Chapter 13
Previously…"Gonna have to kick in another gear," He told her. "You and the others, you've gotta be gone before they get here."
"Or at least in the ship," She suggested. "So it looks like we're gone?"
"So long as they don't know you exist," He agreed. "Either way." He raised his voice. "C'mon. You wanna be late to your own funerals?"
He began to run faster, gratified when Jack increased her pace to match his. They might be panting and exhausted when they arrived but if they didn't have to fight, that wouldn't matter.
Their timing could have been better.
Apparently the prison boss and a couple of his men had managed to get out and far enough down the tunnel that even Riddick couldn't see them. He really wouldn't have thought the heavyset (overweight and out of shape) boss would be able to run that fast. They emerged into the hanger and started rolling the crate they'd hauled on casters up into the ship. Riddick held up a hand and his little crew ground to a halt. Turning he put a finger to his lips and made the universal prison sign for guards. Jack rolled her eyes, completely disgusted as she turned and looked at Guv and his guys.
Guv shrugged helplessly and she rolled her eyes, turning and mouthing to Riddick, "What now?"
"Wait," Riddick mouthed back and put a finger to his lips in the universal sign for silence. He could feel the earth rumbling under them, another ship was landing. One with thrusters that spun vertical and horizontal. Since he doubted Serenity had tracked him all the way to Crematoria that most likely meant the Necromongers had landed. So much for getting Jack onto the merc ship without the Necros knowing about her. One of Mal's favorite complaints replayed in his memory, 'It never goes smooth. Why don't it ever go smooth?'
The prison boss was speaking in quiet tones, issuing instructions to his men. Clearly he hadn't missed the sounds of a ship landing either. Riddick recalled those lens dog things and how they'd zeroed in on the slightest noise. He got the feeling that the boss and his men were not long for this life.
When the boss hit the button for the hanger door he got the shock of his life. A dozen Necro troops led by that stoic pale faced bastard Riddick had 'met' in New Mecca's government building. The bone hat fellow was there too; and wasn't that curious. He didn't seem like the soldier type, more like public relations.
The Necromonger ship's boarding ramp was down, a gaping maw out of which another dozen soldiers spilled out onto the runway. The sight was too much for the prison boss. He chucked a grenade straight into the group and began to open fire, the three men he had with him doing the same.
They made a good account of themselves; Riddick considered the matter dispassionately. Between the grenade and gunfire the guards took out about half the Necromonger troops. But there were still a dozen and that stoic son of a bitch to deal with.
The guards and boss were bleeding on the ground and the Necros were cautiously looking around the hanger. One of them beckoned towards the ship and the thing began to roll into the hanger. It didn't fit but it made a lot of noise and it would block the sun. That could only be a good thing. "We're only gonna get one shot at this," Riddick murmured as quietly as he could. "So let's make it good."
Quiet as he'd spoken, it still wasn't enough; the damn dog lens thing heard him. The Necros moved cautiously into the hanger. Riddick and his group raised their guns.
He strode out to meet them, gun aimed and firing faster than he walked. Behind him, Jack and the others began to do the same. "You wanna hear God laugh, just fuckin' make plans," Riddick growled to himself in irritation. It was a good thing the merc boat was sturdy.
When he ran out of bullets he pulled his shivs and began to slice and dice, Jack at his side and guarding his back as best she could. Five more Necromongers came out of the ship, but no more and he guessed even Necromonger boats had weight limits for all their gravity tech.
Jack took a bullet to her shoulder and he turned, shielding her for a moment, "Get on the ship. Get the pilot and the two of you get on that damn ship."
She nodded, the wind knocked out of her and stumbled backwards, grabbing the pilot, shooting from the ramp at the nose of the merc boat. Good for her.
He'd just cut the head off one Necromonger and it went flying to the feet of the metal bone hat wearing freak. The wave of energy that hit him felt like a tidal wave and threw him spine first into the wall of the hanger. Even someone as big and tough as he was could get the breath knocked out of him, and having every organ compressed by artificial gravity throwing him into a wall would do the trick.
