Gunpowder Knight

[Zoombie]

More what? More sex?

[ianmac]

No, more of Alex killing Silverbacks

[Zoombie]

But the Silverbacks are actually the sympathetic race. They're being invaded by another, richer country for resources.

They also have fuzzy ears.

[ianmac]

So

[Zoombie]

Guess my name is editing...the last episode of Gunpowder Knight.

Ever! Prepare yourselves

[Guessmyname]

I did a really heavy editing job on this, but unfortunately, my school's internet connection fucked it massively (long story short: my school's web filter blocks the Spring site unless you're clever and get around it, but it catches on after a while and starts blocking the site again). I can send it you tomorrow, but I had to change quite a lot (spelling mistakes, shoddy grammer, bad word choices etc)

[Zoombie]

It was good in my head, but it was 12 at night after not much sleep, so I can understand the shoddy word choices, poor grammar and worse spelling.

Lookin forward to it, Guess.

[Guessmyname]

I had a feeling you weren't entirely awake

[Zoombie]

Grumble grumble.

[Guessmyname]

*gives Zoombie coffee*

[Foxomaniac]

*gives zoombie steroids*

[Zoombie]

<Zoombie throws himself off a balcony.>

[Zoombie]

<splat>

###


The Source Eternal appeared before Alex and said, without preamble, ├óÔé¼┼ôNo.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alex started, seeing as how he was walking down a mostly empty road at the middle of the night, and then glared. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhy!├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôYou know not our ways. Be thankful you don't, for they are terrible.├óÔé¼┬Ø The Source Eternal's voice sounded odd...as if there were actually a hundred women, each speaking slightly before and ahead of the real one. She turned to go.

├óÔé¼┼ôWait!├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex reached out a hand to stop her, but the Source Eternal vanished without a sound.

Alex stood in the road, fists clenched. He hung his head, then shook it. ├óÔé¼┼ôNo...no, you come back here!├óÔé¼┬Ø He shouted, his voice swallowed up by the trees that surrounded the path. ├óÔé¼┼ôIf you don't come back, I'll tear this-├óÔé¼┬Ø he pulled the recall order out of his pocket. ├óÔé¼┼ô-Damned thing right up!├óÔé¼┬Ø

There was silence. Alex looked around, then made as if to tear the recall order in half. The Source Eternal appeared again, just as suddenly.

├óÔé¼┼ôI knew it,├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex grinned, slowly, folding the recall order. ├óÔé¼┼ôYour ways are terrible...and controlled by our Emperor. And we want every soldier in the war...and if you want this soldier in the war, you are going to-├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôTo what?├óÔé¼┬Ø The Source Eternal cut him off. ├óÔé¼┼ôRestore Source Key's eyesight? Her power?├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôYes.├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex glared at her

├óÔé¼┼ôNo.├óÔé¼┬Ø The Source Eternal's eyes flared beneath her blindfold. ├óÔé¼┼ôKey, as she is now, is as close as she will ever be to being the woman you love. Source are incapable of love... they see too much, their knowledge will cut through your mind and lay bare your weakness.├óÔé¼┬Ø

She slowly shook her head, her face seeming incredibly sad. ├óÔé¼┼ôI know already you have four futures ahead of you. In one, I bow my head and you survive the war. You and Key spend a time together...but then it ends and your pain will destroy your life. In the other, I bow my head but survive you do not. Key's pain would level a city, but it remains in her mind... destroying her.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alex bit his lip. ├óÔé¼┼ôThen... if I do not bow my head and you survive, you stay together until death takes you both to a world that knows neither pain nor fear.├óÔé¼┬Ø

The Source Eternal looked away. ├óÔé¼┼ôAnd the fourth is the most terrible... if I do not bow my head, but you do not survive.├óÔé¼┬Ø She shook her head. ├óÔé¼┼ôPay it no mind.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alex gritted his teeth. The Source Eternal looked back at him. ├óÔé¼┼ôBe glad, Alexander of Tervarthen, for you will survive if only you do not lead the charge at Restroke.├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôBut what is that price?├óÔé¼┬Ø

