Aeon Legion: Labyrinth (30 page)

Lycus scowled and glared at
Alya. “Not all of us can ignore our damnation, Bloodstorm.”

Alya's smiled disappeared at
that name. After a moment, her grin returned. “That would have
wounded me before Darshana. Not your most creative insult though,
Cerberus. Why the Selvian Stuarts could have thought up a better
one.”

Lycus clinched his fist. “I
should have made you an instructor so you could test everyone's
patience.”

Terra cleared her throat,
hoping to distract them before this insult match grew worse.

Lycus glanced to Terra. “Tiro
Mason. I have called you here to put an end to this meddling.”

“Meddling?” Terra ask
before looking around to find the source of a light breeze that blew
into the office.

Lycus's eyes narrowed on Alya.
“Don't think I haven't seen you lurking around the Academy. I saw
your meeting at the hill. Then at the climbing test as well. Again, I
saw you stalking me near the Archives and around the Academy.”

Alya rolled her eyes.
“Stalking you? Cerberus, why would I stalk you? You're so dull. Yes
I was at hill and the garden, but I was not at the Archives. My
interest is in Terra alone.”

Lycus's frown deepened. “Alya,
this has to stop.”

Alya browsed the office while
she spoke. “I agree,” she said before lingering on the holoface
picture of twelve individuals standing in two rows. She then turned
back to him. “Obviously you need to be more accommodating so I may
come and go as I please.”

Lycus stood, pointing at
Terra. “This tiro is mine!”

Terra shifted at the outburst.

Lycus
snarled at Alya. “The moment I accepted her into
my
training program, she became mine. She will do as I say and I alone
will decide if she passes or fails.”

Alya continued to smile. “Oh
don't be so dramatic, Cerberus. It's only one little mission.”

“Mission?” Terra asked.

Alya shrugged. “I felt
guilty after forgetting to tell you about the accident, so I will
make it up to you.”

Terra raised an eyebrow.
“What?”

“We will go on a real
mission. An exciting one! Not one of those boring missions. Besides,
you could stand to get out of this place for a little while,” Alya
said, looking around Lycus's office with a sour expression. She
turned back to Terra and smiled. “Nothing freshens up boring
training quite like live combat.”

Terra went pale at the words
'live combat'. “No! I mean it's all right. I'm not even mad
anymore. You don't have to bring me to a war zone.”

Alya smiled as she gestured to
the fadedoor. “Nonsense. It will be fun. I know you need the
experience. You will even get to meet an old friend. I hope he fights
as well as last time. I was so excited when the Sybil saw he was
attempting to alter time again.”

Lycus cleared his throat.

Alya rolled her eyes. “Ignore
Cerberus. He is rather insecure.”

Lycus pointed to his rank
insignia. “I am a praetor! You are a centurion!”

Alya faced Lycus. “Yes. I
still have eyes, Cerberus.”

Lycus recoiled, his posture
slouching. He let out a long sigh.

Alya turned her side to Lycus.
“Are we done?”

Lycus gripped his aeon edge,
but hesitated to draw it.

Alya's grin disappeared. She
faced Lycus. “It has been a while hasn't it? Since a pair of
Legendary Blades fought in a Trial of Blades.”

Terra felt the air turn cold
in the silent room. She watched both Legendary Blades face one
another, unblinking.

“It has,” Lycus said after
a long pause. He took his hand off the blade. “But I do not wish to
be the one to break that peace.”

Alya tilted her head. “Do
you really feel that strongly about this?”

Lycus sat slumped back into
his chair, looking tired. He did not look like the predator Terra had
seen mutilate Vand, nor the cold, calculating man she had seen at
other times.

“I hate your squires, Alya.
I hate what Tahir did to me,” he said in a soft voice, almost a
whisper. He looked up at Alya. “How do you stand it?”

Alya shrugged. “Lycus, I let
go of the dull past so I may shine more brightly in the present.
Shine, don’t suffer while you live.”

With that, Alya glided out of
the room while motioning for Terra to follow. Terra lingered to
looked back, seeing Lycus stare at a stained photo that lay next to a
dark mask.

“Leave,” Lycus said in a
whisper.

Terra left not wishing to gain
Lycus's ire and she caught up with Alya. “But I'm not ready for
live combat! I can barely hold my ground in a sparring match!” she
said, jogging to keep pace with Alya.

Alya dismissed the protest
with a wave. “Don't worry. I watched you in shieldwatch practice
yesterday and sparring the day before. You will do fine.”

Terra rubbed her forehead
while wondering if all these people were insane.

∞

When the sphere around Terra
faded she found herself sinking into a bog. She struggled to wade out
of the waste high water and grab onto a nearby tree. After she pulled
herself up she took in her surroundings. Terra seemed to be alone,
surrounded by patches of swamp and large trees. Moments later she
heard voices.

“This is a waste of time,”
an older man said in an irritated tone. Terra thought he sounded
familiar.

Terra hid behind a tree and
listened. There were several sets of footsteps. She peeked from
behind the trunk to see a line of men walking through a narrow path
of dry land through the swamp. Terra recognized the gray uniforms and
red armbands. Hanns marched behind several SS soldiers. He frowned as
he looked back to several other primitive looking people the SS had
tied together in a line. She assumed she could understand Hanns
because the sonic ciphers translated his German for her.

Terra was about to follow when
she felt a tap on her shoulder. She whirled around, but managed not
to shout.

