Inferno Ascended

'It can only be that son of a bitch and his cronies!' Glax had no doubts.

He realized the trio had stopped, and guessed they had noticed the glow of the fire and the sign of humans in this desolate and dangerous landscape. Looking closer, he realized they were coming into a small vehicle. Glax soon assumed it was a steam-powered vehicle, though it was too far away to see details. 

He wondered what they were going to do next.

Not drawing attention to himself while he climbed down, he went to wake up his colleagues.

About half an hour later, three men approached the camp cautiously on foot, with no light source with them. One of them came from one side, while the other two came from the other.

Glax and Rasmus were by the fire, pretending to sleep.

"Hey, friend." Doros called, a few steps away. Glax recognized it immediately. The voice was falsely friendly, but Glax had already seen the gun half-hidden by the fun on his shoulders. Glax also had the rifle under his fur, and it was pointed at Doros.

"I'm not your friend," Glax said, and fired.

The flash of the Promethean weapon lit the night, as the two Valosians immediately stepped out of the line of fire they knew would come next.

Glax heard the metallic clang! He must have guessed before that Doros was walking around like an armored tin man now.

Rasmus raised his shield and charged like an enraged bull at the nearest minion. 

Glax fired again at Doros, who rolled to the ground this time, escaping the gunfire and hiding behind a piece of the fallen statue.

Briaxis's arrows whizzed past and hit close to where Glax's rival was, but the man protected himself once more. Doros had a small round shield attached to his left forearm.

The arrows from above, where the Echelian scout stood to ambush, hit the hide over the man's shoulders or were stopped by the shield.

Mech-eye took aim and fired at the source of arrows, just as Glax heard another shot from behind him. He turned on instinct, and saw Ras do the same, as he'd just taken down one of his henchmen. His friend looked at his own leg for a moment and screamed in rage.

"Ya bastard are really going to shoot… AT ME?! GRRR!" 

The long-bearded man with the gun in his hand raised the rifle to eye level once more, taking aim at close range.

"Shut up, mountain hick! I'll blow your brains out with this beauty!"

It didn't intimidate Rasmus at all, and with a cry that seemed to shake the earth, he continued advancing with his gladius and shield to bulldoze his bragging opponent.

Glax saw it in microseconds, just enough for him to realize the poor man had made a bad decision. He refocused on Doros, catching out of the corner of his eye that Alekos had jumped up behind him and Glax couldn't fire.

Doros turned, not waiting for the fourth person behind his back, and managed to parry Alexander's blow with his shield. Glax leapt over the boulder that served as Mech-Eye's hiding place, and hit him in the head with the butt of his rifle.

"He's mine, Alexandre."

The blow stunned even a tough guy like Doros. He tried to get up and land a punch at Glax, but the blow to his head had been too hard and his fist couldn't deliver a powerful strike. Glax seized the moment and placed the muzzle of his rifle under Doros' chin.

"Stop, or you'll join Chriseis."

Doros raised his hands, and Alexander snatched the shield and all the weapons and armor he could find from him.

Glax knew that Doros' second henchman was dead, so he didn't worry about it. The entire confrontation between the two groups had taken no more than two minutes. 

The Valosian glanced behind him, hearing the groans of the other man Rasmus was beating, but also his friend's.

"Ras, is everything alright?"

"That son of a bitch hit my leg! My wife told me not to get hurt! She gave me a protective amulet! How am I going to explain this to her?!" Rasmus grunted with more anger than pain.

Glax didn't know whether to laugh or worry.

"Briaxis?"

The guide did not respond.

::::::::::::

Briaxis was dead.

The scout who had spent his life in that region and knew all the dangers of the plain of Heramis and beyond was shot to the head.

Glax knew he had to perform a proper ritual at this point, or the scout would end up having one of two fates: or he would be strapped to his watch as soon as his orb was freed from his body, in about half an hour. Or he would join the cacodemons he's spent his life fighting against.

As Briaxis himself had said before they left Rusa, an Echelian never enters Erimos without a coin for Charon. Glax reached into the guide's things for the coin and put it in his mouth. He also read the small tablet with formulas believed to help guide the way.