The Source Eternal looked surprised that he had even asked the question. She spoke slowly, her voice soft, the echoing fading. ├óÔé¼┼ôTo not lead the charge... has no price.├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôYou are lying.├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex narrowed his eyes. ├óÔé¼┼ôThere is always a price. Tell me!├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôThe war shall end,├óÔé¼┬Ø the Source Eternal looked at him, eyes burning through her blindfold. ├óÔé¼┼ôWith the Silverback army victorious.├óÔé¼┬Ø

She faded from view. Alex bit his lip and slipped the recall order back into his pocket. He started to walk down the road again, his mind filled with dread. He arrived at the village of Tervarthen, a good three miles from his home. There, a wagon waited with other soldiers recruited from the village who had also been recalled. They nodded at him, some even saying hello.

Alex got on without a word and the wagon lurched into motion.

He watched his home vanish behind him, and, with a sudden certainty... he knew he would never see it again.

###

Spring had come to the Southland Republic. The mud had dried, the cold beaten to simply fridged rather than fully freezing. Flowers, trees and plants bloomed with a ferocity Alex had never seen. It was as if they knew the rest of the year was hell for them, so they might as well bloom hard in the time they had.

He marched along side his new platoon - a mixture of eager recruits with a few battle hardened veterans sprinkled among them. Most had grenades, back engineered from Silverback inventions, and all were armed with bolt-flints.

Alex sighed, glancing at the Knight Sergeant next to him. He was one of the veterans, a stern looking man named, among all things, Gordon.

├óÔé¼┼ôI knew a Gordon once,├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex murmured.

├óÔé¼┼ôWhat was that, sir?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alex shook his head. ├óÔé¼┼ôNothing. Keep an eye out. The Silverbacks have been quiet... usually means they're working up something extra nasty.├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôOr,├óÔé¼┬Ø Gordon grinned. ├óÔé¼┼ôThey're beaten.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alex grinned back, but his grin had a harsh edge to it. The words of the Source Eternal echoed in his mind... they could still lose.

├óÔé¼┼ôHold.├óÔé¼┬Ø He held up his fist as the platoon reached the crest of a hill. Before them, he could see the tents and siege batteries of the Imperial army. And beyond them...

Redstroke. The last line of defence the Silverbacks hard before the Imperial forces reached their crystal mines, their prime farmland, their factories and their research think tanks. The gate into the Silverback heartlands.

For a last stand, the Silverbacks could have done worse. It bristled with guns. It had sloped walls packed with earth to deflect cannon shot, a moat, another moat and even more cannons on islands built into the moats. The barrels of over a thousand guns stuck from earthen ramparts. The fact they were old, muzzle loading cannons rather than newer, faster firing artillery pieces didn't make him feel much better.

├óÔé¼┼ôThis is going to be fun, isn't it?├óÔé¼┬Ø Gordon muttered.

├óÔé¼┼ôYou bet.├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex sighed. ├óÔé¼┼ôCome on; let├óÔé¼Ôäós get out tents set up.├óÔé¼┬Ø

###


The Imperial army started shelling Redstroke at dawn. Explosive shells crashed down on the embankment, into the city and into the moat. Gouts of water, earth and rubble exploded skywards from every shell crashing down.

And the enemy shot back. They had more guns, and their crews reloading with frantic urgency. They knew this was their last chance.

Alex growled. Whoever had planned this assault was an idiot. The infantry, which included him, pushed forward to the moat and tried to lay pontoon bridges, all the while being shot to pieces by cannons. The hope was that the Imperial artillery could keep the cannons from shooting... but when a cannon ball crippled the man next to him, Alex realized that hope was terribly forlorn.

