Desert rose
Rise of the Guardians
Chapter 06 - Desert rose
Thunderhawk narrowly evaded one of Spectre's Chaos beams.
"Ha! You have to be quicker than that, old man", he laughed and tried an attack on his own but Spectre countered it with ease.
Sabre made a short pause in his training with Sojourner and Locke to watch the two others. Had it really been just three days ago that Thunderhawk had accused the dark Echidna of being a Legionnaire and wanted to have an eye on him twenty-four-seven? He and Sojourner still might not trust him fully but they at least accepted him and something like a friendly rivalry had grown between them. Today something very rare had happened - the duo Thunderhawk-Sojourner had split because each wanted to test his strength in a one on one battle against Spectre. Of course the oldest Brotherhood member was still at an advantage - even if he had to fight both of them the same time - but the two had massively improved the past few days. They all had improved a lot. Even Locke lost the last bit of doubt in himself when he figured out what he was capable of doing. Sabre still lacked a bit in attacking but his shield was something he could definitely be proud of. Spectre simply was terrible in creating them and the others could shield themselves quite good against the weaker attacks but a mountain could crash on Sabre and his shield would withstand it. The ones with such incredible strength cost a lot of energy though and he probably wouldn't be able to make it last longer than a few minutes but he still was proud of it.
A boomerang glowing with Chaos energy missed Sabre's head by only a few centimetres and disappeared somewhere in the bushes.
"Sorry", he heard Sojourner's call. "That was actually meant for Thunder."
"What the..."
Thunderhawk interrupted his training to check his belt where normally the two daggers and the boomerang should have been fixed only to find the latter gone. He laughed.
"Hey, how did you get that? Don't you know a thief shouldn't steal from his gang members? Just wait until I get you."
But before he could run after Sojourner a weak Chaos blast hit his back and made him stumble.
"And don't you know the first rule of a battle?" Spectre asked with a grin. "Never turn your back to the ‘old man’, especially not when he's smiling."
Later that day they continued their march through the desert. The rocky hills they had already left behind over a day ago but the rugged landscape could still give them cover in case they needed it. In the distance a long wall and a few small huts outside of it could be seen. Spectre had said that they would reach the Legion camp in the evening. And then? They neither knew how to enter it nor where exactly Enerjak was nor how they could defeat him. Then they could only hope that the gods and their Guardian namesakes were both with them and could help them to get out of this alive.
"How are we even supposed to get into the camp?" Sabre finally spoke out what everyone thought.
"The tunnels under the slave compound", Spectre shortly answered. He seemed to get more nervous the closer they came to the camp. They all were strung-out but no one's nerves seemed to be as tense as Spectre's. Sabre could understand him only too well. If his family had been killed and he had been forced to work for the killers most of his life he also would have avoided to go back to them at any cost.
"But aren't the slaves guarded as well?" Sojourner asked.
"There are a few Legionnaires around but never enough to observe the whole camp and it's also not necessary. The desert is the best guard", Spectre said. "The slaves are given enough to live but too less to store up enough for a march through the desert. The nearest villages are miles away. They still could be lucky and find one of the few nomad tribes but unless they know where the nomads are at the moment it is sheer suicide."
The dusk gave them additional cover when they were hiding between the rocks close to the houses of slavery and waited for a patrol to disappear out of sight then they moved on. The staircase down to the tunnel was unlocked and soon they were slowly walking through the darkness.
"This part isn't very long", Spectre whispered. "I don't think we will need light for now. It will be bright enough again once we have reached the other door to one of the corridors inside the base."
"There might have been barely any soldiers outside the camp but I'm sure there will be enough inside", Thunderhawk whispered. "In the brightness we won't be able to hide that good."
"We will be hidden very well. You'll see once we get there", Spectre answered.
The tunnel led to something that looked like a narrow corridor at first but through one of the barred windows at one side they could see that it actually was a very large corridor split into two parts - the bigger brightly lit main corridor and the small side corridor, separated by a wall and only lit by the light shining through the bars of the few windows and rare doors.
"This is how slaves can go to the different rooms without getting seen too often. We can normally walk in here and as long as we keep our heads lowered and don't behave too self-confident Legionnaires passing by on the other corridor will barely take note of us", Spectre silently said and made a gesture to follow him.
