The New Era Chapter 4

IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE NEW ERA
Dabine practically fell of his horse as he dismounted and ran into the camp. He recognized the man running up to meet him as Kile. Under normal circumstances, Kile would have been hostile towards Dabine, but the events of the past twenty four hours had changed his priorities. He was actually glad to see him. Under normal circumstances, Dabine would have known something was wrong when he was received as a friend, but he had too much on his mind to notice.
Dabine spoke brokenly as he gasped in air. "Kile, I came as fast as I could. I've been riding all night. I had to use three different horses. Let me speak to Miktesh, its urgent."
Kile hung his head. He mumbled a reply, but Dabine couldn't understand.
"Please, I need to talk to him now, where is he?"
Kile pointed to a mound of earth, with a rock at the head of it. "He's buried right there."
"Deka, what happened?" Kile told the story of Gaius entrance, in all the detail he could remember. He told how after Gaius had declared himself ruler, he killed all who opposed him, or who he thought opposed him. He told how over half the army had deserted since Gaius arrival, and the number was rising every hour. If things kept up, Gaius would be left without an army. He also told of Gaius new orders to go to Caletia. After telling the story, Kile's mind began to sense something was wrong, something that he had been to preoccupied to sense before. "Say, what are you doing here? Aren't you on Polad's side?" Dabine then related how he had secretly been on Miktesh' side all this time. "I'll guess I can believe that," Kile replied. "Now would be a pretty lousy time to suddenly switch allegiances."
"Actually, things aren't much better at Polad's camp. That was what I came to warn Miktesh about."
"Someone took over, like Gaius did?"
"There were two of them actually."
"No kidding. Are they as ruthless as Gaius?"
"I didn't stay to find out. I fled while they were still attacking the camp."
"Dabine, I presume." Both Kile and Dabine turned their heads in the direction of the voice. Gaius was headed toward them.
Dabine gasped, "You!"
Gaius looked surprised. "Have we met?" His expression under went an abrupt change. "Oh yes, back at Polad's camp. So what are you doing over here? Did you desert?" Dabine was too stunned to answer. Gaius grabbed his shirt and shook him violently. "I said, did you desert? Answer me damn it."
"You killed Polad. I fled."
"You son of a bitch, Sulla was your new master. You were to answer him, and you deserted him, a crime punishable by death."
"Now just a minute, I-"
Dabine was cut off as Gaius pushed him onto the ground. Before Dabine could get up, Gaius pulled his laser gun out of his belt and fired. Dabine's body jerked as the energy flowed through it, and then lay still, dead.
Gaius pointed the laser gun at Kile. "That could be you. Anyone who deserts will be killed. If you don't stop the problem of all the deserters, I will kill you. Do you understand?" Kile nodded, and Gaius turned around and walked off.


Later that afternoon, Drusus, Kile, Kirtten, and Jot all met in a tent. The purpose of the meeting was to decide how they should react to the events of the past two days. Kile began the meeting by relating his encounter of the past few days.
"Fascinating," Jot observed. "So Dabine was on our side all this time?"
Kile nodded. "That's what he says at least, and I believe him."
Drusus shook his head. "I don't get it. How get Gaius be at Polad's camp, and then come back to conquer our camp all in the same day? It's at least one day and night of straight traveling"
Kile shrugged. "There's a lot of things I don't understand about Gaius. What was that monster that helped him take over? What is that thing that sends fire into someone's body, and kills them? Why did he want to take over Miktesh' camp in the first place?"
"Gaius is undoubtably aided by some kind of magic. That much we know. How he is able to manipulate the magic we may never know. We should act with what we know," Kirtten said. There were murmurs of agreement from everyone else. "I don't know about you," Kirtten continued, "but acting on what I know, I'm getting out of here. My allegiance was to Miktesh, not to Gaius. Furthermore, I refuse to serve under someone whose always threatening to kill me."
"Well we have two choices," Jot said in reply. "We can either desert, like Kirtten suggests, or we can stay here. If we stay here, we'll have to try and stop the deserters if we want to avoid death from Gaius."
Kirtten was puzzled. "Jot, what possible reason could you have for staying here?"
"To make sure Gaius doesn't abuse the soldiers."
Kile snorted. "Gaius does what he wants, and there's nothing anybody can do about it."
Drusus agreed. "He obviously wants command of this army very bad, which is reason enough for me to make sure he doesn't get it. I say we encourage deserters, and the best way to do that is to set an example."
Jot shook his head. "Where will we go? We might be recognized if we stay in Calet."
Drusus shrugged. "I think I'll flee to Dishon. It's a nice little country now that the war with Marram is over, another thing I don't understand but I won't get into that. Calet is not my native country, and I have no strong ties here. Your all welcome to your own decisions off course."
"I'm with you," Kile said. Jot and Kirtten expressed the same opinion.
Drusus smiled. "Good. Lets leave tonight after Gaius is asleep."


