The Land: chapter 6

THE LAND

By S L EVANS

Prolong:

Standing before his Creator, his Maker, his God,
Jacob tightened his grip around the sword he
Wielded so furiously and spurred himself
To strike the fatal blow!

Chapter 6:
Soul Survivors

Before Jacob could continue his frantic, yet fascinated observation of
the new land he was quickly and violently born into, an explosion rang
and echoed exceedingly loud about the mountains he had just emerged.
What Jacob had guessed had become fact. The gates that he and his
fellow band of captives had just been marched hastily from exploded
with such force to bring the whole side of the mountain crashing down
to cover and block the great hall exit. What had become of the people
left inside, Jacob sought not to wonder since the presumptions would be
too horrid, surly the faiths of those people were grim. While others
screamed and shook with fright at the detonation, Jacob followed in
Alfred's example and hung his head low and kept moving as the leading
soldier atrociously commanded. Thought Jacob wished not to bring any
due attention to himself from the passing militant men of destruction
by whimpering or sobbing at the horrors he had experienced, he helped
not but squeeze his eyes close tight at each other bang and rumble of
falling rock he heard. The sounds of the cheering crowd he left behind
in the great hall were as distant to him now as was his old comfortable
bed back home.
For a moment, as Jacobs head hung low, thoughts raced through his mind
of all he had seen in his brief time of arrival to this strange and now
terrible land. With his eyes closed he thought of as many things
possible to shield his mind from the sound his ears introduced to him
but though he tired to picture pleasantries to keep him sane, only
images of the fallen innocent he had just witnessed presented
themselves. Jacob felt an overwhelming urge to open his eyes once again
so that these picture thoughts would escape his mind. Not knowing which
would be worse, he opened his eyes and mind once again to his
surroundings. Now aware, his ears once again listened but heard
nothing. The explosions had ceased, the mountain rocks had fallen, and
landed to their destination, no sounds now lingered. Jacobs was once
again sensible and hunted for information of the situation he found
himself in. Silent still, even footsteps tread quietly since each foot
landed softly on sand in a surroundings almost exactly similar to the
topical scenery that he left behind in the arrival bay of Expletus.
Jacob found his small group far behind the rest of the army that had
quickly hurried further ahead in hast, nobody spoke. Alfred marched
quietly along, looking stern, as ever, the soldier beside him had no
reason to shout further commands since the group was already doing as
he wished. Miller, who was running just behind Jacob, looked wet faced
and stunned with wild white disc eyes. Next to him Jacob saw the horrid
little rat-faced man who seemed to be muttering to himself, though no
sounds escaped his lips, he seemed quite eccentric. There were other
people about but Jacob took not heed of them for that short while and
continued to look ahead, finding the whole sudden silence very
eerie.

As Jacob continued to run forwards with the rest of the shackled group,
he found himself once again in a daydream since he was unable to
communicate with his fellow prisoners in fright of action from the army
guard. He felt himself quite strange as his thoughts played at their
own steam, which he felt he had no control over. Images and memories
flashed through his thoughts unwanted but unable to be stopped, before
long Jacob feared he was becoming quite mad with the strain.
For some time, how long Jacob was not sure, he marched along with no
sense of anything real, just breezing through a surreal odyssey, the
occurrences in front of his eyes simply did not register until his day
dreaming was broken by the sudden loud swooping noise of a Magno-chine
flying over his band heads. As sand flurried up and engulfed the group,
Jacob began to take concentration of other events unfolding. The few
green palm trees and scrubs that surrounded the leaving exit of the
gateway were slowly disappearing and all that could be seen in any
direction that Jacob was striding was barren regions, a desert of
considerable size. The incredible topical forests he had seen when he
first awoke were like everything else good, a mere memory. Now only a
few brittle brushed could be seen and in the increasing heat they were
slowly vanishing behind the group with every step forwards they took.
Though the landscape was of plain golden sands, the view was not an
uninteresting one. Once again, many alien sites awarded Jacobs eyes and
since he could do nothing but stride, keeping quiet, he had plenty of
time to take in the outlook. Along with the tropical forests and
greeneries, the massive titanic mountains Jacob had initial seen were
also to the south of where he was now heading and no other mountains
for the time being could be seen ahead of himself. However, to the east
and west of Jacob he noticed many small ancient looking towns, pocketed
all around, they had clearly been abandoned for thousands of years at a
guess it seemed. Perhaps if the army had never arrived and the herd of
people left normally as they should of, Alfred may have explained to
them what had become of the old settlements. Nonetheless, Jacob was not
in a situation to start acting like a tourist and asking Alfred for
information on the sites and could only make up his own mind on what
had become of the badly weathered sandy stone villages of the past.
Perhaps with growing technology and better discovered lands, the
original inhabitants ventured to better grounds and cities, leaving
behind these basic little houses to rot away, who knew, Jacob did not
and nor did he the time to further gander that what first guesses
thought, other affairs took chief attention. With the heat beating down
more heavily but astonishingly not sapping the strength of the forced
walkers, Jacobs bowed his head to help protect his eyes from the gushes
of sand and bright light bombarding them. He looked to Alfred who had
become his mentor for behaviour to see how he was dealing with the
onslaught of stinging sand. Amazingly, Alfred, no longer with his large
tinted sunglasses, walked tall with his head high and his eyes opened
wide to observe the activities of the army in the distant. Jacob was
surprised to see his new friend so unbothered by the masses of sand
hitting his eyes. Though Jacob presently did not fully understand the
meaning of this, in later times he would learn a many new things. After
briefly wondering how Alfred was able to keep his eyes so widely opened
(he put it down to Alfred's 'manliness') he too soon shared Alfred's
interest in the activities of the army ahead.

