Chapter Eleven: Twisted Dreams
I had caught up with her at last, the elusive Domino, she stood before me absolutely defenceless, her clothes had been shredded by our initial sword fight and her face was bloodied from several wounds I had given her, and yet she still asked awkward questions to which I didn’t have the full answer.
“Who are you?” she asked gasping for breath
“I am Fury, I am your nemesis.”
“No you’re not, you’re not Fury.” She said, a determination in her eyes
This caught me off guard, she asked who I was and yet when I told her she claimed I wasn’t, who did she think I was? I shook my head, it didn’t matter, what did matter was that I had the all powerful Domino kneeling before me in a vulnerable state, I had to exploit this advantage.
“It does not matter who I am, the only thing that matters is your death.” I snarled
“You don’t believe that,” she said, a tear in one of her eyes “You can’t believe that, I refuse to accept that you would kill me, you can’t kill me.”
She seemed very shaken up by me, she was crying, crying because she knew who I was but wouldn’t tell me.
“Who am I?” I asked
“I cannot tell you if you do not know yourself.” She replied shaking her head slowly
This infuriated me, how could she tease me so, obviously knowing who I am and yet not telling me, not even being willing to tell me.
“You WILL tell me!” I yelled at her
She shook her head again, my rage passed the limits of tolerance and I drew my sword.
“Then the truth will die with you!!!”
As my sword flashed towards her, she opened her mouth to say my name, my true name, I tried to stop the blade, to prevent her death so she could tell me my real self but I couldn’t do it, I had lost control of my arm.
“T…” she managed before the blade struck her across her neck, cutting her throat and sending her down onto the floor where the blood gushed from her neck wound, but still she had the energy to turn around and look at me with sorrowful eyes and to open her mouth once and manage, although very laboured, one word.
“Why?” she gasped before collapsing into the pool of blood which spread around her, but the blood kept on spreading, spreading until it covered everything in sight. I looked down at my hands, my clothes they too were covered in blood, and then I began sinking, sinking down into the blood of Domino as though it was a quagmire, flailing about uselessly I tried to grab any nearby object but it was no use.
A strange genome walked up next to me and stood there, her light blue hair waving gently in a non-existent breeze, her light blue tail which matched the colour of her hair was swinging from side to side. She stood, just a few feet from arms reach and crossed her arms.
“Help me!” I tried as I sank further, now the blood was up to my shoulders.
“It’s such a shame, we all had such high hopes for you at home, that you were the pure one but you let yourself be dragged into hatred like the rest of us. Shame on you Fury, shame on you…”
But as she said my real name the blood had closed over my face and I was gone.
My eyes opened with a start, looking around I could see that I had fallen asleep in the observation room, the planet of Gaia slowly span in front of me, and reports flickered up on the holographic planet here and there.
It was a dream, thank god for that I thought
Still the dream bothered me though, killing Domino had brought me no satisfaction, no long term gain, in the end in fact it had killed me.
Shaking my head I stood up and switched off the hologram before walking over to the wall and pressing a concealed button which opened a hidden door. I walked through the door, closing it behind me and down the long staircase to the secret rooms I had below.
It was only a dream I reminded myself.
As I walked down, the cries of those in pain began to reach me, provoking a small smirk, it hadn’t taken me long to build these torture chambers, carefully hidden away from prying eyes. The genomes had never struggled when I had caught them in the corridors and quickly brought them down here, they never even struggled when I bound them in chains and placed them in the cells.
In fact, they never even struggled when I employed the methods which made them cry and scream, they never begged for mercy but that didn’t bother me, since I didn’t plan on giving them any.
I walked into the main chamber, the bloodied corpse of a genome male was lying in the corner.
Damn, forgot to clear that one up I thought, wrinkling my nose at the smell of rotting flesh.
Shaking my head I looked through the prison cell doors for my next victim, walking from cell to cell and looking through the small window, a couple of genomes had broken and lay sobbing in the corner but the majority just stood like cattle, awaiting their next orders.
I opened the door of one such male genome and ordered him to come out which he obediently did.
Shutting the door behind him I looked around the chamber for a weapon of torture.
Now let me see I thought What toys shall I play
with today?
Things had gotten very lively after we had entered the Mended Drum, as soon as Domino had walked through the door an axe had imbedded itself in the doorway next to her.
“Who threw that?!” she demanded as she drew her sword
The room went very, very quiet.
“I want answers!!” shouted Domino, her rage barely controlled
Everyone in the room seemed to look towards one person who sat in the corner with a bottle of drink in one hand and a very drunken look on his face.
“So it was you…” muttered Domino as she walked over to the drunkard. He rapidly shook his head and backed away from her, but she snatched him by his shirt and pulled him towards her
“If you, or anyone else, pulls a stunt like that again then they’ll seriously regret having been born, do I make myself clear?” she hissed at the unfortunate man
He nodded quickly, gulped and then fled the bar as soon as Domino put him down again.