Jack was screaming at him to get up as the pale faced fucker strode towards him almost lazily raising his guns. He managed to get to his knees, glared up at the son of a bitch; "So you can kneel," The walking corpse of a commander remarked more than a bit smugly.
Riddick growled to himself and watched the Necromongers melt away. Shirah stood there, his reminder, his heritage, "You know now. Who tore Furya apart. Remember…what they did. And remember…your primal side. Your animal side. It has always been within you. There is no future, until we settle our past. For all those who carry the mark," She placed her hand on his chest and he remembered the feeling of the Wrath. "This mark carries the anger of an entire race."
It already burned in him, had since he'd gotten to his knees, that somehow hot blue pulsing in time with his heart, quickened with rage and adrenaline. He knew exactly who he was protecting, who he would defend, and better, just who he would destroy with the Wrath. The last time he'd been protecting himself, and the people who'd taken him in, his slender little apprentice. And if he fell here, Jack would be taken, he would be killed, and he would never get back there.
Damned if he'd let that happen.
He looked up into the face of the Necromonger Commander sent to kill him and nearly smiled, as he repeated Shirah's words. "This Mark carries the anger of an entire race," He felt it gathering, knew this would either damn him or save him, damn or save Jack. "But it's going to hurt." He added and let it fly.
He'd seen an earthquake once, watching from a low orbit, the earth had shifted and rippled like water. What shifting tectonic plates had done to a planet the Wrath did to the Necromongers. He knew for a fact that the foot soldiers were either dead or dying. The pale faced fuck that had shot at him… might be alive. The bone hat wearing weirdo… he was flattened against the opposite wall of the hanger and gasping but he was conscious.
Jack was staring at him, still bleeding and he staggered to his feet, reeling for a moment. He felt like an arthritic old man as he walked slowly over to the ramp of the merc ship. "Sooo…" She tilted her head, "Guess that's one of the things you'll fill me in on later?"
Riddick gave her a lopsided grin. "Here," He dug the data chip out of the hidden pocket of his belt. "Plug this in. Head for the destination on it. If I'm not there in a week, you split the money and go your ways. Leave the boat there. Jack, this is yours," He handed her another chip. "That's the signal on Serenity's pulse beacon. It's got their wave address, and mine too. Wave Mal and tell him you're my sister. Simon'll ask you a couple questions. Easy answers for you. They'll arrange to meet up and take you on." He cupped her slender jaw in one hand and brushed his lips over her forehead trying to put out of his mind the last time he'd done the same thing. "And I am right behind you. I promise."
"All right." She nodded and he knew she'd begun to truly trust him again. Forgive him for leaving her. He'd never made a promise before. Not once. "I'll keep an eye on the news waves."
"Good idea," He looked at Guv who'd miraculously made it through the mess with only scrapes and a dislocated shoulder to show for it. The rest of the men besides the pilot were dead. "Get going. It'll take you a few to get the ship moving. The minute that Necro ship is out of the way you take off."
He turned and looked at the two Necromongers left alive and walked towards them. The one with the fingerbone (or was it supposed to look like a spine and ribs?) looking hat was staring at him stunned and looking as if his world had been picked up, shaken violently and thrown down again. The corpse pale son of a bitch was still unconscious, though he was breathing.
The guy in the metal phalanges hat stared at him, "I was supposed to deliver a message to you..." He looked at the man at their feet who was slowly regaining consciousness, "if Vaako failed to kill you." He waited and the newly 'introduced' Vaako opened his eyes, "A message from the Lord Marshal himself."
The Commander, Vaako, climbed to his feet and stared at the blond Necromonger incredulously. Riddick wondered what Vaako found so astonishing in what the other Necromonger had to say. It wasn't unheard of for a ruler to make back alley deals that would smooth the way. Or for him to do so through an emissary of some sort. "He tells you to stay away from Helion, stay away from him," The man continued. "And in return, you'll be hunted no more."