Jacob had spent so much time worrying about himself, those people and
things nearby, that he had paid no regard to the giant massing army not
altogether too far in the distant. In fact, it seemed, once Jacob
looked about his group, he was the last individual to take notice of
the huge army ahead. Alfred, Miller, Rat-face, the girl, the guard and
the few others were all watching intensely at the men and machinery
gathering in greater numbers. Jacob looked forwards for the first time
with a greater curiosity and again saw another great frightening yet
intriguing sight. Ahead the group watched as the few battle towers and
Magno-chines that took a part in the seizing of the gate sped ahead to
join the colossal size army, which was now at a stand still. As the
group roamed closer, Jacob could see millions upon millions of more
soldiers that made the attacking battalions of the gate look like a
mere few in comparison to the overall number. The soldiers were all in
gigantic formations, apparently in their own regiments and not all the
same. The majority of soldiers were in the unchanged armour as the
attacking force but there were also few units that seemed made up of
medieval style knights in plain steel coverings, not to compete in
grandness in comparison of the armour dress of the Keepers. Other
smaller companies seemed dressed as soldiers would appear on Earth,
without any steel armour but dressed in uniform clothing with perhaps
just an unusual helmet. The men alone were a dazzling sight with all
their reflective armour glittering under the sparkling sun but they did
not steal the spotlight for this show appearance. The main attraction
for Jacob and his fellow on lookers were the magnificent machines that
slowly moved about between each company, waiting to be driven into the
mouth of madness. There were many more battle towers, much higher and
bigger than those giant ones that Jacob saw in the hall, these were
much too big to have gotten inside and they were almost as huge as a
small mountain. Their metallic black coverings shined under the sun
that Jacob could not find when he first arrived, but now he could surly
see it, glaring mercilessly hot in the now slightly cloud forming sky.
The sun was much smaller than that he would usually see on Earth but it
was there up. Giant guns of all weird sorts hung off the back of these
steel beasts and once again he saw the many glass half moon pocket of
windows with men cradled inside, caressing the machine gun they wielded
from the side of the monster. Other than these giant roaming machines
were more vehicles of probable destruction. Not as high but massive in
width were long silver cylinders that what Jacob first described to
himself as big futuristic looking battle trains. The long rounded
vehicle had a huge beam resting above it, which Jacob supposed to be
the biggest cannon weapon he had seen so far and engines on either side
in which it much project itself. Apart from these, there were also many
smaller vehicles in which the average soldier travelled and fought in.
In the low sky, hundreds of little Magno-chines whizzed around, looking
black against the bright heavens, in the appearance of many flies
busying about. Also landed on the ground, waiting for departure were
the travel vehicles Jacob had seen in happier times, such as the large
bus style vehicle he travelled through the mountain in, but the ones he
saw ahead were altered with military additions. Though Jacobs group was
getting near to the nearest of soldiers in the army, his band was still
a fair bit away from the death delivering services. On they strode,
venturing ever closer, if natural death was a possibility most of the
group's poor hearts would have failed long ago but of course none had
hearts.