The noise level in the Mended Drum slowly returned to normal as Domino walked over towards the bar, at the bar several people male and female were talking and drinking, one of them a raven haired heavily armoured female warrior turned and looked over to Domino, who stopped a glimmer of recognition in her genome eyes.
“Mizrah?” she asked
“Domino!” yelled Mizrah as she stood up, walked over to my friend and gave her a warm handshake.
“It’s been a while Mizrah,” said Domino “Just over a year since we last met.”
Mizrah looked surprised as she beckoned Domino and I to join her at the bar.
“Has it really been that long since the whole Jara Gedyen thing?” she asked
Domino nodded as she sat down, her tail curling up around her, I sat next to her noting that Xola and Kitiara were standing at a discrete distance, watching us carefully, just feeling their eyes on my neck made me feel extremely vulnerable and I pulled up the collar of my shirt to cover my exposed neck.
“So, how’s Thunderchild, I haven’t seen him since he took his spaceship out, I take it that you defeated Jara in the end?”
Domino nodded and briefly recounted the events which Mizrah didn’t know about, the return to Terra, the turning of Thunderchild, the battle with Jara and Thunderchild sacrificing himself to stop Jara only to return from the dead to be with Domino.
Mizrah smiled
“There’s more to that man than meets the eye, defying death eh? Maybe he is immortal.”
I glumly shook my head and Domino looked down, suddenly sad. Mizrah saw the look on both of our faces and quickly guessed what we had come here to tell.
“Oh no…he isn’t, he hasn’t been…?” she asked, the colour draining from her face
I nodded as did Domino, she then continued with
“Yeah, he died three days ago, killed in a massive fireball when the ship we were on suffered a reactor failure and exploded. He died a hero though, he teleported us off the ship and took the ship high enough into the sky so that the explosion didn’t kill anyone else…just him…”
I nodded and flicked a peanut across the bar where it hit a glass and with a high pitched ‘ting’ fell off onto the floor.
Mizrah sat back on her stool and sighed, a sigh of someone who’s lost good friends before but still suffers the pain of the loss.
“He was a good man.” She managed after a while
“The best…” said Domino, her face impassive but her voice laden with sorrow.
“Thank you for coming to tell me Dom, there’s a lot of people out there who’ll want to know.”
“I was hoping to speak to Nagy, Proeliator and Beowolf as well.” Said Domino, making references to people I had only heard in legend on Gaia.
Mizrah sighed again and ran her hands through her hair
“That could be a problem, Proeliator and Beowolf are out in the Ramtops at the moment.”
Looking around I saw that Xola and Kitiara had vanished back into the shadows from whence they had came, something spooked me about them two, apart from the blood drinking thing, they seemed to exist like shadows, there one minute gone the next, especially that Kitiara.
“What about Nagy?” asked Domino
“Well, there you’re in luck, you see after the Jara fiasco Nagy settled down and got himself a wife.”
“Really?! That’s great news!!” said Domino, a large smile on her face “Who is the lucky lass then?”
“Well, it’s someone we both know.”
We had walked through many streets in Ankh-Morpork but not feeling afraid under the watchful eyes of Mizrah. Every now and then I thought I saw movements in the shadows but I couldn’t be sure.
Then we reached a small bungalow situated on the edge of the city, walking through a gate and a small but pleasant garden we came to a large oak door on which Mizrah knocked three times.
After a short period of time the door opened and Nagy appeared on the other side of it, when he saw Mizrah he smiled and when he saw me he smiled even more.
“Well I be damned, Domino the genome, it’s been too long!” he exclaimed with his customary cheerfulness.
How said that the cheerfulness will not last I thought
“It has, I only wish it was under better circumstances.” I said
Nagy frowned but then moved back from the doorway and beckoned us in
“Honestly, here’s me making you stand outside in the cold, come on in, come on in!”
We walked inside the modestly furbished house, in the living room by the fire reading a book was Snikity, I hadn’t seen Snikity since the aftermath of the battle for Ankh-Morpork.
“Take a seat, do you want a cup of tea or anything?” asked Nagy as he ushered as into the room, I took a seat on the comfortable settee and Alex sat next to me.
“Erm, I’ll have a glass of water please.” I said in a bid to be polite
“Another cup of tea for me please.” Said Snikity with a smile
“Of course dear,” said Nagy as he bent down and kissed her “So that’s a cup of tea and a glass of water. Coming right up!” he said with a cheery smile as he walked out of the living room and to the kitchen.
Mizrah looked at us both, and then stood up and walked over to the door to follow him out.
“I think I’d better go tell him.” She said softly and she went down the corridor after him leaving me and Alex with Snikity.
“So, when did you two get yourselves hitched?” asked Alex
Snikity smiled and put down her book.
“About two to three months after Domino and Thunderchild left the Discworld, we started seeing more of each other, to talk about the battle, and we kinda just drifted together like that, and before I knew it he was down on one knee to me!” she exclaimed before adding “Where is Thunderchild anyway?”