"How can this be," Vaako muttered to himself as he stood, swaying slightly. "He has journeyed to the Underverse, it lives within him, he is…"
"The UnHoly Half Dead fuck that committed genocide because of a prophecy," Riddick finished dryly. "Furyans." He looked at the two Necromongers, both of them visibly shaken but for far different reasons. "My people."
"He is the leader of our Faith," Vaako was persistent in trying to understand what he'd heard. "With Faith there is no Fear."
"Sounds like his faith is a little…flawed," Riddick drawled and leaned against the merc ship. "Different religions got different ways of dealing with a lack of faith. What's yours?" He looked at the wirier of the two men, clad in what were plainly robes of office now that he was really looking. Vaako had the look of a warrior, the other of a statesman.
"My position is the interpret our Faith," The man nodded at him. "I'm called Purifier. And those who fear…are not fit to lead the Faith."
"No," Vaako shook his head as if refuting the evidence of his ears. "And yet…" He plainly couldn't deny it anymore. "Dame Vaako…overheard him speaking to an Elemental. As to a reluctant guest, not a prisoner. And when she questioned the Elemental herself, she heard of this prophecy."
"So you got intelligence from two different sources, saying the same thing," Riddick folded his arms.
"He has led a glorious campaign," Vaako, trying to reason with himself, it sounded like. "But it is based on his vision. And how can it truly be vision if in all his time as Lord Marshall he has feared this prophecy, feared you." His eyes speared Riddick, "You keep what you kill." He glanced at the Purifier.
"Heard your Lord Marshall say that about this," Riddick flipped the spine knife in his hand. Idiot Toombs and his mercs never had found it. "Mind explaining a bit better?"
"For instance, should you kill Vaako, as you did Irgun, in full view of our people, you would be able to assume his rank as Commander. It proves you worthy," The Purifier explained spreading his hands. "But should you kill Zhylaw…the Lord Marshall."
"It'd make me Lord Marshall," Riddick glanced from the Purifier to Vaako. "Which I don't want."
"And neither would anyone of the Faith," Vaako shook his head. "A Breeder Lord Marshall would be disastrous. It's unthinkable."
"Before Baylock," The Purifier was clearly thinking. "Lord Marshall's would name their successors. The goal was not personal glory but to ensure the Faith continued."
"All right," Riddick looked at Vaako. "This Underverse of yours. Where is it?"
"It is a region of dark space, far from here, far from any known worlds," The Purifier offered. "The Lord Marshalls make the pilgrimage there and swear their oaths; we have the coordinates."
He didn't like making deals, he usually wound up fighting the people he'd bargained with, because they always went back on their word. But this…this could work. He doubted Vaako would keep a promise to him but this could still work. "No matter what, Zhylaw dies," Riddick said flatly. "You kill him, I kill him, it doesn't matter to me so long as he's dead." He stared at Vaako. "You kill him, you're Lord Marshall. I leave you to it and you take your armada and you go to the Threshold. Straight from Helion Prime. Do not pass Go, do not collect two hundred plat, do not deviate, do not turn around, do not conquer any more worlds."
"But we must—"
Riddick cut Vaako off ruthlessly, "Yeah, don't care. You've got more than enough people. You don't need to convert anyone else." He glanced at the Purifier who strangely, wasn't objecting. "I kill Zhylaw, I'll turn around and name you my successor. You're Lord Marshall. I leave, and you take your people and go to the Threshold. Same deal."
"Can this be done?" Vaako beseeched the Purifier. "Are the people ready?"
"We can make them ready," The Purifier nodded. "I would rather only a dozen true believers than thousands who have no faith."
That seemed to resolve Vaako and he nodded, "Then I will agree to this plan." He looked at Riddick. "It will not be easy."
"Nothing worth doing ever is," Riddick smirked. "But I've got a secret weapon." He tapped his chest.
"That…would…" Vaako eyed him as if concerned that destructive blue light would burst out again.
"Certainly incapacitate Zhylaw, much as it did you Commander Vaako," The Purifier nodded.
"Yeah…" Riddick looked at him speculatively. "Not you though."