The soldier guard, who was accompanying the group, guided the posses of
prisoners passed the armies they had come up to and moved them along as
quickly as possible as soldiers here and there in the regiments
sneakily pushed and shoved the passing captives.
The nearer the guard got to where he must have been heading the more
impatient he grew and began to shout once more for his burden lot to
move quicker and faster. The soldier it seemed was in no mood to be
babysitting the sorry looking group and wished to be elsewhere. As
quickly, as he began to start shouting for Jacob and company to hurry,
he bellowed for them to stop and drop. With his say, each man and woman
hastily plunged to the ground and sat without mention. Passing the
group were two other soldiers carrying a large box between each other
and dressed differently to the rest of the surrounding army. Jacobs
group guard quickly shouted at the two men to come over and that they
did, leading Jacob to believe they were lower in rank to be so eager to
step to the guard command. The two men quickly scuttled over, placed
down the wooden box and stood with their hands aside of
themselves.
'Watch tis lot yal two' coarsely said the soldier to the men
'Sir!' shouted the two soldiers together in an agreeing response.
'I'll be back in a bit, I'm off for da captain, where may ee be bout
ere?'
'Over in that there tent sir!' said one of the men while pointing to a
small red marquee not a few yards away
'Alwright, I shalt be long, if any of'em move, zap'em' the guard said
as he handed one of the men his stunner rod, as it seemed neither of
them had one on their person.
As the guard scurried off to do his bidding, the two men separated to
stand guard on either side of the group and said not a word. They stood
with their chins high and their hands still firmly at their sides,
except one who held the stunner rod over his right breast.
Again, Jacob felt he was not in a position to talk and so sat on the
ground looking at everything about him. There was not too much new to
see. The Magno-chines were still fluttering about in the air, a few
looked slightly different with mechanic style arms aside of the vehicle
carrying larger boxes a man could not carry and the army of men who
stood in formation not far away were still and without activity. Jacob
tired to see where the guard had gone but his eyes followed him only to
the entrance of the red and yellow army tent to which he disappeared.
In seemed quite busy inside but outside of it stood only one guard,
dressed in the same manner as the guard Jacob was trying to observe.
The battalion that stood by Jacob were not the knight regiments he
would have wished to observed but were just the soldiers that were all
dressed identical to the ones he had already seen. The only new thing
Jacob could see in the enclosed area he now sat were the two soldiers
who stood either of his imprisoned group. Unlike all the other armed
forces around, they did not have the same reflective armour; in fact,
they bore little armour except the helmet on their heads and the gorget
around their necks. They wore very baggy beige striped camouflaged
jackets and trousers with knee high brownie cream boots. Over their
coats, they bared two large crossed white straps around their chest
with small pouches attached. Though their wear was very different to
the majority of main soldiers, Jacob still saw a likeness in the
uniform they wore, mainly it was the helmets that crowned their. Like
most, the helmet was reflective as a mirror but where the average
soldier Jacob could see wore a helmet that was round like that of an
American G.I. helmet back on Earth, these two soldiers had side flaps
to cover most of their face and an addition piece, a metal closed
visor. Jacob believed they had all these extra parts to cover their
faces since they were not masked like the other men. All the other
soldiers looked a bit like terrorists to Jacob; almost every single one
had a black mask to cover their faces and a large red visor to hide
their eyes. Perhaps 'Jacob thought' each man hid his face so no one
knew who he was and that he was apart of this brutal army destroying a
place that Alfred once said to be paradise.

After Jacob had observed everything to see, he bowed his head once more
and fingered the sand he sat on. He dared not turn to talk to any of
those next to him but Jacob no longer felt afraid since his nerves were
utterly shot after the experience of the siege. He felt gladness in the
dimmest sense that he was for the moment out of danger or so he hoped.
He had no idea how his friend Miller was feeling since he was unable to
turn to see or ask but he knew he would be in a bad way because as much
as Miller may say tough words, he had always been a gentle emotional
sort who by no means would endure such torture with any ease. For the
first time since the explosion some time ago, Jacob was beginning to
think of his friend, he was really beginning to worry. Surly Miller
would be in a state of madness of physiological torment at all he had
witnesses and been through. Jacob had always felt himself to be a
stronger man that Miller since he had been brought up in the rough
environment of the pub life and even he felt he could scarcely take
much more punishment to the soul. Miller had always hated fights of any
sort and most often threatened to quit his bar job when he had to deal
with unruly men of bad nature. If he found the feeble squabbles of
drunks unbearable, he would surly be feeling suicidal now. For a moment
Jacobs heart leapt to his throat in worry for his brother like friend
but in a sense reassured himself that Miller would be unable to bring
any harm to himself. One, he would be too scared to do anything as the
guards may attack, unless he went mad, but he was quiet up to now.
Moreover, two, Miller and himself were supposedly in the afterlife,
dead, what harm can you do to yourself if you are already dead? Unless
'Jacob darkly remembered', he got his hands on one of those guns? If by
any chance they got out of this bad situation, Jacob felt he would have
to keep a close eye on his friend.

