Reformation (27 page)

Under the cover
of night, Hastelloy and Gallono quietly rolled their invention into position.  They both pushed forward a four foot beam attached to an axle with two wagon wheels on either side.  Between the wheels sat a five foot by four foot rectangular wooden box that was two feet thick. 

Housed inside the box were four hundred cylinders, each
two inches in diameter, arranged in a twenty by twenty pattern.  Stuffed inside each cylinder was an arrow adorned with a small tube of gunpowder to serve as propellant.  Running down from the back of the box was a single fuse to set the entire contraption off at once.

With one final shove
, the two men gently dropped the beam to the ground, causing the arrow box to point skyward at a thirty degree angle.  Hastelloy stepped up to rest his chin on the box, then held up his range finder which simply consisted of a lens with predetermined distance and elevation markers drawn on it.  He found the burial mound and quickly locked in on the well lit entrance to the tunnel leading back to the burial chamber.

“
To the right just a bit,” Hastelloy whispered.  They were almost a quarter mile from the well defended entrance, but voices did carry and had the potential to get picked up by the keen ear of an Alpha warrior.

Gallono crouched down and gently nudged the beam until Hastelloy raised a clinched fist.  Hastelloy then pointed skyward with his index fi
nger.  Dutifully, Gallono added one inch thick boards under the end of the beam until the angle was where Hastelloy desired.

Gallono
relocated some bushes and leaves to conceal the device while Hastelloy pulled out a long wax candle.  He took out a ruler that converted time into height on the candle.  Hastelloy made a mark, cut it down to size and immediately lit the candle, setting it in place next to the fuse leading to the box.  The flame was about an inch higher than the fuse at the moment, but in about fifteen minutes would burn down to light the fuse.

“I sure hope you remembered to carry the one in your
math calculations,” Gallono said softly as the two men made their way toward the tunnel entrance.  “If just one of the twelve batteries we set up is aimed a little off or fires more than a minute or two late, we will be in the line of fire same as our enemy.”

“If you have a better way for two men assaulting a
well defended position to seem like thousands, Commander, now is the time,” Hastelloy hissed.  He would have gladly performed any number of lewd acts to procure some radio linked timers to kick off this assault, but it was still a few hundred years too early for that technology and he had to make do with what he had.

Before long they reached their arming point.  Nestled beneath a sizeab
le boulder Gallono quietly moved aside some bushes to reveal a set of swords and sledge hammers.  From a nearby tree Hastelloy lowered down four hand cannons mounted on top of short spears.  Gallono attached two of the destructive firing weapons crisscross across Hastelloy’s back and he reciprocated.

“The barrage should disperse the couple hundred human guards, but we still need to contend with fourteen
Alpha who could be either relics, hardened clay or flesh and blood warriors,” Hastelloy said softly while attaching the hand cannons to Gallono’s back.

Gallono let out a chuckle that dripped of gallows humor.  “Just once can we have numbers on our side for a change?”

“What’s in a number anyway?” Hastelloy responded while handing Gallono a bow with a full quiver of arrows to attach around his waist.  “All hell should break loose in just a couple of minutes.”

Without a sound, the two men made their way to the edge of the tree line and waited.  A hundred feet in front of them rest
ed the tent city of an army encampment.  Beyond the dozen rows of single man tents stood the tunnel entrance with no fewer than fifty human guards standing watch.

To his left and a quarter mile back Hastelloy heard a faint hiss grow from a barely audible whisper to a roaring gust of wind.  He glanced behind to see hundreds of fire trails in the sky descending on the encampment and tunnel entrance.  Seconds later another barrage lan
ded from the right side raining fire and death upon the small army.  Tents caught fire and men, sleeping or awake, took arrows in multiple places on their bodies.

Hastelloy tried his best to keep track of how many barrages had befallen the enemy, but after the first two or three all he saw was an indiscernible
firestorm of flaming arrows.  A few projectiles fell short of the target and landed in the woods near Gallono and Hastelloy, but they were few and far between.  The devastation was all focused on the enemy, and it was time to move.

“Now,” Hastelloy ordered once the falling arrows had thinned out to one or two still randomly dropping. 

Hastelloy’s confidence grew as the two encountered no resistance. Every defender was either dead, dying, or too busy cowering beneath a shield to notice two men sprinting for the tunnel entrance.  Then it happened – with still another fifty feet to go, a flurry of hisses approached from above, bringing with it the flaming arrows from a contraption who’s ignition candle was cut a skosh too long.

Adding to their peril was a set of Alpha warriors who burst forth fr
om the tree line in a full four-legged sprint in pursuit of Gallono and Hastelloy.  The two men had a sizeable lead, but the lightning quick pursuers were closing the gap with every menacing bound.

With thirty feet to go
, flaming arrows began landing all around Hastelloy.  There was nothing to be done to lessen the danger at this point; it was for fate to decide if an arrow hit them or not.

