THE GUARDIAN
BY: DIANA M.

Chapter Six

 
   Scarlett hit the ground, rolled, and released her chute quickly. It had seemed dark, peering through the jump doors, but now her eyes were drawn to the hillock ahead, where a strange throbbing glow lit up the drifting fog. She heard strange, unworldly music; her nose wrinkled at an odd sulfur-like odor.

  Suddenly, crackling machine gun fire and the boom of large ordinance weaponry drowned out the strange music. Scarlett winced.

  "Flint’s team is going to town!" Duke bellowed to be heard above the gunfire, "Lets go, gang. Move it!"

  Scarlett loaded her crossbow and triple-timed it over the hillock. Ahead she saw Stonehenge, normally dark and mysterious. Now, it was ablaze with a greenish light, emanating from the middle of it’s tumbled masonry. Flint’s team was scattered about the place, tangling with COBRA regulars. She saw one HISS tank, destroyed and smoking; probably taken out by Beach-Head’s heavy artillery over the hill.

  Scarlett quickly assessed the situation. Most of the COBRA regulars were involved in fending off Flint’s team. She could see Major Blood atop the burned out HISS, directing his troops from its relative safety. Getting to the gate would be no major difficulty. Scarlett quickly chose her point of entry and made her move with the rest of Duke’s team.

  Then they were in the middle of it, and Scarlett lost track of time and space. She took out several troops, shooting one neatly through the eye with a razor-tipped quarrel. She heard a loud crack and turned to see Gung -Ho drop a lifeless blue uniformed regular to the ground; the trooper’s head nearly twisted off his shoulders. Gung-Ho grinned evilly and shot her a thumbs up.

  "These little ones go real easy. We need a challenge!" Gung-Ho hollered over the din of the battle, "Where are the big guys?"

  Duke fought his way through a mess of COBRAs to where they were standing. "If we want to get the main snakes, we gotta get to that gate!" He pointed towards the green glow; Scarlett noticed his arms were bloody to the elbows. Duke raised his red-stained fingers to his lips and blew a piercing whistle, "move it! I want that gate closed! The sooner it is, the happier I’ll be," he smiled at Scarlett, "and I know you guys love to make me happy."

  Duke’s team regrouped, and they began to push through the surrounding melee to the glimmering portal. She saw Duke stumble, and looked down to see several piles of rocks and talismen, piled at the points of a large chalk pentagram. Duke kicked at a few, sending pebbles, bones and feathers flying. He indicated for his team-members to do the same. They passed several such symbols, kicking and scuffing as they went. Scarlett kicked over a pile of quartz crystals to see a bright- feathered rooster’s head staring up at her; it was very fresh, and would have looked alive had it been attached to it’s body.

  Scarlett shivered.

  Her mother had always believed in a darker side to life. Scarlett had never quite understood her mother’s fear of what others considered old wive’s tales. It had seemed odd, for a woman of the 60’s to still put out milk for the kitchen gnome. As a girl, Scarlett had told her friends that her mother did it as a sort of family ritual; like putting milk and cookies out for Santa. Now, seeing Stonehenge surrounded in archaic runes, shining in mysterious light, Scarlett did not think her mother strange at all. She wished she had her fairy lantern with her, some shadows always need scaring away.

  Scarlett jumped as Cover Girl gently touched her shoulder. She tore her eyes away from the rooster’s head and kicked it out of its pile of crystals.

  "Looks like our old friends have quite a party going on over there," Cover Girl pointed towards the gate. Scarlett could see a circle of robed figures surrounding a stone archway. Green light spilled out between its plinths, making the dark robes glow as if covered with green ichor. A tall, swaying figure stood directly in front of the gate, his arms raised in supplication. In one hand, he lofted a long black staff.

  "Lets get over there before the guests of honor arrive!" As Scarlett neared the gate, she could make out individuals amongst the circle. Cobra Commander and Destro stood nearest the lanky Mage at the gate, their silver battle masks reflecting ominously green. The Baronness was next to Destro, her glasses barely visible beneath her dark hood. Tomax and Xamot flanked the group, both hefting what seemed to be unnecessarily large guns. Four crimson guardsmen finished the tableu, minus the robes, but ominous all the same for their well trained lack of personality. All seemed totally oblivious to the battle raging around them. Serpentor was nowhere to be seen.

  "Lets take ‘em out now!" Duke had chosen speed over subtlety. He had always been a man of action, able to evaluate a situation and act on instinct gained from battles past. Scarlett had learned early on to appreciate his speed, it left less time for fear.

  Swiftly, they rushed the gate and it’s circle of onlookers. Duke went straight for Chester Copperpot, ignoring the tantalizing array of COBRA’S highest. As Scarlett began her rush towards Cobra Commander and Destro, she noticed a strange glint of silver out of the corner of her eye. Duke had unsheathed a wicked looking blade from the scabbard strapped to his leg. She only had time to wonder why she had never seen the blade; she was soon upon her foe, crossbow loaded and ready.