While Jacob thoughts once again played like a photo album, flashing
different pictures of events through his none entertained mind, he felt
a twitch in his back, then a poke, followed by a hiss. At first he
thought it to be that horrible little ratty man and was not going to
move and get himself in trouble for that little bastard but soon he
heard his name whispered and he realised it was Miller. Worry for his
friend was quickly replaced with anger. How stupid could Mill be? He
was going to get them both in trouble. Jacob moved none but his eyes to
see if the guards took notice but the more his ignored his friend, the
more he beckoned him. Jacob thought his worries had come true and the
usually timid friend, normally scared of danger had gone mad and
eventually the obvious happened, the guard took notice of the noisy
curly twit poking Jacob in the back.
'Babbaham' shouted one guard to the other with the stun rod 'that
piss'a is being of nuisance. Do as da man told us and zap im!
The guard in accord with his partner raised up his arm to clout Miller
with the shaft he held high, now alight with hopping blue flames.
Miller sensible of what his stupidity was about to cost him let a small
shriek and cover his head with his arms.
Jacob gasped for his friend but did little more, while the rest and
even Alfred did nothing to bring such punishment on themselves.
Just before the arm of the soldier began to rear down upon Millers poor
head, his name was called out once more
'Babbaham' shouted a tall sturdy man 'do not strike any of those people
there or you will have Master Arx Malum to deal with'
'So-sorry sir! I was ordered to do so' said the baggy clothed private,
shaken in the presence of his highest regiment commander and pointing
to the soldier who had told him to watch the group.
'Is that true?' the commander said to the original guard standing next
to himself
'Sir, yes!' said the original sentinel who too looked unnerved
'Did anyone give you authority to ordered such punishment to these
prisoners?' asked the commander
'Er-sir' said the guard
'Answer clearly man!'
'Sir no sir!'
'Private Babbaham, bring over that weapon may you' said the commander
with a lazed voiced
The baggy dressed soldier quickly ran round the group of seated
prisoners and handed the commander the long black rod. The commander
then turned facing the original armour glad soldier guard and held the
weapon afro, just beneath the soldiers chin
'A good soldier always does as he is ordered and never does what not
asked' the commander said before jabbing the soldier swiftly in the
chin (the only part of his wear not armoured). The soldier then fell
violently to the ground with a thud, shook for a second before lying
still and unconscious. The commander then dropped the stun stick on the
soldier's breastplate and stood over his body.
'You two, get back to shifting what you should be moving and do not
take orders from any soldiers again, this army has a lot to do and has
no room whatsoever for incompetence! You only take orders from officers
like myself ' said the commander with great authority and with the end
of his sentence the two men scurried off.
'Right you lot' the commander said addressing the seated shabby group
'I shall be accompanying you to where you have to go, its not far and I
will not be needing to waste much of my time on you, so get up and
follow quickly!' and with that the commanding officer began to walk
off
Jacob and the others quickly rose to their feet and hurried off after
the man who was leading them now. As the group ventured off once again,
each person stepped over the out cold soldier, except for Miller who
felt the need to step on and over the unconscious man.
Quickly the band followed the man who was in a hurry to off load the
burden of babysitting the captives. Jacob noticed how everyone was
undeniably very busy and gave the impression to be gearing up for a big
move. Everywhere Jacob looked he saw the millions of soldiers pouring
into massive type buses, the sort he himself had travelled on before.
It seemed a big operation was developing all around and everyone was
busy getting ready for a manoeuvre. In no time at all the commander had
stopped the group and pointed to a old looking, open dusty brown steel
cart which was attached by cords to a small wheel less vehicle rested
on the ground.
'In there, you lot, in that lug by the Molior' the commander said clear
and loud.
The group went up and into the cart without hesitation as the commander
demanded and sat down once more and said not a word. The commandant
waited for the last person to clamber up inside and then locked them
all in. There was no roof on the haul but the four walls were towering
and so no one was able to perceive what else were happening outside
their minute environment.

Hours passed and all that could be seen was the sharp blue sky with the
occasional cloud drifting by. Alfred stared at his hands cuffed around
his bent knees, Miller stared blankly at the sky, Rat face had a
fixation on the small dot sun which brought incredible heat and Jacob
listened discretely to the private discussion of the couple he had his
back to. When the group first slumped down in the rusty cage not a word
was spoken but as the hours passed they deemed they must had been
forgotten about for the time being as they were not troubled by any
guards when their voices were raised. Most of the small crowded
prisoners seemed contempt not to say a word but to Jacobs interest he
listened to the bitching couple behind himself. They seemed to be
nudging each other and being abusive back and forth.

