The Gift of Volkeye (36 page)

“I would advise all of you to hold your tongues. I am but a moment away from alerting the
SCUM
, and removing you from my sight! Remember who you’re talking to!”

Everyone calmed at his remarks, anxious over what his unstable crew of minions would do.

“Give us something, and we’ll disperse! You have a huge safe filled with Arhyz! More money than God, you’ve got! We all know, Vlajdimir, don’t think it’s a secret!” shrilled a squeaky voice.

It was true. Though he was nowhere near as rich as Phyllamon, he still had enough money for two lifetimes.

“You haven’t the slightest clue what you’re talking about,” he lied. “My earnings are most humble. And I don’t know what you’ve heard about Phyllamon, but he is nothing more than a friend.”

“You’re not a distant cousin to his wife then? He doesn’t stuff your pockets with Arhyz each month to be at his beck and call? Liar!” the man huffed, unable to believe that Vlajdimir had the nerve to stand there and pretend he was poor when his luxurious home, ten times the size of any in town, blatantly betrayed his words.

“Excuse you, but my wages come strictly from running such an efficient law enforcement committee!”

“
Law enforcement committee?
Vlajdimir, shame on you! Those poor things are so abused they haven’t the capacity to determine right from wrong! So how can they enforce the law if all manners of their cognition are subject to what you believe! You are wicked as they come!” a woman yelled.

“Wicked, am I? Well, perhaps you would prefer being under the direct command of Phyllamon, himself, since I seem to be so unfit for the job…it’s not as if you all heed my orders anyway.” He paused, observing their puzzled faces, wondering what he was getting at. “Yes, that settles it. I will relinquish you all from my pitiful command and give you over to Phyllamon, who is more adept at these matters than I.”

There were squirms and uneasy expressions about the crowd. “What’s to become of us?” a voice asked.

“Those of you who are able bodied shall be recruited for Phyllamon’s army.” Vlajdimir grinned.

“What!” Woone hissed. “I’ll just as soon be a soldier for that son-of-a-bitch than I can grow a cat’s tail!”

“You won’t need to worry about that, my friend, you’re too old. You’ll most likely be one of those who is…
discarded
.”

Vlajdimir adjusted his scarf and waved, turning to go indoors. However, he was stopped as the protesters became violent. He’d just missed having his head split open by a brick that went crashing through one of the glass panes on the door to his balcony. Vlajd was furious.

“All right, everyone, I’ve had enough of this rubbish! Get gone, or be dealt with!”

“To hell with you! What’s Phyllamon need an army for, anyway?” someone asked.

“Why? To secure his rule upon the world, naturally!” Vlajdimir said, now having lost his patience with the bunch. “I shall not answer another question! I grow tired of your antics. Now disperse, I’m warning you all…”

It was too late. Zephranie had already resorted to more foul measures than words. She didn’t have a shotgun to deal with the crowd as she would have liked, but she did the next best thing.

Walking over to a thick leather rope above the mantelpiece in their parlour, she grabbed it, pulling with all her might. For a moment nothing happened. Then all of a sudden there was a loud repetitive gong sounding from outdoors. The crowd looked above and saw the tower sitting atop the Ghurzblood’s mansion. The bell inside had begun to chime, and that could only mean one thing. The crowd nervously looked about, backing away.

Within moments a dirty, malnourished group of men, fifteen in all, rushed out from the barn behind the mansion. With sleep in their eyes, they waved their guns back and forth. A woman from the crowd gasped with horror, sorry that it had come to this. The poor souls were obviously tired, as she could tell that most of them didn’t even know where they were. One of them spoke in an inarticulate slur.

“Alright…every…body…git’ moovin’!”

The citizens stood shaking their heads with disgust at Vlajdimir and Zephranie.

“Fire a warning shot, you filthy SCUM!” Zephranie bellowed.

As shots rang out, the crowd gasped in horror, seeing that two of Vlajdimir’s minion’s now lay on the ground bleeding from wounds in the stomach and chest area. Vlajdimir didn’t take proper care of their weapons, so they were dirty and had backfired.

A crying, young girl tried to come forward and help them, but her mother held her back.

“No, honey,” she said fuming, looking to Vlajdimir. “You bastard! Look what you did to those poor boys!”

The crowed was rapidly dispersing, most of them in tears at what they had just witnessed.

Vlajdimir looked to his men. “Oh, bloody hell, get out my sight!” he spat, as more bath suds flew from his head.

