Crimson Rain (37 page)

“
How
’
d he sound?
”
Zarfa questioned.

“
Who?
”

“
You know who; don
’
t be all coy.
”

“
How does he usually sound?
”

“
Angry, mad at the world, completely perturbed, like he is going to kick your teeth in even though the rest of
you
call
me
boss… Should I continue?
”

“
Yeah, he sounded like that…but worse.
”

“
Yeah, that sounds like Sofronio to me,
”
Zarfa said with a chuckle.

“
Well, I promise he will arrive first, the rest to follow. You are injured, and I don
’
t stand a chance in a fight with him, so let
’
s just hope he is barking like a mad dog the way he always does and never acts on any of his threats, okay?
”

“
Let
’
s hope, but if he ever does try to take my spot as commander and chief, then tonight will be it.
”

They both chuckled and sat with each other. The Legion was something that myths were made of; many had seen them in action. There were always casualties, but there were always more on the side of Faraza. It was rare that all ten of the
commanders
would meet together to discuss organizational direction.

The way it typically worked was there was a raid by the Faraza. A rally call would then be sent out. Everyone would meet in one location, and a defense would be formed. Zarfa and the other nine would always take the lead and knew most of the regulars that showed up by name.

Even though Zarfa formed Legion Nine when he
’
d
brought up the idea of staging an attack of their own on the Faraza, it had been met with skepticism. Some were in favor; others felt that the Legion should only serve to protect Ilyeion from raids, nothing further.

Sofronio was the most opposed to the idea. He had even once made the threat of killing Zarfa and taking the lead, claiming he was a bad leader. The others all felt he did a great job at organizing a group of hoodlums who didn
’
t know when to roll over and accept that the Faraza were going to pillage them no matter how hard they fought back.

Sofronio, however, felt it should be more organized. That there should be a roster, qualifications to join, ranks, rewards. He wanted to make a true military, not
only a simple
minutemen militia. Zarfa always raised the points that if there were a roster, the Faraza could get a hold of it and hunt everyone down.

In battle, there was no rank, not if your superior was killed and the others were out of sight. That was always Zarfa
’
s take on it anyhow. He felt that each of his soldiers had to be leaders in their own rights. He also didn
’
t want anyone fighting for him out of the fear of embarrassment of how humiliating it would be to have to resign in front of others.

Zarfa had started this organization alone. Alone, he would go into the streets and fight. It inspired others to stand up and fight alongside of him. But Zarfa was so determined that if he lost every single supporter, he would still go out and fight. He wanted any and all who joined him to have the same attitude, so he was never in favor of ranks, rewards, or any other system to discern anyone from one another.

The only form of organized leadership he gave was that of the nine. He gave his original nine supporters a chance to vote to decide what actions they should rally for.
However
,
as those other eight died in battle, they were replaced. Zajifa was the only one to remain from the very beginning.
Eight never questioned him; they venerated him in such high regard. Sofronio,
one of the newest to be invited into the fold,
on the other hand, couldn
’
t agree with him on anything, and went so far as to not agree with him even if it was obvious he was right.

Once in the middle of a sand storm, he had argued with Zarfa over whether it was windy or not. Anyone could see the sand was being blown in as thick as fog, but he stood his ground in front of the other eight and argued that Zarfa was a fool and that it wasn
’
t windy outside. He finally conceded when he said,
“
Well, perhaps a little, but we
’
ve seen worse. That
’
s what I meant when I said it wasn
’
t.
”

A
s Zajifa had predicted, Sofronio was the first to arrive. As surly as ever and steaming mad.

“
What the hell is going on? Why are we rallying so late? There isn
’
t a raid in progress!
”
he blurted, red-faced, stampeding like a bull.

He was tall and bulky. He stood at least a head over Zarfa. His skin was the color of the sand that surrounded Ilyeion and his eyes were a dark brown. He kept his hair shaved at all times and always wore tattered olive green clothing, the look of a true solider.

“
We are at war is why,
”
Zarfa spoke sternly.

“
Oh, really? Thanks for letting us give input on this, captain! Anything else you care to inform the dogs about?
”

“
Take it easy on him, he was going to—
”

“
Well, he didn
’
t, did he?
”
Sofronio snapped back, cutting Zajifa off.

