The Siege Against Tolkeen

Deep within the bowels of an unholy pyramid, Lord Splynncryth shuddered. When a Splugorth shudders, it is a terrible thing to behold. His writhing tentacles and sub-tentacles splashed around in the pool of nutrient fluid he continually bathed in, throwing gallons of the foul, brackish liquid into the air. His massive eye began to roll around frantically in its socket, and whitish goo with the texture of thoroughly soured milk oozed out of his many mouths.

"What is wrong, my lord?!" demanded one of his attendant High Lords, as soon as the fit of panic was done. The insectoid monstrosity looked pale, or at least as pale as a member of his race could be. There were few things in the megaverse which could make a Splugorth shudder, and none of them were particularly pleasant.

"I had... a rather unsettling premonition," growled Splynncryth, feeling unusually edgy. "My thrice-cursed clairvoyancy was acting up again, filling my brain with thoughts of the future."

"What did you see, my lord?"

"It was unclear and shadowy. Premonitions always are. I saw a great battle. Tanks and robots were ravaging the defenders of a city, while bombers reduced entire boroughs to heaps of slag. There was a massive pyramid in the midst of the city, and that was where the true battle was happening. I couldn't see the battle inside, but from the terrible sounds I heard in my vision..." Splynncryth paused for a moment, and his attendants feared that he was going to shudder again and drench them with more of his nutrient bath. But the alien intelligence somehow resisted the urge, and began to continue. "From the sounds that I heard, it sounded like gods were at war within the pyramid. Cosmic forces are loose in North America."

"Sir, are you sure that these events shall come to pass? Your clairvoyancy has failed you before. Remember the incident of a few months ago?"

"Of course I do!" snapped Splynncryth, terrifying the High Lord with the anger in his voice. That incident had been weighing heavily on the Splugorth's mind for a while. He had seen a vision of enormous black things, flying towards Atlantis at great speed. Fearing a nuclear strike from the Coalition States, he had put his air forces on full alert, disrupting the military and panicking many of Atlantis's citizens. When the winged ravagers finally arrived, they turned out to be a flock of harmless pterodactyls. The embarrassment that Splynncryth suffered over the affair had kept him in a dark mood for weeks. The lord of Atlantis had no desire to repeat anything like that, but he also had no intention of dying a preventable death. He knew that clairvoyance was a double-edged sword better than anybody, but he also knew not to gamble with his life when there was no great prize at stake.

"Fetch me all of our intelligence reports on North America," ordered Splynncryth. "I am especially interested in the reports on the state of the Coalition-Tolkeen war. From everything that I know of current affairs, Shaard is the only sorcerer on that continent with the mystical firepower and the raw desperation to try something like what I saw."

The High Lord gestured to a nearby Kittani technician, who scrambled out of the inner chamber towards the records room. He knew full well that to be tardy with the orders of Splynncryth was to risk torture, mental reprogramming, or even execution.

"I have one other order for you," said Splynncryth to the High Lord. "Prepare my dimensional transport chamber. I do believe that I shall be vacationing for a few weeks in my palace on Eylor."

"Of course, my lord," said the High Lord, as a second Kittani technician bolted out of Splynncryth's inner chamber.

"These are your armaments for tomorrow's anti-terrorist action!" barked Lucius Mallen, holding one of the Naruni energy rifles high. "I want every member of the tactical team to take one basic rifle, and two clips of plasma cartridges! Heavy weapons forces, I want half of you bringing along the heavy energy cannons with the fusion packs. The other half should be carrying light rocket launchers with AP missiles! We're going to be running into heavy opposition tomorrow, and I want all of you to be fully prepared."

One of the SWAT police in the briefing room tentatively raised his hand. "Does the brass know about this, sir? Use of nonstandard weapons is strictly prohibited without the proper authorization beforehand."

"The brass has approved it," said Lucius, hating himself for the lie. "The solstice is in just a couple of days, and as we all know, the pyramid and the military are going to need every bit of ambient PPE available. We're too low-priority to use the standard techno-wizard weapons, so we're going to have to improvise."

Another policeman spoke up. "If they can't spare us enough juice to power energy rifles, may I assume that they ain't gonna give us any paracritters as backup?"

The Wolfen detective nodded grimly. "You've got it. No elementals. No demons. Nothing but ourselves. I know it's dangerous and risky to go into a terrorist lair without any heavy support, but we're going to have to. Are there any other questions?"

Looking around, the Wolfen saw no raised hands. "Allright, then," he announced, banging his gavel to end the briefing. "Tomorrow, we make our assault on the Human Freedom Association at precisely 10:15 AM. You've all got your orders and your attack vectors. Get a good sleep tonight, and make your peace with any gods you believe in. Tomorrow, we go to war."

As the men filed out of the room, Mallen let out a sigh. When he had first entered the police force, he had never thought things like this would happen to him. Leading men to fight and die was a responsibility greater than any he had ever expected. The Wolfen wondered how military officers slept at night, as a few explosions from the ever-encroaching front reached his ears.

Jack Perrin slept on a hard, fetid mattress in the HFA headquarters. His rest was fitful, and he tossed and turned like a man whose mind had been invaded. He was dreaming, and his dreams were not pleasant. But then again, there had been no pleasant dreams ever since he had entered the city of Tolkeen.

In his nightmare, Ragnarok had come at last. The Coalition's forces were making a final attack on Tolkeen. Sleek black bombers swooped down from the heavens, devastating entire neighborhoods. Gigantic, menacing robots climbed over the walls, their weapons blazing. Legions of skeleton-garbed infantrymen charged in through the broken gates, wildly unleashing their weapons on the defenders of Tolkeen. Meanwhile, the Tolkeenites were lashing out with weapons of equal destructiveness. Sorcerers enveloped thousands of troops with great gouts of hellfire, and gigantic demons battled robots in the streets like monsters from pre-Rifts Japanese movies. Neither side cared about the damage they were doing to Tolkeen, as fires both mystical and technological in nature swept through the city.

And then Shaard, huge and terrifying, rose up out of the shadows. The great pyramid began to move and to glow, and suddenly it was gone. In its place, there was a great pillar of light. The pillar grew and expanded, until all the world was a bright blanket of white.

When the light cleared, Jack saw the streets of Chi-Town. The protective walls still stood, but everyone inside them was dead. The corpses of children, Dog Boys, city rats, soldiers, workers, and bureaucrats, all of them were lying dead in the reeking, fly-infested streets. "Don't let us die," the corpses begged pitifully, their putrescent mouths falling apart as they spoke.

Suddenly, Jack saw the streets of Tolkeen. The city was still standing, its spires and buildings higher and prouder than ever before. But, as in Chi-Town, everyone was dead. D-Bees and humans lay on the pavement, burnt to skeletons and cinders. Their blackened corpses let out a wailing that could break one's heart, begging, "Don't let us die."

Jack was suddenly wide awake, his heart full of terror and his body bathed in sweat. Realizing that he needed his rest tomorrow he tried to get back to sleep, to no avail. Rest was one thing that Jack Perrin's inner demons did not approve of.

Next Chapter

By David Haendler.

Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998 David Haendler. All Rights Reserved.