Azom took another breath, and pushed hard. The rubble held firm, but he pressed against it harder. He had been trapped under the wreckage for three days now, or was it four? Already he was beginning to lose track of time. Azom rested for a second, before throwing himself at the wall of wreckage again. He pushed against it with all his strength, but it still didn't budge. Feeling tired, he rested against the sides of the tunnel.
About three days ago, Sulla had attacked Azom in his ship well crippling Marram. Azom had been in his palace when the walls had collapsed on him, and Sulla had read his life signs as non-existant. The Teacher had confirmed Sulla's idea that Azom was dead. However, both the sensors, and the Teacher were wrong. Azom was a member of a ancient species. As far as he knew, he was the only one of them left alive. Azom's parents were thought to be the last of the race, and now Azom was the sole survivor. Nobody knew anymore what the race had been like, or what it's characteristics are. All that information had been lost in antiquity. Azom's parents died when he was two years old, and the only information he had been able to gather about his race was from observing himself.
Needless to say, Azom's information amounted to little. For about four hours after Sulla had confirmed his death, Azom had remained in a deathlike state. Then, he mysteriously arose. He almost felt like he had been dead, but he didn't know why. Could it be that his species could rise from the dead? Azom had briefly pondered that solution, but dismissed it. If his species could rise from the dead, his parents would still be alive. Azom just filled the mystery away in his brain under things he would probably never know. Right now the only important thing was getting out.
Azom had been trying to dig himself out from under the wreckage ever since he awoke. That he had eaten nothing during this time did not concern him, he was known to go for weeks without eating. Food just didn't seem important to his survival, however back in the palace he often ate just for enjoyment.
Azom could sense he was not far from the surface, but the last wall of rubble was proving to be one of the most difficult. Azom, standing up from his rest, rammed himself into the wall. He could feel it give way a little, and encouraged, rammed himself into it again. The rubble shifted, and almost fell away. On the third try, it gave way.
Azom stepped into the surface, and covered his eyes to protect them from the glaring sunlight. In the palace, Azom usually kept everything dark. He hated the light and avoided it whenever possible. He stepped into a shaded ally.
"Hey buddy, what are ya doing in here? This here's my territory."
Azom turned to see a drunken beggar, making rude gestures at him. "I beg your pardon," Azom said in an arrogant voice.
"Get your ass out of my ally you big son of a bitch."
Azom grabbed the man by the soldier. "Do you know who I am? I am Azom, your king. You will not uze zuch wordz with me."
The man had obviously left reason behind with his drinks. "Shut up you bastard, I don't care who you are. Your in my ally so scram."
Azom knew he had incredible strength, probably also a characteristic of his species. With one hand he lifted the man up into the air, grabbing him by the head. The man tried to punch Azom, but hit his hands against a body like steel. Azom crushed the mans skull with his hand, and dropped the lifeless body to the ground.
"Azom, you alive." Azom turned to see Azet, flying down to greet him. "I thought you were dead for sure."
"I waz. I have come back from the dead. Death has no hold on my kind."
"Are you sure?"
"Pozitive. I am invincible to death. What has happened?"
Azet shook his head. "Nobody's sure what has happened, but whatever it was, it was terrible. Something destroyed all of our major cities. I mean completely destroyed them, not a building left standing or any survivor on the street. The empire of Marram seems to be crumbling. All our enemies are taking advantage of our weakness by attacking now. You were presumed dead, and now their is fighting over the thrown. A hell of a time for a civil war, but it's happening."
"What about Dizhon?"
"Who cares about Dishon? The war on them has been temporarily called off. We'll conquer them once we get back on our feet.
Azom, his good sense blocked by his ego, declared himself invincible. He believed he had been killed when the palace fell on him, but came back from death, forgetting about the holes in that theory, or perhaps more precisely, choosing to overlook them. "I am invincible. Zince I cannot be killed, I will conquer Dizhon on my own. When Marram recoverz, I will give it to her az a trophy."
"What?"
Azom turned his scaly body. His face looked like a skull. "I am going to Dizhon. Are you coming?"
"Well, yeah I guess. Might as well, but are you sure a two-bit country like Dizhon is where we should be focusing our attention in a crisis like this?"
Azom, his judgement clouded by his ego, didn't seem to hear. "With my invincibility, I zhall conquer, and gain rezpect from my people. I zhall become a legend, and I will never die." Azom trudged off in the direction of Dishon.