"We all began as something else," The Purifier gave him a smile tinged with sadness. "When Vaako has ascended to Lord Marshall… perhaps we may speak of it."
We all began as something else. Riddick frowned thoughtfully and straightened. "Right. Let's get this show on the road."
The Necromonger craft was just as overwrought and darkly dramatic in design as the Basilica but it could withstand the sun of Crematoria long enough to leave orbit. Riddick sent a quick wave to Jack on the merc boat and confirmed that they were getting off the bi-polar planet as soon as possible. If the merc ship could withstand exiting and entering atmosphere it would survive the temperatures on the surface long enough to get into the Black.
The Purifier handed him a data crystal while Vaako's back was turned, and Riddick frowned over it before putting it in the same secret place he'd kept the data chips he'd given Jack. According to the ship's logs it had taken a bit over a standard twenty-four-hour day for the Necromonger boat to catch up with him once they'd gotten the merc ship's trail. He studied the tech they used, mentally storing it away so he could tell Kaylee, Wash and River. It wouldn't be hard to duplicate with the blueprint for it in his head. And coming up with something to stymie the tech would be fun. There tended to be a lot of downtime in the Black and while he'd enjoyed reading more of the classics and discussing them with River, hands on work would be welcome.
Then he read up on the Necromonger religion. They sounded like a bunch of nutcases, stemming from one nutcase that lost his family, had a psychotic break and turned around to spread his insanity over generations and worlds. "So you all know where your Threshold is," He looked at Vaako. "And you've got a fleet of converts. But you don't go there, you stay here and convert other people."
"The teachings say that life is an unnatural state," Vaako nodded. "It is a sacred duty to eradicate it. To convert the living to the truth."
"By the sword," Riddick rubbed his chin. "Doesn't sound like faith to me." Vaako simply looked at him and Riddick shrugged. "If you tell someone, 'believe this, or die'. They might tell you to fuck off. But say 'believe this or die, oh, and your family dies with you'. Then they say, 'I believe'. But it's like getting a confession via torture. Sooner or later they're going to say what you want to hear. How can you know it's the truth? Faith under duress isn't faith. Old saying 'he who complies against his will is of his own opinion still'."
"You believe that those converted when we took their planets do not truly believe? Even though many fight and serve the Faith?" Vaako seemed disturbed by the idea.
"I'm saying you've got an awful lot of people who didn't get much of a choice. And if it comes down to it, how can you really be certain of what they believe." Riddick shook his head, "Back on Earth-That-Was…there were these religions. And some of them got pretty big, pretty full of themselves. And they all thought they had the one right way. Follow their rules and everyone else is wrong. They fought wars. They killed. Forced people to convert. To renounce their religions and gods."
"And what happened?" The Purifier had looked up from his console with interest.
"Oh the religion survived, but after a while…it became corrupt. Rotting inside. And factions developed within it. Splitting off and becoming their own religions with their own rules," Riddick remembered reading about the Crusade and the Inquisition. "They even had a time when they'd torture you if you spoke against their faith. But in the beginning, they were just a small group that believed in one man. They were persecuted, killed… but the faith hung on. It grew and became this big thing that turned around and persecuted people the same way the original followers had been persecuted."
He shook his head, "There were still good people in that religion. People who believe in the basic tenants of the faith. But ultimately…they were better when there weren't that many of them. When the message didn't get wound up with taking over and making everyone see things their way."
"What religion was this?" Vaako wondered. "I don't recall hearing of it during my years of schooling."
"Started out as Christianity, splintered off to a bunch of different ones, but the big one, the one that stayed powerful, that was the Catholic church," Riddick shrugged.
"I have heard of them," the Purifier nodded. "The faith still exists."
"Yeah," Riddick nodded. "They mostly cleaned up their act. Remembered what the man who started the whole thing used to say. Love thy neighbor as thyself. That helped a lot." He suppressed the automatic disparaging smirk that wanted to spread his lips whenever he talked about God or religion. He sounded way too much like those holy roller hypocrites he'd run into back in foster care. Spout too much of this bullshit and he might as well get a pulpit and start spreading this garbage around like compost.
