William Seigler - Books and Stories
Tomorrow's Sword - Chapter One
My latest novel, Tomorrow's Sword will be made available chapter by chapter online. Enjoy.
In a world gone mad a man from the past is brought out of hybernation and must battle for his life just to get to the final showdown.
Tomorrow’s Sword
by
William C. Seigler
Chapter One
The wizard didn’t even see the spear till it hit him. “Uggggh!” He stumbled toward the other wizards and fell.
“Damn! Look out! It’s...” He never got the rest out before the flying ax cut into the side of his head. The other wizards dropped whatever they had and pulled their weapons. Automatic weapons fire cut through the dense undergrowth. The Devos jumped up from their hiding places and rushed the defending wizards. There were still a couple of hundred meters from the armored vehicles.
The attacking Devos screamed their blood curdling war cry as they swept down on the small detail of soldiers. “Forget all this junk and make for the AV’s,” shouted the officer.
“But what about him?”
“I said forget it! Come on drop all this junk! Pick up Luther’s body.”
“What about Spike?”
“We can’t get to him. Now move it.”
“Death to wizards!” They swept down on the soldiers even as they were cut to pieces by medium machine gun fire. They fled down a narrow path through a thicket. This was the only thing that saved them. Only so many Devos could get through at once. The degenerates had not been smart enough to block the only escape route.
“Damn it! I’m out of ammo.”
“Then get the out of my way! Move up front and I’ll cover the rear.” The corporal stopped and fired a short burst. The attackers screamed as each was cut down, only to be replaced by another screaming for blood.
“Hey, come on!”
The new rear guard had let the fleeing men get too far ahead of him. He turned and looked over his shoulder. “Shit!” He turned and ran. As he neared them, his buddy let a grenade fly. “That’ll slow ’em down.” As he reached the others, he turned and released another short burst.
They reached the clearing. The soldiers left guarding the wizard’s eggs, as the Devos called them, had heard the gunfire and were ready with the fifty caliber stuff. Tracers flew over their heads as they raced for the protection the umbrella of heavy fire afforded them. Only a few Devos made it to the clearing before the rest thought better of it.
“Cease fire! No reason to kill more than we have to.”
At that moment a light plane swooped low over the clearing an up the narrow draw. The pilot switched on the recorded animal screams. This finally routed the Devos.
“They have called a dragon down on us. It will eat us!”
“Silence fool! Run!”
The ancient radio came to life. “Did you get what you went after?”
“No sir. We were bringing him out when we were ambushed. Sir, this time there might have been several hundred on them. I’ve never seen a group so large, over.”
“Did you take any casualties?”
“Yes sir, two dead and three wounded. None critical, over.”
“Did you recover the bodies?”
“One yes. The other was a perimeter guard. We couldn’t get to him.”
“Captain, you are supposed to bring back all bodies.”
“Sir, I don’t think it was possible to get to the body. Even if it were, I would have lost several more men.”
“Very well, return to the beach, out.”
There would be an official inquiry; he knew that. But it was his decision. One he could live with. He emerged from the command track. “All right, party’s over. Mount up; let’s out of here.”
Captain Blackwell was one of the most experienced expedition leaders Avalon had. He had a pretty good average when it came to bring back the objective and his men, dead or alive. This attack beat anything he had ever seen. Usually there were just a few Devos, 30 or 40. Nothing like this. Still he hated to leave a body behind. He had heard what happened to them.
“Okay, let’s move out,” called the sergeant. The ancient tracked and wheeled vehicles moved out. They were the finest examples of restoration the Islanders had. They would be aboard the barges shortly.
* * *
Consciousness came slowly, more so than in previous experiments. Captain Jason Flynn felt cold and stiff. He was still in the cocoon. Why? The light hurt less than usual. He couldn’t hear voices. There were supposed to be voices. Dr. Maic trying to wake him up. The cute redheaded nurse standing behind him with that concerned look of hers. He was cold. The cold would not pass.
Slowly Jason began to realize that something was wrong. But what? He had awakened at the wrong time. There must have been an accident, and the system lost its liquid nitrogen. They had rehearsed just such an emergency. Theoretically, it was possible for him to recover without outside help. He had insisted on this safeguard himself. He moved his hand over to the panel. Where is that light switch? There. No light came from the bulb. It was dead. But it’s independent of any outside power source.
Second thing on the check list. What was it? Am I still in the nitrogen tank? Detectors inoperative. Nothing works. I’ve got to get my eyes open. With incredible effort, he forced one eye open. The light was painful. Wait, a face in front of the view port? A bearded man. Dr. Maxwell has a beard. The face was gone. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. He was not, however, partly immersed in liquid nitrogen. That was a break. Why didn’t Dr. Maxwell open the cocoon? I can’t wait forever. I’ve got to get some air.
