Upon hearing the voice, Haylock did a 180 and began to head back toward where they had come and away from the tangible darkness, but Tanlon clamped a hand on his shoulder.
“What are you doing?”
Haylock pulled his shoulder away and pointed in the other direction. “I’ve jumped through a jump portal ten times, into certain death, every one, but there’s a line of insane suicidality that I'm not going to cross, creepy voices in the middle of a dark death dungeon is on that list. We all get five jump creds when get back up top and I don’t want to lose those with my head.”
A few grumbles of agreement came from the other troopers and Haylock paused in the critical moment to turn himself back. Feeling like he had no choice, despite how much he wanted to leave too, Tanlon spoke, “We have to go in and help them.”
Haylock palmed his hand at Tanlon and looked at him like he was a gibbering idiot.
“Bunch of witches and commissars through there. I say let ‘em rot.”
“There’s not just witches. There’s a few hundred stormtroopers that way too.”
To Tanlon’s shock, Haylock kept going, “They knew what they were signing up for.”
With a lunge, Tanlon grabbed the High Ender by the lapel of his uniform and pressed him against the ancient bulkhead. Thick layers of dust were scattered as Tanlon lifted the other man in the air and stuck between him and a hard place.
“Let me go!” Haylock had a few inches on Tanlon, but the force that was being exerted on him was unexpectedly strong. He tried breaking Tanlon’s grip but it was like being held by a pair of vices.
“No, you knew what you were signing up for too! You’re a soldier of the empire, it’s your duty!”
“I never signed up for nothing!” Haylock hissed, “We were born to die! They hate us, they use us, they don’t care about us! Don’t you see, we’re just disposable men to the Emperor and whether we live or die doing our duty doesn’t mean a thing!”
“We all die, Haylock. Yet what we do with the time in between is what matters. If you were the Emperor himself you couldn’t prevent your own inevitable death, but here, now, we might prevent the death of others.”
“What would you know? You’re just a One. You’ve got a notch on your belt, but I’ve got ten, so let me educate you on the difference. This little moment of yours, where you think pressing on and sacrifice is the answer, it won’t be the last time they ask it if you. You’ll give them an inch, but they’ll take a mile and tomorrow’s sacrifice may be harder, but it’s your duty so you do it again. They keep taking, and taking, and taking until there is nothing left to take, and when the time comes, they’ll discard you like the rest and your sacrifices will have all been forgotten.”
“Maybe so, but if I must sacrifice something today, let it be my life and not my honor.”
“Let me go, Tanlon,” Haylock ordered. His voice had dulled and it sounded like an animal’s growl before the bite.
Tanlon acquiesced and he let their party leader’s feet slide back to the ground. When he was on solid footing, Haylock brushed the dust off his uniform and looked back at the rest of the others.
Haylock’s shoulders sagged and his eyes finally met Tanlon’s in a searching glance for answers that only he knew the questions to.
“Fetch me a rope.”
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Facing the dark, Tanlon questioned every single stupid thing he had said back there with Haylock. It was easy enough to let his tongue flap at the moment, but when facing this corridor of shadow and death, his mouth dried and feet anchored to the floor. He glanced back toward Haylock and the others, but between the dim illumination and their uniform masks, there were no comforting glances or wishes of farewell. Not that they would give him any if they could. His words against Haylock had scratched the conscience of every man listening and though they wanted him to succeed, each heart had a small dark piece that desired his failure.
Turn back. Go no further. Retreat. His own heart echoed in rhythm with their own as he did not want to proceed either. Yet his feet did so, regardless of the will of their fearful master.
The first step into the dark was surprisingly normal, aside from the lack of light piercing it. No chilling cold seeped into his bones or hands of shadows ripped at his clothes. It was just plain darkness. A tug at the end of the rope on Tanlon’s waist was answered by a tug of his own so that the others would know that he was okay. If he did not reply back or the rope went limp, they would pull him from the darkness.
Tanlon’s steps were small and measured, the same he would take as a child when blindfolded for games, so when his foot landed on something, he did not trip and fall. In the dark, Tanlon could only use his hands to feel up the still form and his investigation proved it to be the armored body of a stormtrooper. As great as a surprise that was, it was even better when he found the man’s chest was still heaving with breath. He was asleep.
It was surprising to Tanlon how light this armored stormtrooper could be, but he did not think too much of it as he carried the man back toward the others. The light was a welcome sight, as was the gaggle of Troopers waiting for him. He lay the stormtroopers at their feet and they tried waking the fellow up. While everyone else was distracted by the sleeping man, Mad pounded Tanlon on the back and Snell punched his arm.
“Thought you were a goner, Tan.”
“I’ll admit, it was pretty scary, but it’s just dark in there.”