“
That is why I am calling this meeting, to inform the nine of what happened, tell them to tell the others. Tell all who want no part of this to get out now
if it
’
s what they want
. Maybe even leave Ilyeion for a little while…while they still can.
”

“
Aww, how nice of you. Why didn
’
t you just not get us all involved in something we couldn
’
t handle in the first place?
”

“
Are you a total moron? We
’
ve been fighting against Faraza this whole time. We were already in over our head; it
has
escalated
as we all knew it would
. Look, I
’
ll explain when everyone arrives. If you want out, fine, leave. But I won
’
t tolerate you being disruptive or talking down to me any longer. It
’
s war time. I
’
ve never asked anything of any of you men. Now I am, but you will all still have a choice.
”

Sofronio stared down at Zarfa, who was still lying down. His injuries were healing quickly from the medical attention he had received, but he was still clearly not in top condition. Both Zarfa and Zajifa were shock
ed that Sofronio wasn
’
t pushing
the conversation further. It was the first time he ever ceased arguing with Zarfa.

Within minutes, the others had trickled in. All in one room in the back of The Sheik
’
s Tavern. Zarfa, out of respect, stood from the bed he was resting on and addressed the nine.

“
I went to Alexarien to get the Psyker Scream nanobot alterations. The plan was I would lead us to battle with Faraza because I could hear where the wasps were coming from. I wasn
’
t aware that Synaptix was using these bots to control people
’
s minds and to create a psychic army. I
’
ve already had one treatment and have decided to stop. I am going to lose my hearing altogether, the bots will be sure of it. Synaptix tried to recruit me to their cause. They would have left the nine of you alone and allowed you to keep your free will. As for the others, they wouldn
’
t have…
s
o I rejected their offer. They sent one of their commanders and two body guards to follow me back here. When I arrived at the train station, we were ambushed by Faraza. After the battle, Surge, one of Synaptix
’
s best, turned on me. I took his life.

“
There are security cameras at the train station. If Synaptix doesn
’
t know of my actions yet, they soon will. This act, I can only assume, will mean war to them. I still plan to find where Faraza is hiding and crush them under my heel. However, we have an added threat.

“
My message to you, as well as all other members, is that this is the final hour. It is now kill or be killed. Within the next few weeks, I will be deaf and I am not sure how yet, but we will find a way to locate Faraza. It is then we shall attack their base. In the
meantime
, expect retaliation from Synaptix, as well as whatever raids may come about.

“
If you want to leave, leave now. If you want to stay, then trust me, stand by me, and fight to your death. I shall do the same. That is all I can say, other than I
’
m sorry for bringing this vengeance upon us all.
”

The nine stood silent, glancing back and forth at each other. Zajifa made eye contact with Sofronio, and Zarf
a
stared at the floor
like a scared little boy asking permission from a parent. Finally, Sofronio broke the silence by clapping.

“
Well done, sir, no bull. I
’
ll follow you. Let
’
s destroy those evil spawn,
”
Sofronio said calmly and sternly.

Everyone
’
s mouth
s
dropped open and Zarfa looked up. The shock on their faces was almost comical. It was the first time Sofronio had ever called him sir, complimented him, or agreed with him in any way. There was some laughter and clapping from the others, most of which were still too shocked to verbally respond. Finally, the rejoicing settled down and as if in one voice, the other eight all said,
“
We are at your command, sir.
”

* * * *

“
So, what are you working on over there?
”
Crimson asked.

“
Well, I am trying to reverse engineer these little bots to do what you wanted them to do. You know, make them fly, make them kill all the Psykers, you know, whatever that simple little task is you asked of me,
”
he responded with a tone of sarcasm.

“
Well excuse me for asking.
”

“
Excused. Sorry, I
’
m just stressing. I heard your feed earlier while I was out getting some groceries. I
’
ve known we were in danger from the start
,
but it donned on me, Synaptix is going to want us dead as well as Polyhelix and even if we do manage to take them down…the government will want us eliminated. Have we even recruited anyone yet?
”

“
It
’
s hard to tell… We are raising supporters of an idea to strike without warning. We didn
’
t exactly provide a barracks for them to report to or anything. It is in the hands of the people now. As well as us. All we can really do is hope when we strike that our message was heard and appreciated. I
’
ve got another one I plan to send out. We might start seeing a visible presence of the Crimson army after that, but until then…
only
phantoms loyal to an idea.
”

“
Crimson army? Right, only you could be that narcissistic.
”

“
Oh really? Deadeye Max?
”

“
I
’
m going back to work. I think I
’
m making progress here, almighty leader of all that is good,
”
Max said with a smirk.

He didn
’
t know if he would live or die. He didn
’
t know if they would make a change. He wasn
’
t even sure if they were the good guys in all of this. He knew he wanted to make a change and that Crimson seemed to be someone with a good vision. He knew he didn
’
t want the others to win out, but he wasn
’
t sure if he would want to overthrow the government even if he could.

He just knew he wanted to see this thing through to the end. To hopefully improve some people
’
s lives, help them. He didn
’
t want to be remembered; he hoped he never even made it into history books. All he wanted w
as for
his actions to be remembered.