His minions rounded the corner and returned to their stable, leaving the other two behind. For no reason whatsoever, Vlajdimir hawked up a glob of phlegm and spat it below, grinning as it spattered on one’s forehead. He frowned, agreeing with Phyllamon that he needed more reliable people working for him. As he turned to go indoors, something caught his attention.

From atop the water tower on the right, Vlajdimir thought he saw a pair of bright green eyes watching him.

Is that a cat?

The cat quickly ducked behind the chimney and disappeared from view, leaving Vlajdimir puzzled.

How did it get all the way up there?
he wondered, as the maple trees were too far away for it to have jumped.

However, he dismissed it as of no great importance, turning to get out of the cold. As he shut the door behind him, shattering the remainder of the newly broken glass, his every move was watched from behind.

Quickly flying to the ground (an act which would’ve astonished Vlajdimir, as he hadn’t noticed the wings), the spy walked to the two dead boys. They had now bled to death. Once he had the ‘close-up’ he needed, he pressed the “off” switch with his paw and set off again, knowing that this incident would shed some light on things. He was certain Zynathian needed to know about Phyllamon trying to enlist people into an army against their will. To think that he’d only happened upon this scene by chance, having been flying directly above the angry mob marching to Vlajdimir’s house!

Energized from his unsettling discovery, he’d soar all the more quickly to his destination. As the fur on his chest heaved outward with a sigh, he bound into the air and headed towards Castle Xyecah.

1

It was early evening now, many hours since they began working on Teshunua, and they’d not yet had any rest. A weary Zynathian, eyes squinting in concentration, felt his stomach growl as he knelt over Tesh. The first part of the operation, the skin procedure
,
was nearing its end.

In the beginning, as soon as he had Teshunua’s life stable, Zynathian found an unburned portion of skin from one of his legs, cut it away, then copied every molecule. Next, he reproduced it manifold until he had a sheet of skin big enough to use. Teshunua was a large boned boy, whose total skin size was a little over two square meters, whereas the average human being’s was about one and a half meters. This made him more difficult to work with, as ther
e was more skin to cut and fit.

Though initially intimidated by Teshunua’s operation, Zynathian found himself more and more confident as the procedure forced him to dive further into his pool of knowledge. Zynathian had almost forgotten that skin was, at one time, his favourite area of biological study. It was his discoveries and inventions in this particular field that was vastly speeding up Teshunua’s operation.

Many years previous, Zynathian devised a way to greatly enhance the functioning speed of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids (all the organic molecules which make up skin). It was mostly due to an incredible strengthening of the sugar, Deoxyribose—a carbohydrate in the DNA molecule—that allowed him to fuse severed pieces of skin together at an astonishing rate.

Once Teshunua’s measurements were taken and the skin was sliced, Zynathian (aided by the mechanical arms he was working with, giving him a total of six hands) began strategically placing each piece of skin. He laid them side-by-side like pieces of a puzzle and watched with pride as each segment of human tissue fused themselves together over the last sixteen hours. Without a trace of scarring, Teshunua had regained his human features, now only needing his hair to grow back, which Zynathian decided he would allow naturally.

Asha, having witnessed every single step, looked upon Teshunua’s naked, limbless body with awe. Admiring the flawlessly crafted human tissue, she shook her head in disbelief.

“Zynathian, how did you do this?”

“Well, the DNA molecule is the key, you see. If a scientist knew to muscle up the cytosine, guanine, thymine, and adenine [the four molecules which make up nucleic acids (and thereby strengthening the sugars in the DNA molecule, which is very important, as DNA is what keeps our skin from falling apart)] then he or she could achieve that which I’ve just accomplished,” he said.

Asha rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m
not a scientist, so I haven’t the slightest clue what you just said…but I’m so glad you know how to do it.” She sighed, glancing at Teshunua’s severed limbs in the freezer as she went back to her incline desk that she’d set up beside Zynathian’s operating table.

As the mechanical arms set Teshunua back down upon the table, Zynathian pulled off his rubber gloves, finally giving in to hunger and lack of sleep.

“Love, we need food and rest,” he said, looking to Asha, who busy drawing again. “Asha, did you hear me?”

“Yes, dear…just a little bit more.”

“The sketches are coming along alright, I take it?”

“Excellent. Zynathian, if you can actually implement these things that I’m dreaming up for him, Teshunua will be…” She looked to the ceiling and pondered the many possibilities. Asha didn’t have the words.

