"How much farther?" gripes Zeus. Artemis replies, "Shouldn't be too long now." Zeus gripes again, "I'm starving." Captain Titus replies, annoyed, studying a map, "We will stop in Axiom, till then we continue." "Ugh." Zeus grumbles. "Quiet you!" snaps Keres. The first word he has spoken the whole trip from New Haven.
They come across the entrance to the great forest. The leaves have fallen and the air is bitter cold. Oranges and reds decorate the autumn trees. A change in scenery from the wide plains they had crossed. The stomping of the heavy mech shake the ground with thunderous thuds. The cold fall breeze blows and makes Artemis shivers though she tries to conceal it. Captain Titus has already offered his heavy coat though she has denied it. She doesn't like taking favors from anyone. She prefers to be self reliant, even at the cost of her well being. A sense of pride inspired by her mentor Orpheus. His death had shook her, he had sought to destroy the Necromind. He never returned.
Keres scans the treeline, keeping alert while the troops lazily march forward. A knot formed in the pit of his stomach like they are being watched. He has learned to trust his instincts from his time in the blighted lands. He approaches Captain Titus and says, "Captain, quiet your men." Titus looks at him with annoyance and alarm. Then he listens and over the sound of his men bantering, he realizes he can't hear the usual sounds of nature. No birds chirping, no leaves rustling. The air has a foul odor to it. Titus raises his hand to alert the others. The men halt their chattering and begin to scan the surroundings. He motions for a man to join him. His Lieutenant Levi approaches ready to apprehend orders. The heavy stomping of the mechs cease and it is quiet enough to hear the steam being released from their valves. A soft metallic click is all that can be heard. Soldiers kneel down and chamber their rifles. The sounds of bolts snapping in place are the only other sounds. Titus speaks almost whispering," Levi, take some men and scout out a path." Levi nods before motioning a group of four to follow. They follow a path into the autumn woods, until they are out of sight.
Keres bitterly states," You have sent them to their deaths." Titus snaps back, " They know the stakes." Zeus groans. Artemis just hopes that there isn't trouble.
Soon cracks of rifles break the silence. Titus barkes orders, "Rifle team on me! Move up a centurion!" Titus leads a small contingent of his company into the forrest followed by the heavy mechanical footsteps of a Centurion type 9, the latest model of mobile machine gun platforms.
Keres shakes his head in disapproval. Zeus bellows, "Come on, let me at them!" and rushes into the woods. Artemis takes a deep breath and steels her resolve and follows. She hopes to help anyway she can.
The small band makes their way into the forrest, all is silent. Leaves slowly fall from branch to ground in a graceful manner.
A short while into their trek, they find a lone bloody rifle. Titus looks at it and then his surroundings while pulling his pistol. He motions for a man to take point at the front of the pack. A trooper rushes forward and disappears far ahead of the group. He comes rushing back exclaiming, "Its them!"
The group follows him and up in the trees hangs the bodies of the squad including Lieutenant Levi. They have been disemboweled, and blood and viscera hand from them. Zeus torts, "Well this is a bloody mess." Titus looks up at the dead Levi and then huffs. "We have to leave them," he says. Artemis has seen the Necrocrons barbarism first hand but nothing like this. She stands with her mouth agape, in shock.
Titus signals for a man to bring up the rest of the group before suddenly the forrest is alive with action. Bursting from the leave piles are multiple Necrocrons. Their rotting bodies and snarling faces could put shock into the most hardened of Individuals. Their exposed machine parts jut out of their flesh. They dash toward the group, many of them. "Open fire!" commands Titus. Rifle fire breaks out, cracking and barking into the forest. Artemis takes aim at one undead and pulls the trigger. The Necrocron's head burst like a rotten melon. The riflemen keep them at bay gunning down one by one keeping close in a circular formation. Zeus relishes the combat, blasting his heavy machine gun into the ranks of the undead. Bullets snap and crack against the tree bark. Just as soon as the attack had begun, it was over. The remaining enemies flee further into the woods. Titus holsters his pistol and barks, "Is everyone ok?" But before the reply could come, multiple Necrocrons fall from the high treetops right into the perimeter. They attack the multiple troops and a violent melee ensues. One trooper has his face bitten off by a ravager. He screams out in pain. Another trooper is dragged off by two of the undead, he writhes to break himself free to no avail and screams pleading for help. He finally screams out, "SHOOT ME! SHOOT ME!" Before being carried off into the woods never to be seen again.