'Mark! This is all your fault, yours!' Jacob heard the woman bicker.
Every now and again, the woman would stop her moaning to break into
tears but every time she did, her apparent partner would attempt to
console her without success. Instead of fixing the breaking dam, he
would make it worse with her hurling into a new fit of abuse.
With his hands high, he would call 'Laura' always at first softly but
louder in defence as her mood degenerated. When whispering, Jacob found
it hard to hear exactly what they were fighting about since the noise
from the roaming army drowned the softer-spoken moments. Nevertheless,
the voices soon rose loud enough for everyone in and outside the cart
to hear.
'You, ya bastard! Mum was right, I should have listened to her about
you, you worthless twat!' screamed the arm waving lady
'Laura! Laura' again said the man, unable to get a word in edge
ways
'Mum was right, your thick. She always said you'd come to a bad end
with your stupid ways and she was RIGHT!'
Everyone sat listening to the show argument, even a helmless soldier
and a comrade peered over the high wall top to look down at what all
the fuss was about
'I always told you not to use that damn bloody mobile phone while you
were driving but would you listen NO! Its ok you said, everyone uses'em
while driving you said. But I told you when we were going around that
bloody island with your one hand steering skill (sarcastic) to put away
that damn phone. All this cos you had to tell Dave you brought a crappy
footie shirt with god knows name on it. Its all your fault we're here.
I should be alive, ALIVE!' shouted the woman before she hunched to the
ground, wailing once again with her feeble man slouched over her.

'What do you think happened to them?' Jacob whispered to Miller
Miller said nothing; he did not even acknowledge anything was said to
him.
'Driving, mobile, blame and death' said Alfred 'sounds like they had a
car accident which evidently killed them'
Before Jacob could even reply a light flared into the only sight they
had outside the cart, the sky. As everyone stared up, they saw a
terrifying thing, Arx Malum.
High in the blue Arx face now beamed so large it consumed total
view.

'What the hell is that' Miller blurted, snapping out of his trance like
state again
'I do not know' lowly spoke Alfred 'watch'

At first the face looked fuzzy, grainy and when spoke, no sound was
heard. For a short while the group looked up in wonder until the face
disappeared and reappeared with the whole of Arx Malum in full view,
for a while however, no sound was heard still.

'He's addressing his army, his using a body projector so that everyone
can hear what he has to say. When you have an army consisting of
millions upon millions of persons, it is hard to spread the message.'
Alfred said to a full audience
Jacob again tried to counter Alfred with a further question but again
he was beaten to the post by an over bearing boom of noise. Suddenly
Arxs voice was for every man and woman to hear
'Minions' said Arx's mighty loud voice 'Your hour of honour draws
nearer, your deeds in this action will promise you an eternity of
happiness and FREEDOM.'
Alfred, Jacob and their companion's listened intensely with a sense of
confusion and eagerness to hear more.

Unseen to Jacob and his fellow captives, Arx Malum stood on a grand
stage at the foot of his army, looking out over at all his vast number
of followers, around him flew small globe cameras that projected his
image for all to witness. Behind and beside Arx sat Eversor and three
other men.
'You have chosen the right course my brothers, you are the chosen ones,
your faith leads you to a greatness you have yet not known. You will
receive numerously more than you put forth for your efforts in
liberating us all from the tyranny of Famulus. You are our Creator
Crusaders, we will be confronted but we will prevail. Already the
Creator has shown us his favouritism, the closing of the Great Gate so
that our enemies can not get reinforcements and the defeat of foes such
as Pax Pacis should show you that is the wish of our Lord that we
should seize the moment and do the bidding he wants us ever so badly to
achieve.'
'It is true' roared Eversor as he sprang to his feet and took his place
besides Arx Malum, himself too now broadcasted across the sky. 'It is
true and I am proof. Men with their own eyes has seen so. In the Great
Hall, inside the Great Gate, a minion of Famulus set upon me from
behind and in his hand, he grasped the sword of Pax Pacis. The very
sword that relentlessly slays soul upon souls everyday, one of few
weapons that can kill another in all the Land was struck down on my
very back. Each and everyone one of you have passed one of us Keepers
as you first arrived and all have seen how no victim can escape the
faith of the wielded sword a keeper brings crashing down on its evil
prey. As we all know, the creator guides the blade to be brandished
upon evil and for that soul to depart from our land forever, just as
the dark lord, brother of Famulus, Theio was destroyed. However when
that minion struck me with the sword, I did not die, I did not perish,
I was not harmed! The Creator, our Lord spared me for what I've done,
what we all must do is just. Our Lord has spared me and he will spare
you all too for we are his chosen children, his soldiers to help free
his land and ourselves from the evil of Famulus'

With the end of his speech, he stood back and once again sat down to
the pleasing roar and chants of the crowd. Arx Malum looked amiably
surprised with Eversors spontaneous message and turned once again to
his soldiers with a broad smirk smile
'We are his children' Arx once again exploding into a well prepared
speech 'and like any good parent he wants to protect us, protect us
from Famulus. We have the Lords blessing, his guiding hand rests on our
shoulder and with him beside us no one will stand in our way. Too long
Famulus has taken away our rights to explore, express and develop. He
says we live in a democratic land where our politicians represent us
but does he listen to us, no! He may allow us to speak our thoughts but
he takes no heed and does as he wishes. Too long, he has repressed us
but we march forwards my brothers and sisters, forwards to victory!
Follow me now, follow me forward to claim back what is our. One by one,
each kingdom will see our way is right and they will join with us or
perish with the enemy. Anyone who stands against us, stands against the
Creator. We are his Crusaders; you are his soldiers, his children.
Spread his message, freedom, we fight for freedom!' And with an end to
an explosive speech, an explosive approval of applause erupted around
the many regiments of soldiers.