“Oi, Haylock, I’m going in with Tan for more men.”
“Yeah, me too!” Mad shouted.
Haylock looked up from the ground where he was checking the stormtrooper’s pulse and gave his assent. Two more ropes were found and tied around them. Before Tanlon could go back, Mad flexed his arm and said, “I’ll show you lads how it’s done in the country!” He ran ahead of them into the dark and as soon as he was swallowed by its depths, his rope went slack.
“Pull him back!” Snell shouted and began to pull on the end of Mad’s rope. Tanlon and several others joined him and in a few moments, Mad reappeared, on the ground and unconscious. They dragged him well away from the dark and by the equally knocked-out stormtrooper. Unlike the stormtrooper’s mask, they could look through his eye holes and see that his eyes were still wide open and darting in every direction.
“Is he awake?” Snell shook Mad’s leg. “Is he ok?”
“I don’t know,” Haylock mumbled.
“How did Tanlon go through and not him?”
“I said I don’t know!” Haylock snapped at the worrying Snell and looked at Tanlon.
“Do you have any idea?”
“No, I’m, I don’t know.” Tanlon stuttered and felt like squatting on the ground.
“This was a stupid idea, look what you did to Mad,” Snell started to get up and stalk toward Tanlon, but Haylock stopped him.
“He brought it on himself when he volunteered, as you would have, had you gone in too. Don’t blame Tanlon.”
“Well, still, we need to go like you wanted to earlier. Enough of this heroic bunk, it’s time to go.”
Haylock put another hand on Mad’s softly stirring chest and did not reply. The truth of it was that Tanlon’s words earlier had cut deeper than he cared to admit, but he still did not want to throw his life away or anyone else’s. So it was when Tanlon spoke again that he felt the double-edged line of hope and despair.
“Let me go, one more time, please. Maybe there’s something on the other side of the darkness.”
“Stupid idea, Tanlon. You’ll just die in there.” Snell replied.
“I don’t know, but I do know that for some reason I’m not affected by it like the others. If I don’t go, then who else will?”
Every trooper left in those halls that heard his question had an answer of their own, but none spoke the truth that was held in their bosoms.
“Go Tanlon, your life is your own to spend,” Haylock said, “But take a rope with you. You will not be alone in that darkness.”
“I know,” Tanlon replied, though they both referred to different things.
When Tanlon went back into the darkness a second time, it was with different expectations and so hit him differently. His heightened tension made him more acutely aware of each step and every sound. The sounds that had been disquieting before, were downright disturbing now that he was getting closer to them. It sounded like animals, chewing and eating raw meat, and in his mind’s eye, a violent image of stormtroopers being helplessly eaten alive flashed like unwelcome tableaus, and something cut the rope tied to his waist. The intrusive mental images and panic of being without his rope lifeline sent Tanlon spasming away from the sounds and he tripped on another still body on the ground.
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When he crashed to the floor, he of course made a lot of noise dropping his rifle and lost it in the dark. The ripping noises stopped, replaced by the sound of something snuffling. Tanlon held his breath, though he wanted to scream since he felt something wet and slick under his hands. He slowly stood up and fruitlessly searched for his gun, but a scream tore through the quiet, and Tanlon was tackled back to the ground by multiple pairs of arms and the hefty bulk of a Yabanchi landing on top of him.
The memory of before, on the hilltop where he almost died, snapped Tanlon into terrified action that saved his neck from being ripped out. Since that last brush with death, Tanlon kept a thin, cheap dagger sheathed on his chest and he pulled it out now, driving it repeatedly into the beast on top of him. The pain from his desperate attack made the beast flinch back enough for Tanlon to slide away and regain his posture. Without a better weapon, Tanlon stowed the dagger and pulled out his shovel. Though he could not see the Yabanchi, he heard it and stepped forward, driving the end of his short shovel down like an axe. His first blow struck in a meaty bit and drove deep into the tissue before being stopped by bone, but Tanlon just withdrew and struck again and again, tearing flesh and breaking sinew.
When the whining cry of the Yabanchi subsided to whimpers and then silence, Tanlon stopped and waited for more, but aside from the greedy sounds of more feasting in the deeper darkness, nothing came.
[You fight well for a slave.]
A voice slithered into Tanlon’s mind, violating and caressing his innermost thoughts and passions. Something was digging in his head, searching for answers, but Tanlon resisted its efforts as best he could.
A splitting headache drove like an ice pick in his left eye and skull, and Tanlon would have gouged the eye out if it would only stop the pain he was experiencing.
[Come now, do not resist. I am curious as to how you have made it this far.]