One ravager attempts to attack Titus. He pulls his pistol and fires several shots to no avail. The bullets simply ping off of the ravagers metal torso. The abomination lunges before Titus can fire another shot. Suddenly a young trooper jump in his way and the ravager knocks him to the ground, viciously tearing at his flesh. Titus takes his sword and lobs the Necrocron's head clean off. The young trooper lies still struggling for air, a chunk of flesh taken from his neck.
Zeus fires away with laughter as multiple ravagers are mowed to bits. Artemis is knocked to the ground by a ravager, displacing her rifle. The Necrocron pins her to the ground, but in a moment of quick thinking she pulls a knife and stabs the creature in the torso. Only except it resulted in a metallic clunk from the metal plating, virtually doing nothing to her opponent. She fears the worst now, helpless and unable to stop the ravager. She wonders if this death was even worth it. Suddenly the ravager is ripped off her and sliced with multiple blades. Keres slashes the ravager with short swords before helping Artemis to her feet.
Soon the four legged centurion enters the battlefield and blasts away with its heavy machine guns. Tearing away at the flesh and metal of the Necrocrons, simply mulching them. There are no remaining enemy now.
Titus returns to the young soldier who saved his life. The blood covered soldier is pale now and gurgles. Titus takes his hand as he tries to speak. The young trooper could only muster, "For… for the Emperor." before all life leaves him. Titus holds his limp hand before gently closing his bright blue eyes.
Titus rises and Keres approaches him stating, "I warned you." Titus ignores him and commands, "Cerberus, what are our casualties." A older bearded trooper approaches, and states, "Three dead and two missing, plus Levi's squad, ten all together." Titus thinks for a moment and then says, "With Levi dead, you are platoon lead now." "Yes sir, he responds, "And what about the bodies." Titus replies, "We will burn them, along with this forrest."
Artemis overhears and exclaims, "You can't be serious?" Titus replies in a calm manner, "I am, these woods are crawling with them." Keres barks," Are you mad, that will only slow us down." Titus sternly replies, "I will not sacrifice anymore men. We need everyone to break into the city." Keres angrily huffs and walks away. Zeus looks at everyone and tries break the tension. "Well I like watching them burn."
They return to the forrest edge and Titus begins to give orders to the mobile artillery mech "Ares." "Load Incendiary." He commands. The heavy mech sets down and raises its barrel skyward. With a thunderous boom, the cannon fires a shell high into the sky before it bursts into multiple canisters of napalm. They land in golden arches out of sight behind the treeline. The cannon fires again and again until Titus Is satisfied.
That evening, the company settles for the night. The Centurions create a parameter outside the forrest edge. The once lively woods are now alight with flame. Columns of smoke shoot high into the night sky, warming the fridged air. Titus's plan is to wait out the night until the forrest is completely engulfed and the fire dies down. Past experience has taught him to never underestimate the Necrocrons and their ability to proliferate. He would much rather burn them out than sacrifice anymore men in ambushes even if it would slow them down. A lesson he wished he had learned at Three Rivers Pass. He still sees the piercing blue eyes of the soldier who saved him. Another image that will haunt his dreams. Not that he sleeps much anymore. The battle at Black Keep taught him to always keep alert.
Artemis shivers quietly to herself, Titus has forbidden making fires. And the inferno of the woods is to far away to bring any warmth. The great forrest burns brightly into the night. A sight she regrets she has to see. Being in the blighted land, she has seen where the Necrocrons deforested entire woods the create their mines. Mines in which they drill for the metals that keep their army in motion. The devastated lands have showed her to appreciate the beauty of nature. It hurts her to see it destroyed this way.