Once Arxs brilliant magnificent visual image disappeared from the sky
amidst loud cheering as of the army, Jacob turned to Alfred and said 'I
thought Famulus was good, I thought he was some kinda protector, sum
kinda God?'
'He is' said Alfred solemn unconvincing voice, taking no proper regard
to Jacobs insignificant questioning
'So what...what's this all about then?' anxiously said Jacob
'I am not sure, it appears this army wishes to rebel against our Lord,
they seem to desire wages of war' Alfred said with gritted teeth as his
voice slipped to a whisper
'But...why?' Jacob said in a almost child like way
'I am quite sure I do not know! Did you not listen boy! For pity sake I
am not your informer in such dire times, my mind is my own for a while
to deliberate such events!' Alfred said so maliciously, that Jacob
found similarity to how his father would snarl at him when angry and
bothered. Jacob quickly retracted, felt small, and petty, frightened in
an alien environment with no hand on his shoulder to guide him. Jacob
now stood silent, as all those others confused around him did
also.

As the group stood and waited, staring into the sky to see if any other
images would appear, a loud cluster of marching footsteps and revving
engines suddenly filled the air. It sounded as if the millions strong
army was abruptly moving and just as quickly the prisoners own carriage
began to move away from the mobilizing forces, away eastwards.
Fear again entered the prisoner's minds and they fell to the floor as
the sudden shift of the vehicle caused most standing to lose balance.
Alfred however stood still in the corner with his hands clutching the
high wall to keep him straight.
Nobody spoke, some listened to the noises outside to gather any kind of
idea of what was happening, especially Alfred, others waited in fright
at what horrors they were being driven to and few sat, still hoping to
wake from this dreaded nightmare at any soon time.

First minutes passed and no one spoke, then ten minutes passed and the
silence inside the cart remained and the noise of the army lessened as
they advanced further away at high speeds, then hours passed and any
sound from any person and the army was gone. The clouds in the sky
gather tighter but the sun still shone intensely, the carriage shook
sufficiently as it was clear from the rushing sky scenery that the cart
too was travelling at incredible speeds, to where no one yet knew.
Alfred stood still all the while congregating thoughts, Miller had
spoken not a word since his encounter with the guards hours earlier and
Jacob was incline to speak to Alfred in case of another furious
reaction. Jacob felt his mind in a spin, for the moment his emotions
were shot and he thought not anymore for a while about the recent
passed affairs, he felt the need to speak and question, to air his
opinions but not in any case to the increasingly irritable Alfred.
Jacob slowly bent on all fours and slumbered over to his war torn
friend Miller.

'Ha, hows ya doin?' Jacob said gently, softly poking Miller in his
leg
Miller at first looked at Jacob as if express he wished not to speak
and turned away his head. With a sigh, Jacob felt his friend was in no
better state of mind and turned himself to return to his own space in
the corner to continue to collect torturing thoughts. However, as he
turned he felt a hand rest on his arm, slowly pulling him around.
'Why do we fight J, Why do we kill each other?' Miller said
'I ...I don't know mate, how you feeling?' Jacob said with no clear
idea how to reply
'I mean...' continued Miller 'this is like Heaven right but... it
isn't. I mean he (referring to Alfred) told us this was our paradise
but this is Hell' Miller said slowly and drawn out 'Why do we need to
fight if we have it all here...why?' said without any emotion but
bringing steady tears to Jacobs eyes as he believed his friend to have
totally lost his mind in the mayhem
'I don't know, I really don't, I wish I did' said Jacobs crumbling
voice that struggled to speak each shaky word he spoke
'Greed' boldly said Alfred, loud enough to gather each man and woman's
attention 'Greed can corrupt even the most honest man for our hearts
are weak and we seek what we do not have, even when we have it all. We
seem to be built to want more, to always want what can never be but are
too foolish to realise such and such is our greed we destroy all who
stand between us and what we desire. Never will we be restful and that
is why we are damned, damn what I am' Alfred said so loud for he wished
all to hear his condemning conclusion of mankind.
Jacob looked stunned at the man he held in such high esteem, he too
like his friend who sat next to him seemed broken by events and had
lost all faith. Around Jacob looked and no face had any hope left as if
all had forsaken themselves for doom, it was at this moment Jacob felt
at his lowest and he sunk next to his friend and rested against him in
silence once more.

