Zero-Point Read online

  The intern swallowed hard, clearly shaken by what he had just seen. “Yes… yes, sir … like ten or fifteen minutes ago … they were talking, and then ... my friend doesn’t know what happened. Doesn’t know what happened to her.” He swallowed again. “So she sent the video to me.”

  “And she’s giving us rights to use this footage?”

  “Yes …”

  The director swung into action. “We need to get this out on the webnet ASAP! Connie, where are the graphics people? Somebody needs to fast-forward this thing to see if there’s anything else. Mick, get our local contacts on the line. Get somebody in here who speaks English. Quotes in some foreign language don’t sell news on the international scene. Get a copywriter in here. Get some good quotes – something good, like ‘the beast appears to have come out of nowhere perhaps to avenge the evils of the world’ – something like that. Find out who our unfortunate camera person is … was.”

  A black-haired man stuck his head in the door, waving his tablet. “Boss, check out the local government website. They just published a couple of stills of the carnage and are calling for an immediate evacuation of the area.”

  “I’ve just picked up something from the base – they are saying that even their military weapons can’t stop this thing,” the assistant said from the other side of the room, peering at his own cell.

  “We’ve got a story, people, we’ve got a story! Now move! Move!” He jabbed his pencil back into his mouth, biting down hard.

  The intern sprinted down the hall for the men’s room.

  ✽✽✽

  The Joint Forces Captain focused his binoculars. “Direct hit on the sucker,” he said into the recording microphone. His cameras had been running since before the bomb was released. “Smoke and dust from the bomb blast are just starting to clear. I hope the evacuation order cleared all the civilians from the area. Every window is shattered, and the walls of the buildings on either side of the blast are sheared off. The concrete buildings are still standing, but probably aren’t safe to approach.”

  Is it true,” asked the sergeant cautiously, waiting until the officer stopped recording his report, “that the monster spreads a dread disease?”

  “That’s what I have heard,” the Captain answered, shrugging his shoulders. “That’s why they established the quarantine zone and that’s why we positioned ourselves up-wind. It’s said that people who have come into contact with places where the beast has been, or those infernal birds, can contract a terrible wasting-disease. That why we will have to go through quarantine after we finish recording the results of the bomb blast.”

  “There.” The sergeant pointed. “Look over there.”

  The Captain whistled – a long, low sound of disbelief.

  “It’s crawling out of the crater!” the sergeant whispered.

  “A direct hit from a thousand-pound bomb, and it doesn’t even look shaken!”

  “I don’t think we hit it at all – but how could we have missed? It doesn’t look hurt or bloody or anything!”

  “Oh, we didn’t miss,” the Captain said grimly. “We didn’t miss.”

  Even from their distance, they could see it: the three long snake necks craning and wagging through the smoke, the thick armored hump of a body, the long swinging tail. It perched on the rim of the blast crater and looked around. A couple dozen of the big black birds were circling around the beast.

  “How many legs does that thing have?” the younger man asked, trying to swallow his terror. “Four? Six?”

  “Maybe eight – I can’t really tell, even through the binos.”

  The creature started to move away from the rim, its slow, rhythmic pace not stopped by the military might arrayed before it.

  “The damned thing is moving – it’s coming right towards us!” The Captain barked into his headset: “Fire at will!”

  The heavy machine guns on the three armored personnel carriers rapidly spat bullets at the creature, creating a deafening roar. Tracer rounds outlined the bullet trajectories. The creature continued to move forward; the trail of the tracers arced towards the beast and then flowed smoothly around it on all sides.

  The creature reached the first armored vehicle – its stout forelegs tipped the heavy vehicle on its side and its claws sheared through the steel plate like soft butter. It snaked one head into the gaping hole in the armor and within seconds pulled a screaming man through the jagged hole, his broken limbs twisted in directions that human limbs should not go. The beast tossed the man into the air and caught him, head down, in its formidable central jaws. The creature reared back, heads waving high in the air, and shook the man-morsel. Undeterred by the rain of machine-gun bullets flowing around it, the creature devoured the man, bones crunching and cracking.

  “Sir, will we be needing to set up a medic tent?”

  “Well, not for those poor bastards,” the Captain said. “They won’t need a medic – or a proper burial either.”

  The sergeant closed his eyes for a moment. “What about the others out there? What about … what about us?”

  “I don’t know – did it spray any venom?”

  “Venom?”

  “Yeah, venom. The boys in HQ think that it sprays venom and that the venom spreads the disease. But they don’t know for sure.”

  “Um – I don’t know about venom. I think it sprayed some spit or something when it shook … when it shook those guys … the ones that it was … eating.”

  “Well, tell everybody to head to quarantine anyway. I hope they didn’t let any of that stuff get on them.”

  A second armored vehicle revved its motor and lumbered towards the beast. Its front tracks caught the edge of the giant carapace and the vehicle crawled up the creature’s spine. Apparently barely noticing the multi-ton vehicle, the creature again reared up, flipping the vehicle upside-down. Its foreclaws ripped open the belly of the tank and the creature pulled out two occupants with two of its heads, feeding voraciously as before.