They walked deeper into the core of the fortress. Several times the corridors had crossed and by now they fully had to rely on Spectre's knowledge of the area. Without him they would have been completely lost. At another crossroad he suddenly stopped.
"This is crap", he whispered. "The whole time I tried to follow the source of the Chaos Force but it seems to be everywhere and it's not getting stronger."
"Could it be because of all these energy fuelled zombies?" Sabre asked.
"No, even in that case we would be able to sense Enerjak. Such a great amount of energy simply can't be ignored. I'm slowly getting the feeling that he has left the camp."
"But where else could he..." Sojourner started. He was interrupted when a larger troop of soldiers passed by on the main corridor. They dragged four young females with them - the youngest one probably just about Locke's age.
"Looks like they caught some new slaves", Spectre said tonelessly.
"Have we ever asked why the Legion even needs slaves?" Locke asked while he slowly walked closer to the window. The troop had stopped now as if they were waiting for something or someone.
"Mainly because there are not enough females in the Legion and without the slaves they would slowly die out", Spectre silently said and sounded as if he rather wanted to skip the topic. "Enter one of the slave houses and you will mainly find females there except for a little boy now and then who still had been too young to become a soldier. The slaves are misused for reproduction. And also for a lot of fun. The strongest children are taken away from their mothers as soon as possible to make soldiers out of them - the younger they are the faster they will forget where they really came from and can become loyal Legionnaires although they are only 'half-bloods'. The weaker children are often doomed to die in the wilderness."
The other Guardians stared at him with wide opened eyes except for Locke who still couldn't avert his eyes off the prisoners. The females didn't struggle anymore. With lowered heads they stood between their abductors, shivering, silently weeping and awaited their fate. The youngest turned her head to look at the barred windows and caught Locke's gaze. There were no tears in her eyes but the young Guardian could see the desperation in them and the silent cry for help. His grip on the metal bars tightened.
"What are they waiting for?" Thunderhawk whispered.
"Probably a higher officer who tells them if the slaves are needed already or can be brought to their huts first", Spectre snarled.
Now another, smaller troop neared - probably the officer Spectre had spoken of and some of his personal guards. Locke silently gasped.
"No! That ... that can't be possible. He is ... dead. He has to be. No one can live for more than a thousand years."
Now the others rushed to the window as well.
"This guy looks familiar somehow..." Sojourner slowly said.
Sabre felt his insides freezing. The leader of the second troop looked exactly like Moritori Rex. But how could he still be alive? He must have survived many centuries and still didn't look older than sixty.
"He has learned to use the Twilight Zone for his own purposes. Meanwhile he doesn't even need to retreat there anymore because he ages slower than any living being even without it", Spectre said.
Thunderhawk turned around and flinched when he caught Spectre's eyes. He had seen a lot of angry looks but never this kind of burning, raging hate that filled the dark Echidna's eyes right now.
Moritori wandered around between the prisoners to take a closer look at them.
"That is very good", he said with a pleased smile. "Finally some fresh meat again. We could really need that. Our oldest slaves are very close to their thirties already and if we didn't need females that badly I already would have ordered their deaths years ago."
He now caught sight of the youngest female and his malicious grin widened a bit more when he grabbed her chin and lifted up her head.
"It sometimes amazes me what beautiful roses can grow in the desert. As much as I hate to have someone in bed who already exceeded her mid-twenties, as much I love to have young blood like you. You will love to hear that your first order as a new slave is to please me tonight."
Her shocked gaze quickly turned into disgust and hate and instead of an answer she spit into his face.
Moritori stumbled back but he recovered quickly from his surprise, rushed forward and struck her hard enough that she fell to the ground.
"If you don't know where your place is you have to learn it the hard way", Moritori hissed. "I could have been nice to you but my punishment will be severe and don't await any mercy."
Sabre noticed that Locke beside him stiffened and his fists started to glow with Chaos energy.
"No, please keep it down. We will find another way to help her but we can't rush headlong into a whole troop..."