Jacob sat and thought about his family, his heart wanted to mourns for
them. His father who would surly be pushed to destruction at his own
demise, his wayward brother whose life seemed destined for the gutter
and of his mother he grieved most for she would without doubt suffer
with all else in this terrible land and again he would lose her. Jacob
wanted to mourn them all but his heart had grieved so much it had now
gone bust and all he could do was think of them as a way of comforting
arms to help heal him in such times. Jacob closed his eyes and without
anticipation fell to sleep.

Many more hours passed and the clouds in the sky grew ever more thicker
until the sun was hidden and rain very suddenly lashed down but the
world was still light and no sign of night was any nearer for
now.

As time passed, most of the people exhausted by such events found
comfort in sleep as Jacob had but however not overlong as many would
wake screaming from nightmares to match the reality. Jacob woke from
his own horrible dream as everyone else had, to find himself a foot
deep in water as the rain grew ever so stronger and heavier. As he
wiped back his wet fringe and cleared his eyes he saw Miller soundly
asleep still, everybody quiet and Alfred unsurprisingly still standing
up right but now with his head rested down with water sopping down from
his thick hair. A great deal of time had passed and no one was any
wiser of where they were venturing but it was far, very far. Their
vehicle had been travelling for many hours at incredible speeds, the
clouds in the sky continued to rapidly change in shape but grew in
numbers. Jacob mind wondered what the land outside would look like now,
surely it would no longer be the deserted shrub land they left behind
so long ago. Perhaps it was alien altogether, nothing at all like
Earth, but with the walls so high and fright of any lurking guards
meant Jacob dared not climb and peer out and so had to be contempt with
his own ideas of what may prowl beyond.

The vehicle shook vigorously and many people felt their whole self
vibrate but after such along time of endurance, it was tolerable but
none the less uncomfortable. Suddenly however Jacob felt himself thrust
forwards and toppling to his one side he saw the mass of Alfred come
tumbling down from the corner he had stood post. To his left he saw the
small rat face man topple over onto Miller, waking him. The vehicle
they were travelling in had come to an impulsive stop. The people
inside fretted that their hour was nigh and doom was outside the four
walls waiting to greet them, one woman left a nervous shriek ripe. A
noise of turning clogs sprung about and the four walls that had become
a sense of protection from the outside world quickly fell away, leaving
the foot of water inside sliver out.
The first sight that immediately gained everyone view was the enormous
forest landscape in the eastward distant, the endless flat land of
green grass to the west and absent of any army or city. Apart from
three soldiers who sat in a floating compartment in front, (that towed
the carriage and another small floating vehicle ahead), there was no
threatening sight. No armed forces and no weaponry of any sort.
Jacob rose up to his knees and covered his eyes from the heavy rain to
see over the huddle of fallen people beneath him. Next to him rose
Miller soaking wet from falling face first into the high brown water
inside the carriage and then slowly all else too clambered clumsily up.
Everybody looked out at the vast forest of giant red shaded trees, over
sized bushes and scrubs that seemed only a few miles away from where
their vehicle grounded but it was probably unimaginably further.
Peering over the large wonderful forest were huge rocky black mountains
that were crowned with whitened tops

'Look at'em mate' Jacob said to Miller, trying to relieve him from his
sorry state.
Maybe Jacob heeded such a trivial thing to bring his thoughts away from
the horrors that may still spring to view, for sheer sanity and control
of his shaken emotions he had to concentrate his mind on something
peaceful and savour any non-horrific moment.
'There smaller than the first ones we saw' Miller said in a quiet way,
still not himself
'I know but there still big though and a bit weird looking, look at
them thin pointy tops, they look like witches hats' said Jacob in a
almost happily
With no sign of an army and no attention from the guards, the people
felt they were in no danger and guessed perhaps they had broken
down.
Feeling a bit happier and amazement of interest in the land about him
Jacob tugged at Alfred next to him as he had become accustom to when he
was inquisitive
'Do they av a name'
'What?' sneered Alfred
'Those mountains'
'There commonly known as the SnowAsh Mountains, a small rocky terrain
that surrounds the kingdom of Glorion, that's where we must be heading,
there taking us prisoner there I imagine, bastards'
Alfred's little brut reply brought black haze to Jacobs's thoughts
rather quickly, putting an abrupt end to his child like happiness from
the scenery, his brief beam was gone. Alfred had reminded him of their
dire situation, the thought of being near where they were heading was
not a pleasing one, and so Jacob slumped back.

