The New World: A Step Backward (9 page)

Monday
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August 12, 2075
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5:00 pm

Riding Spirit to the schoolyard, Thoruk arrived early to greet Wolfuk upon his return from the Skalag mission.  Within minutes, the faithful tracker pulled up on his steed, still lathered after the long trip.

Glancing at his friend, Thoruk tied his stallion's reins to the post in front of the school.  "You look rather ragged from your trip."

"I've been on my horse too much lately, but I'm fine — just a little stiff."  Following a hard day's ride in his saddle, Wolfuk slowly eased off his horse.  He hitched his gray stallion and trudged toward the front steps alongside Thoruk.  When they reached the top, the tired warrior paused; his soaked shirt clung to his back.

Thoruk opened the door for him.  "Hopefully the trip was worth your troubles.  Has Zolokt been behind these muclones?"

"Yes, but not by himself.  His son is involved as well."

"I'm not surprised.  Save your breath till the others arrive.  You can share the rest then.  Let's grab a seat."

As they walked toward the library, Thoruk's eyes lit on a showcase he never noticed before.  He pointed to the table they had used the prior week.  "Take it easy — I'll join you in a second."

Thoruk walked to the cherry wood stand and peered into the glass enclosure containing three books.  Leaning over the display, he squinted to read the descriptions below each of the tattered covers. 
Gone with the Wind,
by Margaret Mitchell, published 1936.  He rubbed his beard. 
Stunning, that was 139 years ago.

He inched to the right. 
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,
by J. K. Rowling, published 1997.  He whispered.  "78 years."

Scooting over, he recognized the next one and nodded. 
How Texas Survived the World Annihilation Period,
by John Drake, published 2026. 
Mmm, right after WAP ended.

Satisfying his curiosity, he walked around and opened the windows.  When finished, he joined Wolfuk but remained standing.  "Have you read any of those books in the showcase?"

"Me?  I don't have enough time.  It's been at least 20 years since I picked up a book."

"How about the one describing how Texas survived WAP?"

"Yes, quite awhile ago.  Intellulka insisted I read that one.  Their policies made a lot of sense."

Thoruk looked at him and smiled. "What do you think?  Will somebody write about us and Ukkiville someday?"

The scout chuckled.  "Who knows, stranger things have happened."

Thoruk sat next to Wolfuk.  "Did you know that Intellulka, Mercy, Storm, and I met a couple of representatives of the Texas Freedom Defenders?  We gathered in Iowa during our journey in 2070.  In fact, Intellulka used the Texas Constitution as a guide for our own, focusing on being self-reliant by living off the land."

"I heard that before but wasn't sure whether to believe it.  I'm not surprised."

Murmurs and the sound of approaching footsteps drifted into the room, interrupting their conversation while Intellulka, Protuk, Mercy, and Stormulka walked up the steps.  A few seconds later, Protuk bellowed as he entered the library.  "Welcome home, I see you've made it back alive."

"Yep, glad to see friendly faces again."

While Stormulka neared, Thoruk pointed to the numerous shelves of old books saved during the World Annihilation Period.  "Hey Storm, have you read all these books?"

"As a matter of fact, I'm only three shy of finishing them all."  He grinned.

Mercivil laughed aloud.  "Do you even know how to recite the alphabet?"

Thoruk raised his arms.  "Okay, before you two carry this any further, let Wolfuk share what he found."

The exhausted rider started to stand, but Thoruk extended, then lowered his palm.  "If it's more comfortable, keep your seat and fill us in from there."

"Okay, I've got a lot to discuss.  My contact, Tropokt, was very helpful, but the news is not good."

Thoruk looked around the table.  "Do we know this spy?"

"No, but he's absolutely loyal to our cause — trust me.  Tropokt hates the Skalag leader for killing his father.  Zolokt has an enormous temper and harbors revenge to the extreme.  This combination and his short fuse have left many hoping for his death."

Protuk glanced at Wolfuk.  "I trust you with my life.  If you say it's so, then I believe you with all my heart."