The pain intensified, but it only helped the trooper focus on it instead of what the voice wanted to know. Yet what was it that was so important? Why was he being interrogated when he didn’t even know himself? The only thing that he could think of between trying to block the pain and his private thoughts was the light he had seen in his near death.
A hiss came from the ground beneath him and the voice angrily spoke. [Ah, a paladin are you? Bearer of the Light? You’ll go no further then.]
Something crawled up Tanlon’s legs and bit him, a numbing sensation started creeping up his right leg and spreading to his arms. The young trooper sat on the ground, simultaneously losing his balance with the strength of his feet. Past his waist and up his uniform’s blouse, the thing continued to crawl with a thousand tiny legs tickling where they passed. Finally, it settled on his neck and mandibles gripped his ear, a whisper coming from them.
“Heed this command slave and DIE!”
Something gripped Tanlon’s heart and he felt like it was going to burst, but Tanlon acted first and grabbed the creature scuttling on his neck with both hands.
“I will not die, I will live!” With the last ounce of strength in his fading arms, Tanlon ripped the crawling horror in two and heard its pathetic squeal end in fading silence.
The darkness around him evaporated like the mists of the morning exposed to the sun, yet Tanlon did not see the revealing of light as he slipped away into darkness once more and into the night.
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When Tanlon’s rope went limp and they frantically pulled back only the frayed end, minus the trooper, the mood of the soldiers became dimmed. Their shouts remained unanswered and Haylock considered going into the dark himself after the man he dared to start considering his friend when the light of their torches suddenly found purchase and illuminated their way ahead.
The hallway was filled with bodies, mostly untouched and black armored stormtroopers, but several Screamers hunched over ghoulish meals, and were blinded by the sudden lights. The troopers were not so caught unprepared and they dispatched the beasts with a round of fire that ended their bloody snacking.
A low moan came and men started shifting and stirring from their places on the ground, the unconscious Mad was no exception, and when he sat up rubbing his head, Snell shouted for joy and gave the stocky man a bear hug. Haylock was glad for all this revival but his eyes sought someone else and when he finally saw his friend, he ran past the rising stormtroopers and to Tanlon’s side.
The young trooper was still breathing, but he was pale and not getting up like the others. At his feet, some disgusting centipede was still twitching but ripped in half. Ignoring the bug, Haylock shook his friend and started calling his name.
“Tan, Tanlon, come on brother, stay awake.”
Tanlon’s eyes opened and he looked at Haylock like he was a thousand miles away. They crinkled with joy and he replied, “Quit shaking me older brother, I’m trying to sleep here.”
Haylock could have cried, but he kept it together and tried pulling his friend up. Tanlon rose halfway, but his feet kept coming out from underneath him, sending him sprawling to the floor again.
“Can’t feel my legs. Something bit me.”
“Maybe that bug? Looks like a nasty thing.”
"Maybe,” Tanlon agreed, but he did not look at the centipede, almost like he was afraid of it.
“Come on, lean on me,” Haylock gave Tanlon his shoulder and the two young men stood up together. As they did so, they heard a woman scream.
It was one of those witch women, a tall one with blonde hair. She was standing by a corpse, another witch by the look of it, and wailing. Haylock did not want to look too closely at the dead woman since she had been one of the unfortunate victims of the Screamers’ appetite when everyone was unconscious.
A commissar by the wailing woman saw Haylock and Tanlon and stumbled toward them, still regaining his feet after being knocked out for so long.
“What are you lot doing here?”
“Commissar Gourke sent us, sir.” Haylock replied in his most innocent voice, “We’re here to help you.”
The commissar looked between Haylock and Tanlon and then flinched when the witch woman started shouting something in her foreign language.
“Alright, whatever, we have things under control. Keep your men out of the way while we evacuate and cover our rear.”
“Aye aye, sir.” Haylock saluted, but the commissar had already turned away to start ordering stormtroopers out of the tunnel.
“Are all commissars supposed to make you want to punch them?” Tanlon whispered to Haylock, to which his friend replied with a wink.
“I think it’s part of the training.”
The next few minutes passed without too much banter between the Vanguard and the stormtroopers passed by them with the dead and injured carried between them. When the strange women stalked by, they hardly cast a glance at the soldiers who saved them, but the troopers didn’t mind, they just wanted to get out of that hole.
“Sten, take point and command. I’m going to carry Tanlon.” Sten obeyed and started leading the few remaining troopers out, but Mad and Snell stood by.
“Well, get a move on,” Haylock ordered, but Mad shook his head.
"We’ll help carry ‘em with ya.”
“Aren’t you afraid of being left in the dark,” Tanlon asked, still leaning on Haylock.
Snell scuffed the floor and said, “I’ve been a real piece of work today and I keep on apologizing for it, but I don’t want to leave you guys behind.”