Too late. At one go Locke ripped the metal bars out of the wall and leaped through the hole. He rushed through the crowd and sliding came to a stop between Moritori and the female.
"Get one step closer and..."
He had no idea what he should do if they really attacked so he let his sentence unfinished and hoped the 'and' would sound threatening enough.
"Who do you think you are, soldier?" Moritori asked angrily but then his eyes narrowed when he realized who he really had in front of him. "A Guardian..." he hissed and drew his weapon.
The same second the wall exploded and four more Guardians stormed the corridor.
"Alarm the camp! The intruders are here!" Moritori shouted and sirens started howling while more and more Legionnaires were approaching.
"Holy ship, there's too many of them!" Thunderhawk gasped.
"Run! Just run!" Spectre cried out, turned into the corridor with the least enemies so far and blasted the few Legionnaires who had appeared there out of their way.
The other females had been dragged away when the walls exploded and were out of the Guardians' reach but the girl still knelt behind Locke. The youngest Guardian grabbed her hand and dragged her with him.
Soon the corridors were flooded with Death Legionnaires. The only reason why the Guardians were still alive probably was because barely anyone of the undead army carried ranged weapons. The few of them who did or the members of the Dark Legion rather shot into the flood of zombies and so they used their guns as little as possible. That was not a big advantage for the Guardians though since the zombies were many, tough and their claws could be deadly weapons as well.
At first the Guardians also had attacked the Legionnaires at both sides so they kept their distance but soon they mainly concentrated on finding a way out and only used their Chaos powers if nothing else could have prevented them from getting slit open. Spectre had to change directions several times since their way appeared to be blocked. Finally he yanked open a door and the five stumbled down a corridor again. Lamps or torches were still missing in the underground tunnel but this time their own aura of Chaos energy lit up the place.
"This isn't the one we came in through and I also have no idea where it leads", Spectre panted, "but I hope the tunnels are connected to each other."
Sojourner turned around and then he laughed which sounded pretty odd at their current situation.
"They aren't following us anymore", he called out. "The zombies are blocking each other because they all try to get through the door the same time. I'm sure we can make it out if..."
His next words were drowned by the sound of shaking floor and crumbling walls and ceiling.
"They are breaking through!" Spectre shouted. "Faster! We have to get away from here before everything is collapsing."
And that moment part of the thick ceiling ripped open. Boulders rained down on them. Sabre immediately activated his shield. Whirling dust was everywhere. He breathed it in, it made his eyes water and since he barely saw anything he could only hope that the others were close enough to be protected as well. When the earth stopped shaking, the dust settled and the Chaos shield slowly faded the only light came through a crack in the ceiling. Large boulders were blocking the way of the corridor they had come from ... and two of the Guardians were missing.
"Thunderhawk! Sojourner!" Spectre cried out and wanted to run to the pile of rocks but Sabre grabbed his arm, dragged him and Locke, who had protectively wrapped his arms around the girl, closer and activated his mightiest shield. Not even a second later a strong shiver went through the tunnel again and the rest of the ceiling above them collapsed.
Now there really was no escape left. Bright light shone at them when they stood coughing in the pit that once was a tunnel, surrounded by Dark Legionnaires who smirked down at them.
"Stay down", Spectre whispered while he stepped protectively in front of them. "They won't hesitate shooting you but they will think twice if they really want to kill me."
"What makes you so sure about that?" Sabre asked but he got no answer.
The crowd was set in motion when they formed a walkway for Moritori. A whisper was in the air and Sabre presumed that the soldiers were telling their Grandmaster about their glorious victory. He was shivering with anger and the same time he felt so helpless. A look into Locke's eyes told him that the boy was feeling the same. And Spectre? He still had turned their back at them, stood like a statue and stared up at the Legionnaires.
"What did I hear?" Moritori asked. "Two of the Guardians are gone for good already. Now those are great news. Well, probably bad news for the Guardians but who asks them anyways?"
He now appeared at the edge of the pit and looked down at them. A smile appeared on his face when he saw Spectre and to Sabre's, Locke's and even the girl's surprise he knelt down and stretched out a hand towards the dark Echidna as if he offered help to climb up.
"I knew you would make it back", he said. "Welcome home ... my son."
