John Jackson - The 9th Fortress

"You're a hero Godwin," she yawned back; "and if Heaven's not for you then it is not for me."

"What do you mean?" he asked, rather lost.

"Well, Godwin, if the powers that be decide Heaven is too good for you then we will settle in the Distinct Earth. Together. Surely there is peace to be found here."

"And what of your stallion?" he asked, overwhelmed. "And of those friends and family watching over you? Haven't they missed you long enough?"

Harmony thought of her Mother and Father, and all those cherished things. That old life was now a distant dream she prayed would one day come true — but something had changed inside her. Here in this hollowed out shelter in the Distinct Earth, Harmony Valour had a new dream.

"I would miss those things Godwin." she said. "But I would miss you more. Alas, it is all wishful thinking. I am still burdened by this contraption around my wings. God has yet to pardon my sin, so I fear it will always be the Distinct Earth for us."

She sighed with blurry blue eyes as tears quietly dripped from Eddinray's. "I cannot imagine a Heaven without you in it." he stammered. "No, I cannot."

He took a long pause to recover himself, and then sent his angel to sleep with his story.

"I wasn't scared. Not a jot! The Emperor and king of the 9th Fortress. I aimed the lance purposely for his neck don't you know, and my strike to his jugular could not have been more precise! Yes, those prisoners will forever chant my name. I can almost hear them now from their dismal tower.

Harmony?

Are you awake?

My dear?"

***

I woke to hysteria unlike anything I've ever heard — a grieving, pitiful, and primal ache.

Snatching my sword in terror, I expected to slay the harpy, wolf, or son of a bitch this sound belonged too. I stood to wipe my eyes clear of sleep and there at the gassy morning entrance of our burrow, I saw the surreal scene. Harmony, on her knees, was yowling like a dog to a single, bloodied feather in her hand.

The world was in slow motion again as I approached her. Kat and Yuki appeared from behind, equally confounded, as I bent to Harmony, her pear shaped face wet with tears and running flam.

"Harmony?" I whispered. Her eyes were lost through me, her body jerked with shock, and her moan continued like one excruciating bleed from the heart. I repeated her name over and over — Harmony! Harmony! Harmony! Anything to get her attention — to penetrate her mania.

Kat yelled something I couldn't hear when I snatched the angel by the arms and shook her like a rag-doll. Frustrated and scared, I slapped her face hard, causing her moaning to die instantly, as if a vocal wire had been severed in her throat, leaving only stupefied breath past still moving lips.

"You're scaring us!" I exclaimed. "You hear me? You're scaring us!"

Suddenly, she gave me her hand and the bloodied feather in it. "His heart was here." she whimpered.

"I don't…understand."

Empty headed, my eyes began searching around this burrow, and it didn't take long for the penny to drop. The reality was horribly obvious. So much blood — litres collected in a curdled pool at my knees, with a dull knife submerged in its centre. My insides contorted and goose bumps covered my outsides. The soul-destroying dagger was gone from the pouch at my belt, and the connecting rope hung loose from my waist.

"No!" I hissed, falling back. "He's not…"

Harmony's sobs resumed as Yuki came to hold her. Like those statues over the mirror, a petrified Kat simply watched me there, soaking in Eddinray's blood.

"Gone." said Harmony.

I should have comforted her, said something, done something; but a part of my soul had snapped, releasing that inner monster from its cage. I reached into the red paste to retrieve the dagger, and then allowed that thoughtless force to take possession of me.

Moving out of the burrow, I noticed Curtis' murderous footprints stagger toward the growing smokes, and dawn's new light.

***

Shortly after, the samurai searched the seething seashore, but found no sign of my prisoner or me. He stamped his foot frustrated again as murkier clouds rolled over him.

"Fox?" he cried. "Answer me!"

Hearing only the crashing waves and steam, he raced further up the beach to arrive at the foot of a hill. This mound was steep and appeared to be made of harsh slate, with its top hiding under settled cloud cover. Kat's instincts, his biting sixth sense told him he would find something up there — thus he listened.

***

I flailed my arms and weapons at the puff to see. I roared in a wheezing delirium, thinking I had lost Curtis; but hope soon returned. Under my nose was a fresh trail of footprints in the sand.

"Curtis!"

I don't know how long or far I ran, but the more ground I covered, the quicker sand was replaced underfoot by a concoction of sludge, beetles and worms; a congealed mud with buzzing flies over bursting pockets and visible fumes swirling dank air.

In no time at all, I was shin deep in this mire shit, steadily sinking with every advancing step. Losing my footing suddenly, I splashed headfirst into that revolting glue; and pulling my face from it, I spewed out a gob-full.

Panting, I used my short-sword as a makeshift crutch, snorted an insect from my nostril and continued after my prisoner.

***

Swiftly Kat jogged up the slate, growing gradually steeper and unstable. Occasionally slipping, and with vision impaired by the smog, he was soon left no choice but to clamber on all fours to the summit.

"Fox?" he yelled, red faced and sweaty. "Where are you?"

Underfoot, solid slate suddenly turned to sticky liquorice, and hot geezers randomly blew close to further disorientate him. "Fox!"

***

Weak in body and spirit, I waded through deeper quagmire in search of a murderer. Falling down only to pick myself up again, I battled through the swamp attempting to solidify my limbs. These sloppy waters had long filled in Curtis' trail, and with nothing to follow, I screamed and collapsed in exhausted despair; allowing myself to sink, to sleep, to join the mud and beetles for all time.

***

Sensing another, Kat crouched low, scrutinizing the dreamy hilltop. Perfectly still, he inhaled the sulphuric air like an old dog foreseeing danger, and his heart skipped a beat when he heard the crunch of approaching footsteps. Removing his sword, he searched through breaking cloud, where a sinister presence now made itself known.

"You!" gasped Kat, his eyes ballooning and skin turning white. For the first time in centuries, the legendary warrior was reunited with fear. Pursuer and ghost of belated retribution — the black samurai, had finally caught up with him.

"What…" uttered Kat; "do you want?"

The figure wore a black mask with an expression painted in gold — a face of sharp eyes and a sunken, bitter mouth. The guttural voice behind that mask wasted no time in speaking.

"I am here…to conclude our business."

He pulled his own katana from its sheath and raised it high. Wearily, Kat slunk with an air of acceptance. This day was always coming, this shadow would never leave his back; and so it was with regret that Kat gave himself to inevitability, and its uncertain outcome.

"I will fight you." he said, preparing himself one last time. "I will not fall."

Geysers shot boiling air skyward. Kat felt their heat prick at his wounds, and could only wonder how much they would slow him down…

"Are you ready to die?" the black samurai asked.

"I am ready to live!" he answered, swivelling his steel into a fight.

***

"Stand up." said a calm voice near me, stirring enough interest to remove my mind from the kiss of a loathsome death.

"Stand up." he said. "Rise Fox."

I needed to see this face, and voice so familiar.