  “Sir! Sir! It’s … it’s coming …”

  “Retreat! Retreat!” the Captain screamed into his headset. Whatever the creature was, he couldn’t destroy it with the weapons that he had.

  2 – The Quest

  “Mamma?”

  “Yes, Leon?”

  “Chant to me?”

  Erin pulled the little boy closer to her as he nestled in her lap. “Alright, my little pup, but it is time for rest. Only for a few minutes.”

  He smiled and gave a sleepy little sigh.

  “In the beginning of time,

  Before time was mine …”

  “No, Mamma, not that part. I know that part by heart. Go to the part about the dragon.”

  “Okay.

  “And lo, the ancient dragon sang

  Of spume and claw and tongue and fang:

  Her fire rang forth, and all about,

  The people there could only shout.

  And great destruction in her wake

  The swath she made; the earth did quake;

  The bravest there knew naught, but fell

  Beneath her great hypnotic spell.

  Who sent her here? Who last was seen

  Before the Mighty Dragon Queen?”

  Erin looked down at the little face near her shoulder, eyes closed, breathing evenly. She started to hand the boy over to his amah, but he stirred in her arms.

  “No Mamma … the part about the five moons … tell me that part …”

  Erin stroked his face. Moonlight flooded the small chamber, with soft darkness by the stone walls.

  “The five moons rise above us all –

  The free, the Gotts, and elves withal –

  And in their gentle lights we gaze

  To truth beyond the ancient haze:

  The worlds above, the lands below,

  The powers they grant are yet to know …”

  Erin checked again. Her son was asleep.

  As the amah collected the sleeping boy from her arms, a figure stepped from the
shadows. “I came to see my favorite nephew, but I see you got here first. Well done, Sis; you are quite the chantress.” He laughed. “I should say, enchantress.”

  “Colin – I didn’t see you there!”

  “I guess I’m like my nephew – wanting to hear stories of dragons and elves before we ride out tomorrow to chase the dragon. The riders say that the elves sent the dragon. Do you think we’ll run into any elves? I don’t know anything about them. Our scholars don’t talk of them. You were in their city, when you were captured five turns of the sun ago – what are they like?”

  “Elves? No, we shouldn’t see elves on this quest. They are very secretive and keep to themselves. Sorry to disappoint you, little brother.”

  “But tell me anyway. They are run by their queens, aren’t they, like us?”

  “Well, their women do run things, but not like our Queen – not like Mother. Elf women are all called ‘mothers,’ but they don’t have families like we do. Each mother controls her own clutch of men – usually three of them – and they don’t raise their own children. There’s no love there. They govern through a council – the Disca – where decisions are made based only on their traditions, not right or wrong.”

  “The riders say the elves have special powers.”

  “Yes, if they are wearing their elf ring, like the rings Mother and I wear, they can control the thoughts and feelings of those around them.” Erin shuddered slightly. “They do that by inflicting pain. Intense pain. They are very cruel.”

  “Like they did to you and Alec, when they captured you.”

  “Yes, but my Consort was very clever and outwitted them.”

  Colin nodded. He knew full well his brother-in-law’s wizardry and cleverness. “Will the ring that Mother gave me protect me?”

  “As long as you are wearing it, it will prevent the worst of the elf magic from affecting you.”

  Colin turned the ring on his finger. “How would you know an elf if you see one?” he asked.

  “It is difficult, sometimes. They look like us. We could even have elves in our town and not know it.”

  Colin glanced over his shoulder at the dark shadows behind him.

  Erin laughed. “And sometimes they couple with us,” she continued. “That is why you and I are of mixed blood, as descendants of the First Mother Lian. But the elves do not act like us. They are conniving, and greedy, and untruthful!”

  “Some of the riders have told me stories about elves. They do not sound like the sort of people we would want here in Theland.”

  “What else have the riders told you, as we prepare for our quest?”

  Colin hesitated before he spoke. “They say that Mother is too old to lead. That she is afraid to go with us. That she is staying here, because of her fear of the elves. That is the rumor that is going around among the riders.”

  “Mother is staying here, but not because of her age: she is not old. She is still capable of outriding you and maybe me,” Erin replied, a bit impatiently. “Mother has been practicing her sword work with me. She is still good – not as good as my personal riders, perhaps, but better than many of our regular riders. Mother was never allowed to lead quests. When grandmother died, when you and I were little, Mother became queen at an early age. The council at that time would not allow Mother to lead quests when she was a Princess – they wanted to ensure that she would remain alive long enough to bear a daughter to carry on the royal succession – and after I was born I don’t think any quests were needed for many years. By then, Mother was Queen and had learned to lead through others. She always chaffed at that limitation. That is why she allows me to go on adventures and even to be the leader of the Theland riders.” She gave her younger brother a hard look. “Mother has been a strong leader of our people and brought prosperous times to our land. She is not afraid.”

  “But are there elves here? Here in Theland? Who could be a threat to us?”