├óÔé¼┼ôKeep moving!├óÔé¼┬Ø He shouted, jogging towards the moat. Explosions tore into the islands. Alex saw a cannon flying into the air, arching up and splashing into the muddy water. He saw Imperials running up the pontoon bridges. They floated across the moat. The first was blown in half by a volley of cannon fire, the two ends drifting apart almost lazily as the knights it had been carrying crashed into the icy water and drowned under the weight of their equipment. The second bridge survived long enough for Alex to actually get on it, joining the storm of knights charging into Redstroke.

He spilled into Restroke. His bayonet got bloody swiftly, cutting down a Silverback. Alex wasn't sure if the Silverback was a soldier or a civilian, but it was too late anyway; the dead body was already behind him a moment later.

Imperials opened fire. Silverback soldiers fell. The air was thick with gunsmoke and pulverised concrete. Alex brought his flint to his shoulder and fired. He worked the bolt and ducked quickly as a Silverback took a swing at him. He stabbed into its belly and shoved past the rapidly dying Silverback. The line pushed forward, running into homes, shooting, stabbing, beating and fighting.

Alex threw himself behind a half destroyed door frame, worked the bolt, and paused. Explosions rocked the ground and sent bits of pretty much everything clattering down on their heads. Several other Knights clustered around him. Alex looked through the door and saw a very dead Silverback woman, her head stoved in by part of her ceiling. Behind her was a Silverback child trying to hide in a cupboard.

├óÔé¼┼ôStay here,├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex whispered to the other knights, before slipped into the room and hustling towards the cupboard. The Silverback backed away from him, his eyes wide. Alex shushed him, and closed the cupboard. ├óÔé¼┼ôRoom's clear,├óÔé¼┬Ø He called. ├óÔé¼┼ôMove out.├óÔé¼┬Ø

###

Dawn crawled into day. Day crawled into night. Another day followed. Blood, bullets, death. Alex was strung out on barely an hour of sleep. Hunger had passed into a background pain, ignored by a constant rush of adrenaline and combat fever. And on the fifth day...

Artillery continued to fall, but Alex and the Imperials were kept down by a brace of Silvebrack cannons, bolt-flints and the horrific flame spurts. The flame spurts were new: They looked like great metal drums, set in the ground, with a hose attached to the side. The hose would aim at the Imperials and a Silverback would work a system of bellows that would spray flaming jelly out of the hose end that stuck to its victims and burned them slowly.

Alex aimed at one of the barrels and fired. The bullet twanged off the side, harmless.

├óÔé¼┼ôDamn it,├óÔé¼┬Ø he muttered. ├óÔé¼┼ôKill the operator, another Silverback just takes his place.├óÔé¼┬Ø

A bullet pinged off his cover and Alex flinched. A Knight nearby stood up and hurled a grenade across the gap. It landed near a Silveback, who shortly became two smaller, deader Silverbacks.

An artillery shell landed nearby the Imperial position. Alex felt dirt and shrapnel rain on his head, none fast or heavy enough to give him more than a messy hair cut.

Alex snarled and saw, in his minds eye, the Imperial assault stalling here. He could see the Silverbacks readying to push the Imperials back. He could see the Imperials never taking the Southlands.

Alex saw, with sudden clarity, what the Source Eternal had meant.

The Imperial line faltered.

Alex closed his eyes, his hand going to his hip. He felt one of the two things he had kept through out a war that had claimed friends, possessions and his own innocence.

The frying pan.

He held it...and suddenly, he saw a fifth future. He opened his jacket, then closed it again a moment later.

├óÔé¼┼ôMen!├óÔé¼┬Ø He shouted. The men looked at him. Alex opened his mouth and paused, gathering his thoughts. ├óÔé¼┼ôAFFIX BAYONETS!├óÔé¼┬Ø

For a moment, the knights around him didn't move. Then Knight Sergeant Gordon took out his bayonet and attached it to his flint's barrel. The other men started to move too. Alex saw, down at the end of the line, Hank, attacking his bayonet as well. Fully five hundred men, two platoons, up and down the line. Across the field, there were flame spurts, entrenched Silverbacks...