Hastelloy was the first to reach the protective canopy
erected over the descending steps.  With arrows and rampaging Alpha on his tail there was no time to take the steps under any sort of control.  At the last second, Hastelloy kicked his legs out and twirled to slide backwards on his stomach into the tunnel.  Fierce daggers of pain jabbed into his knees, stomach and chest as he bounced his way down half a dozen steps before stopping.

He looked back in time to see Gallono take an arrow to his right shoulder
, punching him to the ground just short of the tunnel stairs.  Realizing the arrow barrage was reaching its peak, Hastelloy resisted every cell in his body demanding he lay immobile for hours to recover from his injuries to reach up and drag Gallono all the way under the canopy.  Behind him, approaching at speeds approaching fifty miles per hour were the two Alpha warriors.  One was hit with four arrows at once causing it to crumple to the ground and grind to a stop where three more arrows put it out of its misery.

The remaining Alpha did not seem to notice three flaming arrows sticking out of its back.  Just as Hastelloy finished pulling Gallono to safety
and reached for his sword, the Alpha leapt for the stairs.  Hastelloy’s blade sliced clean through the beast as it sailed overhead and landed thirty feet down the stairs with a sickening sound somewhere between a crunch and a squish and moved no more.

By the time Hastelloy redirected his attention to helping Gallono
, he found the man on his feet attempting unsuccessfully to grab hold of the wooden shaft protruding from the back of his right shoulder. 

“Here, let me take a look,” Hastelloy said as he held Gallono steady.  Fortunately the arrow hit the
triangular shaped trapezius muscle spanning the gap between his neck and shoulder.  It had to hurt like hell, but nothing vital was broken or punctured.  “The tip won’t let me pull it back out, I need to push it through.”

Hastelloy grabbed hold of the arrow’s shaft, snapped it in half and gave Gallono the free piece to bite down on.

“I have to conclude your arithmetic sucks,” Gallono mocked and then chomped down on the piece of wood.  “You couldn’t have left another millimeter on that candle to give me time enough to get under cover along with you?”

Hastelloy couldn’t contain a laugh.  “The math was
right, you’ve just lost a step old man.”  He then pushed the arrow through and out the other side accompanied by a primal grunt from the patient.  The gaping wound would need further medical attention, but now was not the time.  The two proceeded quickly down the steps toward the well lit chamber housing the ceramic army protecting the tomb of Qui Shi Huang, and now the Alpha.

When Hastelloy and
Gallono reached the bottom of the steps leading to the clay soldier pits, the captain notched an arrow on his bow and followed Gallono who was leading the way with his sword drawn.  They reached a ninety degree turn and Gallono stole a quick glance around. 

He looked back at Hastelloy and silently pointed to his own eyes then held up two fingers. 
An openhanded gesture to the left let Hastelloy know his assignment.  The moment Gallono turned back around and brought his sword to the ready Hastelloy stepped around the corner, instantly aligned his shot and let loose the fletching while Gallono dashed forward toward his target on the right.

The Alpha standing left of the doorway took an arrow in the throat and dropped to the ground with a muffled gurgle.  The remaining
guard wasted no time lamenting his fallen comrade.  He reflexively swung his sword at the charging Gallono who collapsed onto one leg and slid along the ground to successfully duck the mighty blow.  He cleaved the creature’s left leg off at the knee causing the beast to topple over.

Before the Alpha’s body
even touched the dirt, Gallono had already sprung back to his feet and had his sword in motion to deliver the deathblow through the beast’s chest.  With the immediate threat eliminated, Hastelloy took a moment to survey the gigantic underground chamber they just entered.  Forty feet above their heads a dome stretched two hundred feet wide and eight hundred feet deep, supported every twenty feet by stout wooden beams reaching from floor to ceiling. 

Thousands of red
dish brown clay soldiers, complete with sword and shield in hand, stood in seemingly endless marching columns.  Resting tall and proud in the middle of the chamber was the spacecraft that he and Gallono recently observed the Alpha relocate below ground. Knowing that twelve Alpha had to cram into that modest fixed wing craft to make the journey from Mars to Earth made Hastelloy feel a brief sympathetic bout of claustrophobia.

Hastelloy stepped
over the Alpha he dropped with his bow and was about to proceed between two rows of clay soldiers leading to the Alpha craft when Gallono yanked him back with an iron grip.

When Hastelloy caught his balance again
, he followed Gallono’s hand pointing to a barely visible tripwire running between the legs of the third row of statues.  He then gestured up to the rafters where a set of tightly wound crossbows were trained on the spot.

“It appears the first Chinese emperor did
n’t plan on hosting any visitors in the afterlife,” Gallono whispered.  “We’ll need to keep an eye out.”

“Indeed,” Hastelloy acknowledged
as he stepped aside for Gallono to take the lead again.  Three other tripwires were stepped over before they reached a small clearing in the statues made for the ship.