Thoruk sat back in his chair.  "I didn't mean anything by my question — just curious.  I'm confident in your judgment.  Go on.  What did you find?"

"Zolokt is definitely behind the muclones, but he's not alone.  His son, Scientokt, is helping.  Their lab is a cavern with two entrances in a remote spot of the forest, not far from their encampment.  I've seen it.

"I also observed the pens used to keep the monsters until they're nurtured to maturity and trained before they're released.  The cages are kept above ground near the cave but protected by sentries.

"What's disturbing is that a few of the cages are massive, ranging from 15 to 25 feet high.  Any creature of such size could cause significant damage to our protective wall.  I saw a couple of the smaller beasts in the enclosures.  They were grotesque.  One appeared to be an eagle with a wildcat head."

Stormulka glanced at Mercivil.  "Yes, we saw one as well.  The blazing freak slashed my shoulder and almost killed Mercy.  It was an eagle and bobcat with glowing, green eyes — very eerie.  Fluf snuffed the creepy thing."

Wolfuk bit his lower lip.  "The one I saw was a little smaller — like the Canadian lynx."

Intellulka raised his finger.  "The thing they killed was definitely part bobcat, but Zolokt might be experimenting among several species.  The lynx makes sense, since it has a lighter skull.  The weight of the bobcat made it more difficult to fly; Thoruk had described it as clumsy.

"The horrid fiend could not effectively hunt, leading to starvation and angry desperation.  That's why it so readily attacked.  Also, the green, luminescent eyes from a deep-water fish provided vision in locations with the tiniest levels of light, like a dark cavern.  Since then, three other muclones were brought to me.

"Of all the peculiar creations we've seen in this latest group, Zolokt has included combinations from plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.  What we haven't seen yet, thank God, is a mutant with human parts — but I don't doubt he's already thought of it.  Heaven help us if he ever goes that far."

Wolfuk looked at the others.  "My contact said he's seen lots of different mixtures but no mention of humans.  Most of the unearthly oddities end up dead, being destroyed because they can't fly, swim, or maneuver well.

"One of the mangled anomalies could barely move around in the cage.  It appeared to be a very long anaconda with stubby legs and the head of a wolf.  While it twisted and squirmed, the tormented misfit dragged the overweight head along the bottom of its prison, whimpering and howling.  I wanted to end its misery but decided not to jeopardize the mission."

Intellulka raised both arms with his fingers outstretched.  "Zolokt is a maniac and must be stopped."

Wolfuk nodded.  "This is about revenge, come to find out.  After witnessing Zolokt's older brother, Fortokt, slay Odinuk's wife during the first Skalag raid, Odinuk beheaded Fortokt.  That was the spring of 2046, and the clan leader's initial experiments began shortly afterward.

"Much of what Tropokt told me brought back lots of memories.  It took Zolokt years to get his unnatural creatures to last more than a few days.  If you recall, the first muclone sightings occurred in 2053.  Things trailed off for a period while he focused on his clan's survival.

"They raided several settlements around their area, spending time and resources fighting off the retaliations.  Then Protuk executed Fortokt's nephew under court order for the assassination of Odinuk.  If I remember right, that happened the autumn of 2071."

Thoruk's temperature rose as he clenched his fist.

Wolfuk continued.  "Zolokt became further enraged and induced his reluctant son to develop his own experiments with atmospheric controls.  The execution of Fortokt's nephew really lit a fire under their drive to form more complex and dangerous creations.  Now, four years later, we're seeing a sampling of those monsters.

"The problem doesn't end with the clan's leader.  His son, Scientokt, must be halted as well.  It's possible we'll begin seeing variations of the son's atmospheric anomalies in the future.  So far such controls have been highly unstable and very risky.  Many of their own Skalags and muclones were killed by Scientokt's initial attempts.