├óÔé¼┼ôReady volley fire!├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex shouted, sticking up out of cover. As one, the other Imperials did the same. ├óÔé¼┼ôFIRE!├óÔé¼┬Ø

The flints spoke as one. The Silverbacks, unprepared for anything like this, fired back in only drips and drabs.

├óÔé¼┼ôCHAAARGE!├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex roared, leaping over his cover and running. Time seemed to crawl. He could see the barrels of the Silverback flints poking out of cover. They all seemed to be aimed at him. Behind him, he heard other Imperials running forward.

Alex ran and ran as fast as he could. His boots slammed into the ground. He a bullet tug at his sleeve, jerking on the fabric.

Then a bullet slammed into his chest.

Alex fell backwards, landing hard on his back, the air rushing out of his lungs.

###

Key sat on her bed, and for a moment, she saw Alex fall in her minds eye. She clenched the sheets, her blind eyes closed. ├óÔé¼┼ôAlex,├óÔé¼┬Ø she moaned.

###

Knights ran past Alex. Flame spurts blazed at the corners of his vision. Then Hank grabbed Alex's feet, dragging him to cover. ├óÔé¼┼ôCome on Alex, hold on.├óÔé¼┬Ø He growled, barely audible over the din of battle.

He got Alex into cover.

Alex sat up, groaning. Hank blinked, astonished. ├óÔé¼┼ôWhere's the blood?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alex grinned, slowly. He opened his jacket to reveal a dented, banged up, cast iron frying pan.

├óÔé¼┼ôGuess...├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex panted, his wind slowly returning to his lungs. ├óÔé¼┼ôThere was a fifth choice.├óÔé¼┬Ø

###

Alex sat on the wagon, watching as the Tervarthen countryside rolled past. Beside him sat Key. She looked amazing in white.

He looked at her, a smiling touching up the corner of his lips. She smiled back.

├óÔé¼┼ôHow did you know I was smiling?├óÔé¼┬Ø He whispered, grinning at her and leaning forward, pressing his forehead against her's.

├óÔé¼┼ôYour lips make noise when they move. Also,├óÔé¼┬Ø Key grinned. ├óÔé¼┼ôDo I need a reason to smile today?├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôNo, you don't.├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex sighed, kissing her on the lips.

The kiss got a bit deeper than he had originally set out to make it. The wagon rolled up in front of the chapel with them still locking lips, Key's hand on the back of Alex's head and his hand sliding down her belly, rubbing across her dress.

Alex drew back, regretfully. ├óÔé¼┼ôSeems odd to get married,├óÔé¼┬Ø Key murmured, mostly to herself.

├óÔé¼┼ôIf you're getting cold feet,├óÔé¼┬Ø Alex murmured in her ear, grinning. ├óÔé¼┼ôThen don't worry. I'm scared too.├óÔé¼┬Ø

She mock punched him in the chest. Alex mimed grievous injury. Key giggled, imagining Alex's motions from the sound of his feet scraping across the ground.

├óÔé¼┼ôCome on, they're probably wondering what we're doing out here,├óÔé¼┬Ø Key said, forcing herself to be serious.

Alex nodded.

Key opened the door and the two entered the chapel.

Outside, the trees were turning brown. The world healed from the war. The Silverbacks were rebellious, but that was normal. The Empire stood strong if just a bit corrupt.

After the wedding night, Alex slipped out of bed careful to let Key sleep. He walked to the smallest room in his home, where wide windows let in the sunlight during the day or the moonlight at night. He sat down on a chair in the center of the room and looked at his slightly burnt painting. Two bullet holes remained in the upper right corner, and flecks of drying blood remained stained into the canvas, along with some small burn marks. It, like him, had been changed by the war.

Alex looked the painting over, saws the possibilities, the mistakes he had made, the things he could still do. He nodded, sure of himself. He picked up his brush and started to paint.

The End.

[Archangel of Death]

Good story.

Poor fuzzy silverbacks (that knife you in the belly)

[ianmac]

It's over . Ahem. Good job Zoombie that was a great story!!!