He would have to see for himself the orb would actually make its way to Leto in a few moments.

He already figured that Mors was too busy doing anything to come do his job.

Glax was furious right now. 

They had tied up Doros and his mate, who might not have many hours to live. 

The Valosian hadn't taken all his frustration out on Mech-Eye because he wanted to interrogate him. He wanted to know what that pig wanted with the Fist of Chriseis.

If he could have any respect for whatever motivation Doros had, knowing he had tortured Master Arsaces destroyed that possibility.

The bullet that hit the other Valosian had only grazed Ras's calf, but it bled heavily and pierced the flesh. Glax no longer had any dryad's potions or salves, just the normal bandages. Furthermore, after his quarrel with the iatromancer Oenopides he thought it wise not to accept any drugs supplied by him or his acolytes.

Alexandre had no injuries, as did Glax.

"Keep your eyes on these two idiots, I'll go get the vehicle they hid nearby."

About a quarter of a mile away, Glax found the vehicle. It was a tricycle with a steam engine in the back, still warm. The vehicle had a sidecar, and he figured that one of the 3 occupants was in charge of keeping the boiler burning by activating the bellows from a small and uncomfortable high seat with his back to the driver. He found some spare melee weapons in the vehicle, too.

"Pffff!" He disdained it, but it would serve them well here. He found the box near the pedals with ease, and opening it, he saw again the famous Chriseis' Fist. But this time without being tied to the body he knew.

Thinking about it caused him a certain discomfort.

"Sorry Chriseis. We could have had fun together, we could have planned it together. But I have to admit that I was resentful of my situation. I thought it was pathetic. I was worried about my manly pride and making fun of everything. The Moiras are not in control of everything." He confessed, as if he were in front of her ghost. In a way, he was, but he couldn't see or hear her. And he didn't know if she really listened to him either.

He could build her a mecha, and he'd rather she were alive to pilot it to the abyss and do what was necessary. But if all they had was the Fist of Chriseis, then she would have her glorious fate using an incorruptible mecha. He was confident that with his cheat and Vulcan's forge, he could do this. 

'Uh, okay, enough of that. Let's go back. I'm going to get the truth out of that asshole.' He tucked the box away, leaving his thoughts about the not-so-near future for later. Now he needed to decide on Doros.

Would he kill him? Cold blood?

:::::::::::::::

Glax arrived back at the camp when Alexander was rekindling the fire. Everything was the same. 

Rasmus was closest to Doros, with the sword in his lap, a little pale and cranky from the wound. 

Doros was also pale from the cold. In the fire's lights, the implant in his face showed signs of wear and tear and the damage she'd suffered. It was fascinating in its complexity and ingenuity, but it had seen better days. 

Furthermore, the Valosian wondered who had been the master capable of implanting this mechanism in him. Certainly someone very talented. He had no doubt that this person was in Rhenum, the village of the exiled Prometheans. The implant didn't show strong signs of corruption by antichor. But Glax couldn't be quite right here on Erimos.

Doros looked tired and unkempt, his stubble turning gray even though he wasn't that old. His human eye gleamed with malice and contempt, as if challenging Glax to something.

Glax walked over and asked.

"How did you lose your eye, Doros?"

"It's Lord Doros to you, asshole."

"Are you trying to bring me down to your level? Hitting someone tied up? Even if you're not as helpless as Master Arsaces, you son of a bitch, when I go to hit you, you'll have your hands free."

"Armorion Champion…! Pffff! You married her by a damn coincidence. Why do you think you have the right to meddle?! You're just her pet hubby!"

"You know I'm also not sure why I'm running like an idiot after you? Why don't you play like a good classic villain and tell me everything I need to know to understand you?"

"What?! You're out of your mind? What does it mean?!"

"You sent her a letter. Threatening her. You stole her corpse. Desecrated it."

"I… I didn't desecrate anything. This thing already corrupted her body and mind."

"What are you talking about?!" Glax feigned surprise and horror. More than defying him, he wanted to know who Doros was and knew.

And everyone had a story to tell.