  Erin looked out at the moonlight. “Mother feels a general unease in the city here – as do I. Perhaps it is caused by elves, perhaps not.” She turned and looked at her younger brother. “Besides,” she said playfully, “Mother wouldn’t bring any ability to stop a dragon that the rest of us do not already have!”

  Colin laughed. “Yes, you, and me, and your consort! We should be able to take on any dragon!” He fell silent, thinking of the quest ahead. “With your consort, we should be able to do anything. He truly is great – with the wizardry and all, and his ability to use dark energy. He has been training me for years, and I can only do the slightest bit of what he can do!” Colin sighed. “You know, it isn’t fair. I am of the royal line, and he isn’t. I should be an equally powerful wizard – as powerful as him.”

  “It isn’t the royal line that does it. Keep studying, and you might one day be a great wizard also,” Erin replied to her brother.

  “But I am a prince! I shouldn’t have to study. I know that others have to work hard to accomplish things – our riders, and our tradespeople, and our scholars. But you and I shouldn’t have to do that! Our abilities should come as a consequence of our birth.”

  “Little brother, it does not work that way. We are the royal leaders, it is true. But those who lead must set the example. Me, for instance. I must lead the riders by my example. I must train just as hard – no, harder – than they do, to keep up my fighting skills! But …” she sighed. “It is hard to do. I am still working to recover after my last pupping. My daughter was hard on my body.”

  “Then why must you be better than the other riders?”

  “‘Action must follow truth,’ is what Mother would say. To be a true leader, I must set the example and work as hard as I can to be the best fighter. Then I can demand the best from my riders and they will work hard to achieve it.”

  “But sis, you are already better with a sword than any of the riders.”

  “That is true, but not because I was born a princess. Nor is that the real measure – I must always measure myself against my own abilities and not against the abilities of others.”

  Erin sighed and then changed the subject, “Did you hear Leon ask me to tell him the chant about the dragon?” She chuckled. “It will be hard to leave him. And the baby. But it’s only for a short while.”

  Colin smiled. “Yes, I heard him. That’s why I came up here – just wanted to see my nephew for a few minutes before we left. Maybe I will see him in the morning before we start towards Gott.”

  “Do you want to join me and Alec this evening in our chambers for a farewell toast?”

  “Thanks, but no – I have a friend to go meet. See you tomorrow.”

  “Don’t be out too late with her,” replied Erin.

  “Hah! You sound just like Mother.” Colin started walking away but hesitated and turned back towards Erin. “Are you scared, sis?” he asked in a quiet voice.

  “Of course,” Erin answered. “I’m always a little nervous before a venture like this. You never know what the outcome will be. What dangers lie ahead; when you will return. If you will return.” She hugged her elbows. “And you, my brother? This is your first quest. Are you ready?”

  The young man straightened his shoulders. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈

  Three moons provided a dim predawn light when Erin reached the stables, just enough to outline the bustle of preparations. The battle trogus snorted and mewed as they were brought out and saddled, each rider checking their beast. The lead rider, Rand, called his riders to form up for Erin’s inspection.

  “There – your saddle holster – it appears loose,” Erin called out, pointing.

  “Yes, Princess,” the rider answered, quickly adjusting her gear.

  Erin’s keen eye was not hindered in the least by the dim light as she pointed out each discrepancy to her riders. Erin expected perfection from herself and was satisfied with nothing less from those who rode with her. A slight error could mean the difference between life and death in battle.

  A drung ent
ered the courtyard, pulling heavily on the hitches of a supply cart. It huffed in the cool morning air with a suppressed fear that Erin could sense. The drungs were never comfortable around the temperamental trogus. On the other side of the courtyard, Erin sensed a small group coming through the passageway from the residence.

  “Mamma!”

  Erin turned to greet her children, crossing the courtyard with their amah. “Leon! Ariana! Awake so early?”

  “They were so excited about your quest, Princess, that I brought them out here to see you off,” the amah said. “I hope you don’t mind.” Both children were sleepy but excited. Watching their parents embark on a quest was an event they were not going to miss.

  Leon pulled free from the amah’s hand and darted past several saddled trogus to reach his mother. Erin stopped and watched her son approach. Like a little monkey, he ran up to his mother’s trogus, grabbed the stirrup and hoisted himself onto the saddle. “Where’s Daddy?” Leon asked, looking around.

  “He’s waiting for us at the portal,” Erin answered, putting her arms around him.

  She could sense Ariana searching for her and waved to the small girl still in the amah’s arms. At just under a year old, Ariana was too young to run free among the trogus – their teeth and claws were too dangerous. Ariana sensed her mother, smiled broadly, and waved excitedly. Erin could see her mouthing: “Mamma! Mamma!”

  Leon poked her arm. “Mamma, when you find the dragon will you slay it? I want to see it! Bring back its head – I want to climb on its horns!” The trogus bucked slightly from Leon’s weight, but the little boy leaned forward and gently grabbed its mane. “Shush,” he said to the beast, and it quickly settled.

  Erin looked with pride at her son. Even at his young age, and even without a ring, he can feel and calm the beast. He is going to have my abilities and his father’s height and good looks. In a few years, he is going to be the heartthrob of every girl in Theland.