A smash of glass and a loud exclamation of “WHAT?!!” from down the corridor indicated that Mizrah had just told Nagy, so I decided it prudent to tell Snikity too.
“Thunderchild’s dead, he was killed three days ago in an airship accident.”
Snikity froze, her face an expression of shock.
“I don’t believe it.” Said Nagy from where he stood at the doorway
“He’s dead, really dead?” asked Snikity
I nodded as did Alex
“The fireball itself had to have been a mile wide and the heat could be felt on the ground. It was terrible Nagy, truly terrible.”
He came and sat on the arm of the settee next to me and patted me on the shoulder
“Oh Domino, what must you be going through?” he sighed.
That was the worst thing he could have said to me as it immediately sent me into tears, sobbing like a little girl, it disgusted me but it was the only way I could react in the situation, despite it being nearly three days since his death, the loss of my husband hurt me so, so much.
“There will be a memorial service at Lindblum soon, probably within a week.” Said Alex
“I respectfully request my attendance, and Snikity would come too.” Said Nagy
“I, of course will attend, it’s the least I can do.” Said Mizrah from the doorway.
“You’re all welcome, you, Snikity, Nagy, Xola and Kitiara, anyone who knew him well and who wants to come is welcome to come back with me and Alex through the portal to Gaia.”
Nagy nodded
“Anyway, it’s getting dark now, we’ve got a spare room, it means you and Alex will have to sleep in the same room I’m afraid, unless one of you want to sleep in the living room.”
“It’s ok,” I said “I’ll sleep on the floor in there, Alex can have the bed.”
Snikity stood up and walked over to the door
“I’ll get the bed ready.” She said on her way out.
I sighed, suddenly overcome with weariness, it had to be the sorrow which made me feel so exhausted, it had been a very long three days, full of ups and downs.
It took me a while but I finally found Fury, he was outside with the Silver Dragons which had flocked to the castle with all of the other monsters. I could see Fury rubbing the muzzle of one of the dragons and stroking the feathery wing of another. He seemed somehow connected to them, as though he and them had an understanding…the only other person I had known with that kind of an understanding with a Silver Dragon was Kuja but he was long dead now, or so we had been told.
“Rhiana?” he asked without even turning around
How the hell does he do that? I wondered before asking
“I came to see what you were doing, if I could help.”
“Well, thank you Rhiana but I’m alright for the moment, just thinking…”
“About what?”
“About life…and death. It seems so fragile, life, you know that?” he asked me, a strange smile on his face
“I’ve never really thought about it.” I confessed
He leant against a Silver Dragon, half disappearing in its feathers. The Dragon itself gently purred and nuzzled at him, Fury smiled and rubbed the Dragons chin.
“No, I don’t suppose you have…but I have, and it’s strange how, even at birth, we’re only one step away from death, so…maybe that’s the point. Maybe we’re all born…or created, to die.”
His logic seemed flawed to me, I couldn’t believe that that was all there was.
“There has to be more than that, surely.” I said
“But what if there isn’t Rhiana, then, surely all it boils down to is living as long as we can…and I’m beginning to think I know how to do that…”
My eyes narrowed, live forever? Not even genomes could do that, the guy had to be on something.
“What do you mean?” I ventured
“Well, it’s too complicated for you to understand, but I think it might work. Anyway, we need this planet to be under one rule, my rule.”
“Why?” I asked, taking my life into my own hands
“Why? Because it has to be done, there’s no way that I’m going to let such an opportunity slip through my fingers. You only get such a chance once Rhiana, and you’ve got to seize it before it’s gone.”
I shook my head, completely failing to understand what he meant.
“Come now Rhiana, let’s go back into the castle, I think I now understand what I need to do next, the next couple of weeks are going to be busy but rewarding, as long as that damned genome stays out of the way.” Said Fury with a smile
As Rhiana and I walked back into the large stone structure of the Terran castle, I remembered the readings I had spotted on the holographic spy satellites. Regent Cid thought he had kept this one under wraps but he was wrong.
Rhiana walked away down a different corridor and bid me farewell, I didn’t trust that genome, didn’t trust her at all, she seemed too judging, too prejudiced to understand the measures I had to take to secure the future.
Maybe I shall have to develop a whole new method of torture just for her I thought and then allowed my mind to think of Rhiana begging for my mercy as she was subjected to machines of extreme pain.
With a small chuckle I checked both ways of the corridor, no-one in sight, and then opened a locked door with my retinal code. As I walked into the room I activated the light sensors which switched on and illuminated the room.
Around me was a collection of advanced weaponry from a planet long ago destroyed, they were all there, particle pistols, acceleration cannons, automatic particle rifles. No-one and nothing on this planet could defend themselves against the firepower in this room, armed with some of this weaponry I could take on any governmental force of this world and beat them. More details of my plan fortified themselves in my mind.
It would be the perfect theft I thought.