A few Devos had remained after the wizard’s body had been carried away to be prepared for the ceremony. They were mostly youths curious about the things the wizards had dropped. They heard a strange click from the long white thing. Then the top cracked a little and with one motion swung open. Something was alive in the wizard’s box. A spirit or a monster! The wizards are known to worship such things.
“It has come to punish us for attacking the wizards!” The small group of Devos turned and ran. It was not wise to trifle with wizards or their belongings. Only a warrior with great luck to aid him dared to do such a thing.
Jason thought he heard voices. He could not yet find his own. Man, it’s bright enough. He reached for the side of the cocoon and tried to pull himself up. Hi did not have the strength. Why was he still in the cocoon anyway? Hell of a way to run a project. With great effort and much grunting, he managed to get over onto his side. Then with his elbow, he pushed himself up into a sitting position.
“Wha...?” His voice was a dry raspy wheeze. What the heck! What’s going on here? I’m supposed to be in the cryogenics lab. He looked around. He was in a hilly area with dense underbrush all around the small clearing where he sat in the suspension cocoon. He took a few deep breaths in order to get extra oxygen to the brain. That was one of the problem areas with suspension research, getting oxygen to the brain fast enough to stop any damage from occurring.
Usually they gave the test subject pure oxygen. Another one of those untested theories said one could recover without it. The procedure called for deep breathing. His head ached. Though the work was interesting and the pay would hold him till he decided whether or not to go into private practice, he always seemed to hurt somewhere or the other. The headaches were the worst. Stap’s Law: Don’t let anyone else take the risk before you yourself.
Where the hell is everybody anyway? Is this what happens when you run out of funding? He tried to raise himself up to sit on the edge of the cocoon. It was no use. He finally rolled over and was able to sort of flop out onto the ground. Now if I can just get up. And when I do there is going to be hell to pay.
Once again he pushed himself into a sitting position and then was able to get to his knees. Only with great effort was he able to get to his feet. His head pounded and he swayed unsteadily. Jason looked around. He turned as he did so. Where in the world was he? This looked nothing like White Sands. He was sure he had seen a face over the view port. He took a few steps and almost fell. There was equipment scattered all around. His foot hit something. A grenade! Shit! What the hell was going on here?
He saw a path and stumbled toward it. As he started down the path he heard voices behind him. Without thinking he stepped behind a bush that hid him while allowing him to view the clearing. There was another path on the other side he had not noticed earlier. They were coming down that path. Now maybe he would get some answers. The voices grew closer.
They were... were... They were dressed in skins and leather! What tha...? A group of about twenty men in skins carrying swords, spears, and axes broke into the clearing and cautiously approached the cocoon.
Jason couldn’t believe his eyes. They were prodding the cocoon with spear points. What kind of nut cakes were these? Where did these goof balls get off running around like something from a bad movie? He wanted to go over and get some answers from someone, but he though better of it.
“Well, I don’t see no demon or wizard now. You sure that’s what you saw?”
The youth spoke. “I’m telling you what I saw. This thing swung up like this.” He made his hands into a clam shell and rotated the top hand upward. “Just like that.”
“Well there’s nothing here now. Besides only warriors are supposed to come to a wizard battle place. And even then there are many dangers.”
One of the men found the grenade Jason had stumbled into. “What’s this?” The others turned and walked over to where he pointed.
“Don’t touch it,” ordered the man who was obviously in charge. “It’s a wizard’s rock. It has strong magic. My father was killed by one.”
“Our crystals will protect us against it.”
“Maybe, just leave it alone. I don’t trust wizard’s magic. It will be dark soon. Whatever was in this thing is out there somewhere. It might be wise to get back to the village and go looking for it in the morning.”
With that they turned and left the way they came. Jason was incredulous. Well at least the spoke English, gutter English. He didn’t get everything they said. Must be extras for a movie or some sort of weird religious cult. After a few minutes he crept back into the clearing and picked up the grenade. What is a, did he say, wizard rock? Jason turned and went unsteadily up the path in the direction opposite the men in skins.
After a while he came to the foot of a cliff. About ten feet above was an opening to a cave. There were footprints all over the place. It looks like someone has done some work around here very recently. He climbed up to the cave still stiff and unsteady. It was getting dark and Jason wanted to find shelter. He had some matches in his pocket but left his pipe in his jacket. He wished he had it now. Well he was trying to quit anyway.
The cave looked like it would provide him with shelter for the night. He brought in enough wood to make a fire and went as deep into the cave as he could in the dim light. He piled up rocks and built a fire behind them. This should keep anyone from seeing the fire. He was tired. Soon he drifted off. The answer to the question, what is going on, would have to wait till tomorrow.