Alya stood next to her with a
finger over pursed lips.

They followed the Nazis
through the forested area which led them to an open glade nestled
between hills. Terra and Alya moved to a nearby hill that overlooked
an ancient village with wooden buildings and straw roofs. Around the
village stood a palisade wall which the Nazi's had ringed with razor
wire. SS soldiers stood watch over the sandbag fortified gateways
that provided the only entrances into the village. Camouflage tents
stood in contrast to the ancient buildings while a Nazi flag planted
on the highest part of town waved in the wind. Antenna devices like
the ones used in the library also dotted the area. She thought the
posts looked smaller this time with a new more compact design.

Terra shifted her gaze over
the village, looking at how the Nazis had set up their forces.
Machine gun nests stood at each gateway with two more on small hills
overlooking key points of the village. The largest building had a
panzer tank parked in front. She saw a lot of soldiers, at least two
dozen with most wearing black SS uniforms.

Hanns and the others marched
into the center of the village with the prisoners in tow. He stood
with the rest as another SS officer walked out of a large tent. Terra
assumed him to be of higher rank when the others saluted him. Hanns
glared instead.

The officer was a pudgy man
half a head shorter than Hanns. His serious expression contrasted
with Hanns's more charming demeanor. The officer walked to the group
of prisoners and inspected them with a sour look. He turned to Hanns.
“This is it?”

Hanns sighed.

The officer shook his head. “I
said I needed good stock.”

He walked over to the line of
primitive prisoners. The prisoners cringed when the officer drew
close. He stood much taller than them and his clean uniform
contrasted with their dirty tunics and trousers.

The officer grabbed one by the
arm. He inspected the woman's dirty hands before glancing to her
soiled hair. “These are not Aryans!” he yelled as he shoved the
woman back with the others. “You brought me cavemen! You brought us
to the wrong time Hanns! These are not Aryans or any of the five sub
races.”

Hanns pinched the upper part
of his nose while he closed his eyes. “No Emmerich. I told you this
is what we would find.”

Emmerich gestured to the
village. “Straw roofs! Filth everywhere! These people don't all
have blue eyes. This isn't the Aryan utopia! We must be in the wrong
time! Your calculations were incorrect.”

Hanns looked up and groaned.
“For the last time, Emmerich. These are the correct temporal
coordinates. In fact my new machine is more accurate than the last.
This is ancient Germany. It's not my fault you believe in idiotic
utopias based on garbage science. Besides, it doesn't matter. What
could you possibly want with these people?”

Emmerich sighed. “We need
breeding stock Hanns. We need pure samples. Aryan blood is thin in
the modern times. If our nation has any hope of long term survival we
must cleanse our genes of Semitic impurities. To do that, we need
these people. Your stupid history book can wait. Now put them with
the others.”

The SS soldiers led the
prisoners into a fenced off area of the camp.

Hanns walked over to Emmerich.
“This is unwise. I don't know how this will affect time.”

“Silence Hanns,” Emmerich
said with a scowl. “You had your chance to produce results and
failed. Now it's my turn. We will continue our search for the
Aryans.”

Hanns sighed and followed
Emmerich into a large central tent.

Alya swept her gaze over the
camp before turning to Terra. “Wait until about a minute after I
begin my attack and capture Hanns. I'll capture the other leader,
that Emmerich fellow.”

“Capture?” Terra
whispered.

“Yes,” Alya said as though
it were simple. “Just beat him up until he's unconscious. I'll take
care of the others. We need to bring Hanns in along with the other
leader. This is his final violation. The rest of them are first time
offenders. I'll beat them up and give them a warning.”

“You say that like it will
be easy,” Terra said, trying to keep her voice low.

“Just be careful,” Alya
said as though she wasn't even listening to Terra. “Hanns may not
look like much, but he is still a soldier. Just remember to use your
shieldwatch and wait until he's unguarded. Minerva, take a Restore
state of this place.”

Minerva began speaking over
the cipher lines. “Continuum Delta. Time is 3:25pm–”

Alya groaned and touched her
shieldwatch face, skipping the message.

“Location is Germania,
continental–”

Alya touched her shieldwatch
face again.

“Lethal
force is not authorized.
Enemy
forces consist–”

She skipped the message again.

“Warning–”

Alya growled and skipped the
next several messages. Finally, a ring descended on the area just
like the one at the library. The Nazi's gaze quickly focused on the
new development.

Terra waited as Alya stood.
She would just have to trust Alya. After all, Alya Silverwind was a
seasoned legionnaire. No doubt she had clever and cunning plan to
deal with the Nazis.

Alya ran and jumped thirty
paces over the wall, landing dead center in the camp. “Attention
all temporal intruders!” Alya said, the shieldwatch, amplifying her
voice. “You are in violation of the Temporal Accords. I am giving
you a single chance to return to your own time peacefully.”

The Nazis all turned their
attention to Alya with dumbstruck stares.

Terra touched her forehead
with her palm and sighed.

Think not to match yourself
against gods, for men that walk the earth cannot hold their own with
the immortals.

-From
Homer's
The Iliad
,
translation by Samuel Butler

T
he
Nazis
stared at Alya for a moment before scrambling for their
weapons. Alya drew her aeon edge and loaded it before saluting the
soldiers. The sword edge glowed blue. She lunged as tracer rounds
zipped by.