengeful screech. Boon ran out from his hiding place in the village, to join Philan and Katina, as the ship lowered down to pick them up, and then sped away.
By all rights, it should have been a quite ride home, as each member contemplated how close he came to death. Boon, however, would not let that be. He proudly boasted about his role in the battle, changing the truth ever so slightly. Once his epic version was completed, he made conversation with others about their roles. He succeeded in loosening up the mood, and the others began to talk among themselves. Helmus went over to Andrew, "Looks like your plan failed miserably," he said.
Andrew shrugged. "I suppose you could say that, but I don't see it that way. Perhaps things didn't go smoothly, but we were working as a team back there once again. Our differences were put aside as we fought together."
Sitting in a corner of the ship, by himself, Remus slammed his hand against the wall. "This is the last straw," he said quietly. "This ends now."