While she silently thinks to herself, Zeus approaches and asks "Beautiful isn't it?" This is the first time he has spoken directly to her. "No it's not." she replies coldly. Zeus admires the great flickering wildfire a bit longer before saying, "There is nothing better than to watch them burn." She ignores him. He then asks more directly, "Say, what's a pretty lass like yourself doing here anyway?" She looks at him stunned at the question. "Not many women in this line of work." he says. She is offended. She replies, "I'll have you know I have been doing this since I was a child." He retorts, "And I have been at this before you were born." She pauses and then asks cold, "What do you want?" He realizes has offended her and says, "I wanted to know why you are here?" She drops her defenses a little and asks,"Why does it matter to you?" "I like to know who I am working with," he replies. She sighs and answers, "I heard we could save people." "One of them eh." he says. Offended again, she replies "And what do you mean by that?" "You still think there is hope." he states. "And you don't? What would you know?" she snaps. He sighs and says, " I was like that once a long time ago." "What changed?" she asks intrigued. He answers, "I was a part of the fourth legion." She asks in more matter of fact, "I thought the fourth was annihilated?" "It was," he says shortly. She is taken back and says, " Oh, I am sorry." "Nothing can be done about it now." He continues, "You didn't answer my question. Why are you here?" She thinks for a moment, understanding that he wants to know more of her history. She replies, "My home was destroyed by them when I was a little girl." "And your family?" he asks with a subtile humility. "Dead." she utters. "I hate that for you lass." he says. A memory flashes before her mind, a pleasant one, of her family before the ugly remembrance of what became of them. "How did you survive?" he asks. "I was taught by Orpheus." He asks astonished, "You knew Orpheus?" "He was my mentor." she states. He says,"Orpheus was there when the fourth was encircled at Leech. Bloody great man he was." Artemis states, "He found me and took me in as a small girl." "So you're his prodigy?" he asks. "Not at all." she replies. Zeus pauses a moment before saying, "You know, I still think he is out there." "I don't believe that." she says bitterly. "A man like him is too tough to bring down." Zeus replies. "I doubt it." she says. Legends don't die, they just go missing.
She got to know the legendary man wasn't all that legendary. He had a temper, and was hard on her. Now in hindsight he was only trying to teach her to survive. It was thought he was invincible, but she has seen him bleed. His exploits were more for profit than for saving his fellow man. It wasn't up until his end, where he wanted to do right. He kept rambling on about this Necromind and claimed he had seen it. He had started to lose his mind, talking to himself and hallucinating. He would pour over maps of the blighted lands and would take on long ventures in which he would return weeks later, albiate a little stranger every time. He would speak of the "Fields," but would never say what they were. Soon he would start forgetting things, and struggle concentrating. Before his final venture, he presented her with a map but never told her how to decipher it. He would decree, "I found it, I found it!" At this point he was utterly deranged. She begged him to stay but he was insistent, he must destroy it. He kissed her on the head, left silently in the night and never returned. She waited patiently for months until finally she had given up hope of his returning. She missed him, he had treated her like a daughter and for the time she almost considered him as her father. That was years ago, and now she is alone with nothing but a map she can't read, no one can for that matter.
She is interrupted from thought by Zeus suddenly sitting down, his heavy machine gun shakes the earth. He looks over and says, "What do you know about him?" referring to Keres who sits far away silently scanning his surroundings. "Nothing really," she replies. Zeus says rather bluntly, "He strikes me as one of those assassin types." "You think so?" she asks. "I've seen them before." he states. "Ones who will kill for a price." "Why do you think he is here?" she asks. "Probably to kill us and steal the artifact and sell it to the highest bidder." "You really can't believe that?" she retorts. "Keep an eye on him lass. He'll slit your throat in your sleep." She looks over to the silent and alone Keres with new found apprehension. She does wonder what his true motives are. But he also saved her in the forrest so surely his motives can't be that sinister.