Suddenly, she snapped her sketchbook shut and grabbed Zynathian’s hand. “Yes, let’s eat…but no more than a four hour nap, agreed?”

“I think that’s fair,” he replied, following her out.

Just as they reached the shield, they heard Teshunua squirming from behind. Zynathian had forgotten that though the wounds on the surface were healed, what was underneath needed more time. The skin was now beginning the process of attaching itself to all the flesh, bone, and muscle tissue, tightening itself throughout. Under normal circumstances, this would’ve been unbelievably painful, but because of Zynathian’s ‘Khyetarah Vyx Mune’ painkiller, this was impossible. The skin tightening was probably a process that itched. That’s what was waking Teshunua.

Zynathian went over to the table and found Teshunua mumbling in his sleep. Normally, he would’ve disregarded this, for it was only natural to toss and turn with bad dreams when one was in discomfort, but the words he made out caused him to pause a moment. Asha had come over to the table, listening.

“…Jix…cam-er-aaaaaaaaaaa…Castle Xyecah!”

Asha and Zynathian looked at each other, astonished.

“Zynathian, you think…”

“No.” He shook his head in disbelief. “He couldn’t have…I wonder?”

Zynathian watched Teshunua’s squirms and babbling calm as he injected him with a substance that numbed him to itching sensations. When Teshunua was finally sleeping soundly once more, they left the room in a rush of excitement and curiosity.

Upon reaching the first floor, they found everyone working diligently. A group of fifteen Mechs were carrying in weapons, battle gear, and other strange pieces of equipment that they’d recently constructed. Again, they sat them randomly on the floor about the room. Off to the side, Bahzee was folding an enormous piece of steel in half, creasing it as evenly as she could. She then handed it to the Mechs that she was helping, doing so gently as not to crush them. They used it to seal the remaining open space in the wall, bolting it in place. Bahzee cleaned her hands on her pants and wiped the sweat from her brow. When she saw her mother running forward, she panicked.

“It’s okay, Baz…this isn’t about Tesh, he’s going to be fine,” Asha reassured her.

“We’re just down here to check on something,” Zynathian said.

Everyone followed him and Asha into the control room. After pressing a series of buttons on the panel, a file called “Teshunua” appeared on the screen. He selected it, and then scrolled downward, highlighting
camera
as he came to it.

“Whatcha’ doin, mate?” Maugrimm asked.

“I want to see if Tesh’s camera is in the house or not, because if it isn’t…”

Zynathian trailed off, as an astonishing aerial shot of Maugrimm and Jalum emerged upon the screen. Even Maugrimm, who’d lived this moment less than sixteen hours previous, was taken with shock as he watched himself plunge over Jalum’s side to (what would’ve been) his death.

“Maugrimm!” Asha gasped, placing her hand on her chest as if the scene had nearly given her a heart attack.

“I know…if you think yer’ scared just looking at it, you shoulda’ bin’ there!” he replied.

As the scene in which Maugrimm annihilated the adjacent ships came up, he chuckled to himself, quite impressed at his marksmanship. He had no idea that seeing such a horrific incident from a different point of view could be entertaining. However, Mawg guessed that he wasn’t the only one who found a bit of enjoyment from the action, as Jix had obviously stuck around for the entire event! The recording, shot from above, played out like a movie as Maugrimm and Jalum circled the castle, obliterating the assailing ships, then finally dealing with Zu before they disappeared into the castle as the shield permitted them entrance.

Zynathian clasped his hand over his mouth.
Teshunua, you are brilliant, boy!
He shook his head, wondering why he hadn’t thought of this a long time ago. They might’ve seen the recent events coming if he’d had such foresight!

The recordings continued, and they were surprised yet again as the footage jumped to a completely different environment, obviously from earlier in the day. Over the next half an hour, they sat numb with a mix of emotions, for they were happy seeing the people of Rhameeryla reunited and heading south to the Igloo. However, there was also sadness, for they’d just learned that nigh on sixty of them were dead.

Zynathian slumped into his recliner, letting out a sigh. Sobbing, Asha urged him to continue with the recordings.

“They’re gone. We can’t dwell on it, Zynnie…play the rest.”

Zynathian agreed. As he tried to skip forward to the next bit, he found that he couldn’t. Nothing else had been captured so far. Becoming restless after waiting a while, they gave up and decided to check back later. But as soon as Zynathian made to turn off the monitor, Jix began transmitting again.

There were many cottages with a large mansion and a water tower, standing prominently at the edge of the town.