Mad slugged Snell and the tall poet grabbed his arm, “what was that for?”
“Put some timbre in your voice and stop sniffling, Of course, you can stay with us.” He looked over at Haylock and Tanlon, “Right?”
“Right,” Haylock replied and Tanlon nodded.
“Thanks, guys,” Snell’s voice started to break and Mad tried punching him again. While Snell jumped around trying to avoid his friend’s punches, Tanlon and Haylock laughed, and at last that miserable tunnel of death was filled with something more than death and silence again.
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Lek’Tor seethed in rage, his form billowed, and a menagerie of hissing and creaks escaped from the slits of his golden mask.
“It appears that the humans escaped you.”
A dry, rasp chuckled in the echoing confines of the mountain base. Lek’Tor unleashed a ball of fire and loosed it at the source of the intruding voice, but the figure, lit up by its orange flame, backhanded the destructive orb like it was a child’s ball and sent it exploding against one of the many bits of ancient machinery.
“I will send beasts to rip them apart. They will not leave this mountain alive.”
The old, desiccated, and walking corpse seemed unimpressed, with either the spell cast at him or Lek’Tor’s rage. His heavy, patrician voice commanded, “No, you will not. The master bids you come back with me. Our objective on this world is complete.”
“Do not order me about like some slave, wretch, lest my next fireball find its target true.”
This time the other Lich’s face did creak into a smile, a horrible thing of splitting skin and empty eye sockets. He held his arms out wide and replied, “You’re welcome to try.”
A snake burst hissing from the mouth of Lek’Tor’s mask, but otherwise, he did not take Turlock’s bait. The man was an upstart, but he had certainly earned a reputation in his years of waging war for the kingdom.
“Go back to whence you came and leave me. I will follow soon enough.”
“Very well, but remember, our master waits.” General Turlock swept back to the shadows he had come from and left the cave through the maw of its yawning darkness. Lek’Tor followed him, not wanting to keep a higher power waiting, but he quickly gave a command to a small nest of Screamers remaining in the mountain.
[Go. Feast.]
The brutes leapt up and hurried to obey his commands. Up the tunnels and to four men who were unaware of their coming.
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When they had passed through those metal blast doors again and started ascending to the surface of the planet, the four men felt the shaking from above them intensifying.
“I’m not sure if I want to find out what’s going on up there,” Snell muttered.
“Hey, even walking through an orbital bombardment would be better than staying in this hole,” Mad replied and they all agreed since no one slowed down their pace.
They had been marching through the narrow space of the final tunnels when they heard a new noise joint the shaking. A whirring chorus of screams ramped up by the second. They did not need the tunnel behind them to be lit up to recognize the horrible sound that had been ever-present during their tour of Paradise. Screamers.
Hundreds of the beasts were tearing their way up the tunnel and toward the small group. Since the rest of the troopers had gone on ahead of them, it was only the four and the three had a choice: leave the still-injured Tanlon and possibly live or stay and fight.
Haylock set Tanlon down and sighted his rifle, Mad and Snell fell alongside him too. Tanlon opened his mouth to tell them to run, but he shut it and watched. He didn’t want to insult the bravery of these men he called friends.
Their shots were true and Screamers fell as they came, slowing down the ones behind them, but the Yabanchi horde came as an unstoppable tide and eventually reached the three shooters. Mad was grabbed by the throat and lifted into the air, his short arms flailed uselessly against his attacker, and Snell and Haylock were not much better off against their slavering opponents.
Tanlon struggled to sit up and reach for one of their fallen rifles when the light hit his eyes and temporarily blinded him. The flash was accompanied by a crack of noise loud enough that his right ear drum must have burst from the liquid he felt trickling down his neck.
“OI! What in the bloody Emperor’s name was that?!” Mad was standing up and clutching his throat his voice was still hoarse from getting choked.
Snell was shaking his head too and trying to aim his rifle at where the Screamers were coming from, but it was a futile effort since no more screaming was to be had.
The whole host of monsters lay before them, charred and sizzling from bubbling holes and burned skin. Hundreds of them at once had died to whatever explosive had gone off.
Haylock was not as fortunate as the others and he too lay on the ground, unmoving. Tanlon crawled over to him and checked his pulse, but a static spark shocked him when he reached for his friend’s neck.
Unperturbed by the small shock, Tanlon found Haylock’s pulse and felt the rhythmic thrumming of blood under the skin that told him that his friend was still alive.
There was no time to celebrate or speculate, as more of the creatures might be coming, so Snell gave Tanlon a shoulder to lean on and Mad fireman carried Haylock. The shaking had stopped for some time when they breached the surface and the shouts of thousands of men hailed their arrival. The four friends left that hole in the ground and faced the destiny that awaited them on the surface.