"One time he developed a tornado, but it unexpectedly shifted and sucked up a large volume of water from a small lake.   Then the encompassing storm traveled upriver, dumping much of the water.  A gigantic wave flooded a portion of their encampment.  The tornado also produced apple-sized hail which killed a number of people.  The funnel itself turned on part of their camp and destroyed many huts.

"More than 20 Skalags were wiped out in that incident.  Tropokt said there were a few other dangerous trial runs with similar disastrous effects.  He said such controls are in no way ready for any battle, but he warned it doesn't mean Zolokt wouldn't try using them."

Thoruk's face got hot, and he shot from his chair.  "These parasitic Skalags started all of this from the beginning!  They're too lazy to hunt game, grow crops, and extract their own resources."

Pounding the solid maple table, Thoruk shook the surface with each thunderous strike.  "They're always stealing, killing, kidnapping, and enslaving our people because they're starving and desperate due to their own laziness."

He gritted his teeth.  "Zolokt's the one who murdered my mother and father, and he's the one acting mad after his brother and nephew were killed as a result of THEIR aggression?  He's sending these creatures to slaughter us!"

With eyes of fire, Thoruk's nostrils flared.  "I'm the one who's mad now!  I'm the one who's sick and tired of this man and his family.  He's seen nothing like he's going to experience in the weeks to come."  His fist hit the table with such force Intellulka jumped.

Taking a deep breath, Thoruk sat down and turned toward Wolfuk.  "Did you learn of his plans for releasing these monstrosities?"

"Yes, and the discovery includes the answer to your last question before I left, 'is he or his clan up to anything else?'.  They are planning an all-out offensive in six to eight weeks or so, when they complete and stabilize the latest set of muclones.  They intend to use many of their latest beasts in the assault on Ukkiville.

"In the meantime, the Skalags released a select few of them in our area in an effort to generate fear in the hearts of our people and destabilize the village, while they plan and coordinate their attack."

Wolfuk gazed at the floor as his words bore the heavy weight of dread.  "One other thing: they've established an alliance with another clan, the Scargiles, who live north of them and use firearms instead of the primitive weapons we've chosen to use."

He scratched his head.  "I know our philosophy has been one of not encouraging the escalation of more advanced weapons after WAP, but we might want to revisit that given the circumstances.  I'm sorry I don't have better news."  He took a seat and stared at his hands, crossed on the table.

Thoruk stood again.  "It's not your fault.  The relative calm of these past couple of years lulled me into a false sense of security.  I should know this insanity of the Skalags will never end.  Protuk and I will discuss the matter of weapons in the coming days."

Protuk interrupted.  "Sir, we all should have been more suspicious.  I should have conducted additional surveillance of their operations and had Wolfuk keep in constant touch with his contact.  I never imagined Zolokt would continue his craziness after things quieted for so long.  It won't happen again."

Intellulka slowly rose to his feet; his hands trembled.  "This is not the fault of any of you.  Nobody can predict the actions of a madman.  What Zolokt and his son are doing is psychotic.  Stop beating yourselves up over something very few could ever imagine.  Focus on stopping this lunacy and protecting our village."

Thoruk slowly nodded.  "You're correct, as usual."

He turned to his tracker.  "You did a great job.  I know we put you and Tropokt at risk.  We really appreciate what you did.  Get some rest.  You can talk with Protuk after you've slept and had a chance to clean up.

"Protuk, I need strategy alternatives and your recommendation to put a halt to the Skalag's aggression once and for all.  We'll work together on a final plan to defeat them for good!  I want Ukkiville prepared to deal with the worst.  We will not just slow them down this time — we will put an end to this evil."

He spun toward his buddy.  "Storm, where are we with the completion of our wall?  It has to be ready when the assault arrives.  Will it be finished and sound within 2 weeks?"

"Yes, that won't be a problem.  We've got one corner to finish.  It should be ready then."

"Great!"  Thoruk sighed.  "It's getting late.  Go home and get some rest.  We have to focus on preparing for anything the Skalags throw at us.  Take care and may God bless us."  The others replied.  "Amen."