Hastelloy spotted a human
with his back turned standing on one of the wings.  He quietly notched an arrow, took aim and fired.  His aim was true, but the projectile clanked harmlessly off the man’s neck.  When the individual turned to face them, Hastelloy realized it was actually a realistically painted clay soldier animated by an Alpha relic.

“Intruders,” the
soldier yelled in the Alpha language which drew another animated statue to the fight. 

As their adversaries stalked toward them, Hastelloy cast his bow aside
; his action was quickly followed by Gallono’s sword.  They both stepped out into the open with their hands clasped behind their backs to do battle with the enemy bearing down on them.

The clay soldiers continued forward uninterrupted.  They were supremely confident in their nearly indestructible forms, and that overconfidence would be their undoing.

“I sure hope this works,” Gallono grunted and then stepped toward the nearest soldier and swung his arms around at waist level wielding a heavy sledge hammer.

The weapon
’s blunt end struck the prowling figure just above its left hip.  The dense clay material seemed to momentarily reshape around the hammer’s head, but eventually gave way to the overwhelming force behind the devastating blow.  A six inch wide section of the creature’s abdomen was sliced off and flung to the side leaving the torso teetering precariously on top of its separated legs, causing them to dry from malleable clay into fire hardened terracotta in the span of a heartbeat.

Gallono allowed the momentum of his swing to
whirl him around to deliver a shoulder check to the clay warrior’s chest sending that half of its body backwards to the ground.  Without a moment’s pause, Gallono swung the sledge hammer over his head with two hands and brought it down with everything he had onto the creature’s chest.

His downed oppon
ent appeared to deflate upon impact leaving a vibrant blue haze outlining in its place.  A moment later the glow faded away into nothing leaving a shattered remnant of the once menacing clay warrior.

Hastelloy’s attack was not quite as successful.  His mighty hammer swing connected at the shoulder of the soldier’s sword
wielding arm spraying clay fragments against the Alpha ship like a shotgun blast.  The heavy strike threw Hastelloy hopelessly off balance, leaving him momentarily vulnerable, and the clay soldier did not miss his chance.

The soldier threw a punch with his remaini
ng arm, hitting Hastelloy on the exposed backside of his shoulder.  The blow sent Hastelloy twirling to the ground, unable to feel anything on his right side.  It was like that half of his body was completely detached from the rest of him.  Nothing moved no matter how hard he tried.

The soldier moved in to finish him off with a bone crushing stamp from his heavy foot, but Gallono was having none of that.  He struck the clay soldier in the hip with his hammer and sent it crashing to the ground without
a right leg.

Gallono wasted no time.
  He stepped up, drew his arms over his head and whipped the hammer down onto the soldier’s chest, yielding an identical result as before.  Once he confirmed the life force was no longer in control of that form, Gallono turned to help Hastelloy to his feet.

“You alright?
” Gallono asked.

“Nothing’s broke
n, but I’ve definitely been better.  My god those things are strong,” Hastelloy marveled as he rotated his arm to get used to the sensation of moving a limb that still had no feeling in it.  His attempt to walk on the nerve deadened leg resulted in him stumbling into Gallono’s arms.

At that moment Hastelloy’s eyes detected a subtle lighting change in the chamber.  The reddish glow of the oil lamps was being drown
ed out by a flash of bright blue coming from a tunnel just beyond the Alpha craft. It was growing in intensity with every passing moment.  He shielded his eyes in time to witness a blinding blue flash wash over the chamber and then dissipate to nothing. 

An instant later
Hastelloy watched a clay statue twenty feet away step forward, look around to gain its bearings and began strutting toward Hastelloy and Gallono. 

Gallono quickly slung Hastelloy’s arm over his shoulder and began hauling him toward the tunnel
from which the light flash originated.   “Ever feel like you’re bailing water out of a sinking ship with nothing but a tea cup?”

“If the relics from Mars reach this place it will be like an ocean rushing in on us,” Hastelloy said as he staggered alongside Gallono.

In rapid succession three more flashes flew harmlessly past them and overtook the chamber.  Hastelloy stole a glance behind to see three more statues come to life and join in pursuit of the two Novi.

Twenty feet from the tunnel entrance the
clay warriors drew too close for comfort. Gallono gave Hastelloy a hearty shove toward the tunnel and turned to face their pursuers.

“
Go shut down whatever is causing them to regenerate,” Gallono shouted over his shoulder.  “Meanwhile, I’ll try to hold back the rising tide as long as I can.”

Hastelloy stumbled forward and just barely managed to catch himself before slamming headfirst into the hardened earth wall.  Feeling was coming back to his right side and brought with it an excruciating tingling sensation that managed to electrify every nerve ending on that side of his body.  Using the wall as a crutch
, he ducked into the tunnel leaving Gallono to fend for himself. 

“Don’t forget to watch out for traps along the way,” he heard Gallono say before the voice w
as drowned out by a thunderous explosion.