  She loosed the quarrel 24 feet away from where Destro was standing. In any fight, she figured he was the best man to take out first. Cobra Commander, although the highest ranking, was often inept on the quick-response plain of the battlefield. Destro had centuries of warfare in his blood. Without him, Scarlett guessed, the COBRA defensive was crippled, unable to strategize on its feet.

  Unfortunately, the charge threw off Scarlett’s aim, and her bolt missed the center of it’s target. It lodged deep within Destro’s arm, stopping when it hit his humerus. Destro cried out and grabbed at the shaft. The Crimson Guardsmen had no time to respond; Gung-Ho, Recondo, and Leatherneck lead the rest of Duke’s team to mob the COBRA leaders and their entourage. Doc lingered behind in the safety of a fallen plinth’s lee, waiting to rush to a fallen comrade’s aid.

  Scarlett reloaded her crossbow and looked for Duke. She wanted to make sure he had a handle on things before committing herself to another target. She was surprised to see him and Chester Copperpot standing arm’s length apart, talking. Duke was crouched and ready for attack, yet he had not made a move to do so. It was unusual for him, to say the least.

  Looking over her shoulder and seeing that the others had things well in hand, Scarlett stealthily snuck closer to Duke and the Mage. She crouched behind a towering megalith, just opposite the gate. From her hiding place, she could hear and see everything that went on. To her surprise, both men seemed to know each other.

  "-now you will see there is truth to my words," Copperpot glowered darkly, "You ignored the threat of my power time and again. Foolish pups!" his welsh accent was musical, lilting. Scarlett had to concentrate to make him out above the din.

  "Mage, your mind has been warped by the demons with which you foolishly toy," Duke raised the silver blade menacingly. Scarlett was now sure she had never seen it before. It was a foot long, its intricate and alien etchings stood out in the green light from the gate. The blade itself deftly tapered to a narrow point, sharp on both edges. The hilt twisted beautifully, like vines around guideposts. The pommel was capped with a red gem, poorly dulled in the green glow. She wondered why Duke had kept such a lovely thing from her. It was a fey looking blade, indeed. It somehow reminded Scarlett of times past...

  "You think me a dabbler, Hauser," Copperpot sneered, "Your renown won’t get you far now! They are coming, and you and your little flock won’t live long after," He turned back towards the gate, "you’re lucky, you won’t be around long enough to regret your mistakes. This time, glory is mine!"

  "Fool! You have no idea what you’re about to unleash!" Duke snarled and leapt at the Mage. Copperpot managed to deflect Duke’s blow with his staff.

  Scarlett had never seen Duke move so fast. He darted away from the mage as quickly as he had darted in. Scarlett could see a deep cut in Copperpot’s shoulder. Blood seeped from the wound into his tunic. She stepped away from the megalith, raising her crossbow.

  "Okay, Dr. Frankenfurter, time to give up," She nodded to Duke, "I’ve got you covered,Duke."

  Copperpot laughed heartily, "Duke. How quaint. A touch of nobility in this modern world!"

  "Red, I told you to leave him to me," Duke looked perturbed.

  "Everyone needs a helping hand now and then, Duke," She didn’t take her eyes off the mage.

  "What will you do now, Duke Hauser?" Copperpot grinned, "Does your sprightly Duchess know?" He turned to Scarlett, "Do you give him treats when he does well? Cookies and tummy rubs?" The mage laughed uncontrollably.

  "Fuck you, Copperpot, and your worm eaten soul!" Duke went after the mage again with the silver blade. They danced together in battle. Circling, dodging, weaving in and out of each other’s defenses. Exchanging blows and giving no quarter. Scarlett couldn’t get a clear shot on Copperpot.

  A roar thundered out of the gate, booming across the moor with the fury of a thousand released evils. Scarlett watched in horror as a huge form, dark and unrecogniseable loomed; as if on the other side of a green glass door. Fingers, almost human, yet topped with cruelly long and sharp black nails, pierced the shimmering field. Scarlett could tell from the way they twisted and gripped that the way was not yet clear.

  Then the stench hit her.

  She had smelled its like before. Twice, she and her fellow Joes had come across the site of grizzly murders. The corpses they found on those days reeked of days of decay. What Scarlett could smell now was like those rotting corpses, only a hundred times more intense. She turned and retched violently.

  Duke was momentarily distracted by her distress. In that second, Chester Copperpot smashed him in the side of the head with his staff, "Get your flea-bitten hide off me, Hauser, and prepare to greet your doom. You and your kind will soon be extinct!" Duke went down hard. Copperpot turned to the gate, "My lord, allow me to finish opening the umbra so the fomor may return to their renewed glory!"