As the prisoners took in the view, one of the guards leapt down from
the controls unnoticed and began his way over to the confronting
vehicle. A lavish red-cloaked sentinel who opened a door for him,
allowing him access to the carriage, greeted the guard; they spoke
briefly before he continued inside. Miller had noticed this straight
away since he was still very wary of his captures and soon brought it
to Jacobs's attention without the use of words. The transport the guard
had disappeared into was in some slight ways like their own. It too was
a carriage but a marvellous one, highly decorated, as a wealthy king
would embellish all he travels in. It was slick phantom silver, which
many fancy emboss and engravings and on top sat a man shrouded in a
shadowy red gown and a long pointed helmet that enclosed his face. In
his hand, he held reins that stood out straight in front and between
them drifted a large hoary metallic ball that glowed with a surrounding
white light. Jacob as always took much notice of all details, great and
small and remembered how the Magno-chines that helped attack the Great
Gate also had a large ball like device that fitted to the back,
twisting and turning, moving the flying machines.

After a while, Jacobs and Miller attention wandered back to the land
when no other action seemed to take place among the guards and they
guessed their nosiness would not be appreciated. Jacob looked at the
wonderful forest that soared so high in the sky, only beaten in height
by the little monster mountains. When he turned his body around and
looked west of his prisoner hauling carriage he observed a scorched
barren land, a land where the heavy rain did not reach, that seemed
endless and utterly flat, a stark contrast to a view welcomed by the
flip of his head. With such vastness and unsure of what was of normal
size, judging distance was impossible for a new comer like Jacob and so
with a mind with far greater worries he just enjoyed viewing these
alien sites for they may be the last great things he ever saw,
maybe?

Jacob and Miller were sitting on a ground that had become a thick mushy
mud under the pounding rain, (much more comfortable than the steel
carriage floor) and were staring out trying to empty their minds of
thought. People roamed around but never too far without being hassled
by the guards who talked amongst themselves. Alfred took no interest in
a view he had seen countless times and too took advantage of the
soft-bedded floor, surmising what may be happening. Rat face annoyingly
stayed close to Miller but as yet had not managed any whole sentences,
just few words of 'lovely' and 'amazing' but he was always shifty,
looking everyone up and down, especially the women but never for too
long. Alone in the corner, furthest away from anybody crouched the
young lady Jacob had saved earlier from a soldiers gun fire, she above
all else seemed most tragic, her eyes distraught and sought no comfort
or company from any other fellow sufferer, Jacob could not help but
feel his attention constantly drawn to her.
Suddenly Rat face neck snapped to a view caught in the corner of his
eye, Jacob quickly looked too. The door of the prolific coach
gracefully but swift opened and the guard stepped out, quickly followed
by two larger gun-totting soldiers. They were heading towards the
group, fast with no time to spare.

The people around reacted nervously, so did Jacob as he took a step
back, aghast with striking fright, any light of hope had now turned to
a dusty night. The people opened their eyes wide and looked at the
silver guns glare but the horror it brought to their hearts was far too
much to bear. The cries, the running bothered the guards not for they
took no heed of such people when their target was standing tall in
clear shot. However, the guns those guards carried were not for firing
yet, they wanted their person alive but for how long was another bet.
Alfred with arms crossed shouted for the people to fear not for the
soldiers who marched forth was not for them at all.
'Here I am take me now, frighten all these no more, for I know who it
is who summons me with his call!'

The two soldiers who accompanied the guard quickly carried on walking
with an arm out stretched to take a hold of Alfred. Both men held their
long rifle weapons firmly against his temple once they had a firm hold
of him and with a sting in his voice; one ordered Alfred to march
quickly towards the lavish carriage. As Alfred with a silent dignity
was speedily lead away, the guard and his comrades quickly gathered the
frightened people and packed them back on their own rusty wagon to be
locked up once again. Jacob was dumb founded as usual in such events
but moved exactly to where he was told to and as he climbed back up
into his hell bound carriage, he looked over his shoulder to see the
tall proud silhouette of Alfred being lead away at gun point. Jacob had
no idea if he would ever see that man again, he hoped so but probably
not, in no short time one of them was bound to be dead, a dead dead man
Jacob thought to himself, he would have smirked if the situation was
not so ominous. Once the people were crammed inside, the four walls
reappeared high once again and the luxury of a view other than the
heavens was lost again, above was a mess of grey churned sky. Miller
sat again, once more without emotions or words but close by slumped Rat
face. Jacob let his head hang low as he stood up with his arms out far,
up high, leaning against the dirty wall that enslaved him. 'What would
happen next he wondered'?

Chapter 7:
Explosions and Explanations in Speech

If any body would like to know more about my book or wish to read the
previous chapters please feel free to contact me at
thelandbyse@yahoo.com