“That’s Rhylix!” Asha said.

They watched closely, not wanting to miss a beat, for everything upon the screen was occurring in real time, at that exact moment.

Closing in on the tarred rooftop of the town’s water tower, the monitor disoriented them as the image rattled. Jix had a very rough landing, for he’d done it quickly, obviously trying not to be seen. As he slowly advanced upon edge of the tower, peeking over, they bore witness to the shouting match between the angry mob and Vlajdimir Ghurzblood (one who Zynathian despised almost as much as Phyllamon). Asha had the same sentiments, for she had a personal history with Vlajdimir that would be forever scarred with hatred and violence. Between he and Phyllamon, she didn’t know who she wanted to kill worse.

The family watched the screen in horror for the next half hour, and when it ended each of them was boiling with anger. Zynathian pulled Lyn to his side. She was furious, in tears over the two dead boys.

“If Phyllamon is building an army then we have no time to sit here and sulk, no matter how sorry we are for those boys,” Zynathian said, motioning towards Maugrimm and Khyeryn. “I don’t suspect anymore attacks on the castle, but all the same you two keep an eye on things while we’re busy with Tesh…and Mawg, we have an extra task for you. Until further notice, you are to save all of your urine and bodily excrement. This is not only for medicinal purposes for the Igloo’s new inhabitants, but for other reasons that’ll be explained later. We need as much as possible, so I’ll probably duplicate the elements in your waste and multiply them manifold.”

Maugrimm nodded with curiosity. Zynathian continued, now addressing Bahzee and Sing.

“Teshunua’s life is stable, and he’s healing with great speed, but Asha and I still have far too much work on him to leave…and so, it is on you two that I bestow this dangerous task. I need you to go down and see to it that all of those people make their way to the Igloo. I’ll not leave them to starve and freeze to death when I can do something about it! Make sure you give them each a sack of the Arhyz we found the other day. There are thousands of little canvas bags in the cabinets above the bins on the ship, so you’ll have plenty. There’s a metal chute off to the side, in which you can feed the sacks. The machine will bag the rocks on its own.”

Bahzee and Sing listened intently, as did Lyn, who gazed upon her father with fury…he was trying to exclude her!

“Sing, are you any good at piloting?” Zynathian asked.

She nodded. “I had no trouble at all with Felix’s bike. I imagine it’s not too different.”

“Excellent. I’ll have to give you a quick run-through with the ship,” Zynathian said.

“Good, that’s settled,” said Asha.

“I’m going too, Daddy, and don’t you dare try and stop me!” Lyn growled.

Zynathian’s head sunk, knowing it would be wrong to forbid her.

“Very well,” he said. “You two, don’t let her out of your sight, you hear?”

Sing and Bahzee smirked at his over-protectiveness, knowing that Lyn would probably do a better job at watching
their
backs.

“She won’t leave our side,” Bahzee said, turning to look at Lyn Sha, “will you, Lynnie?”

“Of course not,” she replied, winking.

“Daddy, what about those boys…we have to get them out of there, too,” Lyn said.

Asha agreed with Lyn Sha’s sentiments, looking to Zynathian. “I know it’s dangerous, but I think if they go late tonight, they should be okay. Vlajdimir isn’t threatened by anyone, so therefore he has no security. If we could send the girls down with food for those boys, there’s a chance they might be able to win them over,” she said.

“Good, but I encourage you not to linger. If they show no signs of wanting to leave, then don’t wait on them. See to them first, but quickly, then round up all others in the surrounding towns.” He paused a moment then said, “I think we should put a few hoverpods aboard the ship, so you all can race across each town if you decide to leave the ship some place. We’ve not a moment to spare. This must be done with haste!”

“Good, Zynathian, you give Sing a tutorial on flying the ship. I’ll pack food and candy for those boys, and make sure it’s on board along with the hoverpods. Then we’ll all rest up,” Asha said.

At this, they went about their business.

2

After four-and-a-half hours sleep, all were roused from their slumber by deafening cries from the control room. Zynathian, who’d slept on Teshunua’s bed with Asha at his side, had set the computer to “stand by” with the volume cranked up and the castle intercom on, in case Jix tried to send anything.

As the others arrived, they found Lyn Sha curled into a ball in the corner. Her mental state was in a complete frenzy, violently disturbed by the (currently in-progress) rape she’d just witnessed. As the others went inside and viewed the horrors upon the screen, all of them turned away with their heads lowered.