  He began to chant incoherently. In his fervor, he had forgotten Scarlett. She managed to straighten up, and looking through the haze of nautious pain, fired at the mage’s back. The quarrel went through his shoulder like a hot knife through butter. With a roar, he turned and went for her, one arm lofting the black staff high to strike her down. Scarlett braced herself for the blow.

  Copperpot fell as Duke hit him hard, knife buried to the hilt in his neck. Copperpot’s blood geysered into Duke’s face. Still, the mage fought, dragging himself towards the gate, in a desperate effort to finish the incantations that would release twisted, fetid demons onto the earth. Duke dragged him away by the ankles, and climbed atop the shrieking man to finish him off. Scarlett stared, disbelieving, as Duke furiously ripped at Copperpot’s body with the silver blade, tearing and rending in berserker fury.

  "Well, we may have lost the battle, but I claim the prize!" Scarlett had no time to fight back as Xamot pounced on her from behind. He cold-cocked in the back of the head, and carried her off, leaving Duke to finish his butchery.

  Chester Copperpot was far beyond dead. Duke hefted the ragged body and, with superhuman strength, tossed it towards the green portal and it’s partially emerged demon.

  "Take this filth and go back!"

  Copperpot’s blood splattered strangely across the portals surface. His body hung, suspended in the opening, and was then slowly absorbed inside. The green glow disappeared as if Duke had flipped a switch. The thundering and its accompanying stench drifted away. He resheathed his dagger. It had been his father’s, long ago.

  Duke wiped the gore off his watch and pressed the button to light its face. It was 1:01. Samhein was here. The gate was closed. The world was safe. It was over. Duke wondered if Scarlett had ever come close to knowing the danger she had been in. He turned to help her up, but she was gone.

  "Scarlett?" He peered around the megalith she had hidden behind, thinking perhaps she had taken shelter from the odor. She was not there.

  "Red? Red, we’ve closed it Red." He walked to where he could see the rest of his team gathered. Where the circle of COBRA officers had been. "I’m tired, Red. Let’s go home."

  Gung-Ho looked surprised, "We thought she was with you, man. She went to help you right after she got Destro. That was a nice shot, right in the arm. That woman, she knows what-"

  "She wasn’t there just now," Duke rubbed the back of his neck.

  "Maybe she followed them when they retreated to Serpentor’s air barge," Leatherneck suggested hopefully, "You know, to blow them kisses goodbye."

  "Air Barge?" Duke had been too wrapped up in the mage; he had missed COBRA’S retreat altogether.

  "Yeah. Giant thing. Took them all home, I guess. Cover Girl’s taking roll."

  "Sit down Duke, I’m sure she’ll pop up." Doc began tending to Duke’s wounds. Duke slid down a plinth and let Doc get to work. He watched the Joes round up all the COBRA prisoners and corral them next to an abandoned HISS.

  Flint came and sat next to Duke, watching Doc as he finished bandaging a bloody weal inflicted by Copperpot’s staff.

  "As usual, the big guys threw a bunch of regulars at us and got out of town," Flint took of his beret and ran his fingers through sweaty hair, "We captured only flunkies this time. Where’s Copperpot?"

  Duke sighed, "Rotting in Hell for all I care. He wanted so bad to be with his precious demons, I let them have him. What was left."

  Duke heard a throat clear. He looked away from Flint to see Cover Girl standing in front of him. She shifted her weight from foot to foot nervously. "I’ve taken roll. Everyone’s here. Except..." She met Duke’s gaze with a sad look, "Except Scarlett."

  Duke jumped to his feet. Tomahawks arrived and began to land. They would ferry the Joes to a nearby RAF airfield for transport home. Iceberg stepped up.

  "I saw Xamot carry her aboard, sir. I tried to stop him, but I was mobbed. As soon as that barge set down, blue shirts flooded out. I’m sorry, sir."

  "Don’t call me ‘sir’, I’ll whip your rawhided ass..." Duke growled deep in his throat, "Dammit, I’m going after her."

  "After you return to base and report, soldier." Hawk climbed out of a waiting Tomahawk and strode over. "Some pretty weird shit went down tonight. I want you to have a full report ready, after a full night’s sleep."

  Duke turned away angrily. Flint put his hand on his shoulder, but Duke shook it off.

  "Flint, take the men and begin withdrawal from the field." Flint saluted Hawk and motioned the Joes away. The General stood next to Duke and surveyed the rubble, his hands clasped behind his back. "She’s a strong one, sergeant. She can last for quite a while on her own."

  Duke spat. One by one, Tomahawks began to take off.

  "Don’t worry. You’ll get your chance, Duke. But you need to be rested and healed." Hawk eyed where the glimmering gate had once been, "then you’ll be ready to use some of those ‘special talents’ of yours," Hawk turned and boarded the remaining Tomahawk.

  Without a word, Duke followed, eyes blazing.

______________________________________________________

On to Chapter Seven!
Back to Diana M.'s Fics!
Back to Authors Page!