Vaako was still mulling over the idea that a great number of the Necromonger followers might not be as fervent in their belief as he'd thought. "You speak eloquently, for one who fights so well," He commented finally.
"I went to a military school for a while, got some education, mostly in tactics," The convict shrugged. "And I read. Libraries are still free to access and there's a lot of books out there. Always found history interesting. My instructors said that those who refuse to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. And from everything I've read, history repeats itself an awful fuckin' lot. People never seem to learn."
Vaako nodded, "I've heard the same, usually when applying military strategy." He glanced at the Purifier, addressing the other Necro. "You truly believe this bargain we have struck is of the greatest advantage to our Faith?"
"Vaako," The slender man spread his hands. "We all have fears, doubts, as I said during our journey to Crematoria. But the faithful put such things aside as inconsequential and we do our duty by our people and our faith. Zhylaw has let fear rule him these past decades. That is not Faith. That is weakness. And if he has weakness…" he waited for the penny to drop.
Vaako took a moment but he got there, "If he has weakness…he is unworthy of Lordship."
The Purifier nodded, "We do this for all Necromongers. For our Faith. I believe the time has come, to seek the Threshold, to bring our people home. Every Lord Marshall has believed he would be the one to achieve this monumental undertaking. And each has allowed ego, pride or other worldly concerns to distract from this task."
"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers," Riddick murmured and Vaako's gaze turned to him sharply.
"What is that?"
"Old writing," Riddick looked up from the shiv he'd begun sharpening. "Something I read a while back. About a king on a battlefield, outnumbered three to one, but he'd rather have his men, the ones who'd volunteered to come with him, than any of the men he left in his homeland."
"Does he win?" Vaako, ever the military mind, got straight to the point.
Riddick smiled, "Yeah he wins. It's a damn good speech really." He thought a moment, dredging the words up from his memories. River reading to him while he carved a shiv, "He says: 'From this day to the ending of the world, but we in it shall be remember'd; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother."
Vaako considered that, "It is true, the men I fought with… I find I am closer to them than some of the Commanders with whom I have not fought side by side."
The Purifier had steepled his hands, considering something, "Commander Vaako. Perhaps we should consider how to…approach Zhylaw. And how much of an audience we would need…to prove that this is a matter of faith."
"I had thought to confront him alone," Vaako admitted. "To bring Riddick before him in chains easily broken, that I might be perceived as proving my worth."
"Dame Vaako is as formidable a woman as I've ever encountered," The Purifier commented. "I would be interested in her perspective. Her understanding of politics and appearances is…uncanny."
"She is…unique in her perceptions," Vaako admitted with some pride. Riddick glanced at him thoughtfully. A guy with a wife, someone he cared enough about that he'd shared his name with her. Vaako misunderstood his gaze and nodded at him, "She who escorted you onto the Basilica." He said as if in reminder. "My wife, Dame Vaako."
"Yeah," Riddick smiled slowly. "I remember thinking she reminded me more of the serpent in the garden than Eve."
Vaako gave him a grin, one that made him look surprisingly boyish, though it faded quickly, "You would not be the first to think so. But she is…quite amazing. No warrior but she accomplishes a great deal with words rather than weapons." Interesting. The cold son of a bitch actually loved the snake woman. Who'd've thought.
The method Necromongers used for communication between their ships for sensitive information was just as disturbing as the freaks that had tried to pound his brain into submission. It took a while for them to make the connection, or maybe find Dame Vaako, who knew. But they had to wait in the room with the creepy more than half dead thing.
A distraction, one of the stories River had told him while she'd broken down and re-assembled weapons came to mind. About another prophecy, self-fulfilling, just like this one. "Earth-That-Was had stories of prophecies too," He remarked as they waited. "There was one, about trying to avoid a prophecy and basically making it come true."
"Truly," Vaako looked at him, curiosity a strange expression on that stoic face.
"Hmm…" He began to sharpen a shiv to keep his hands busy. "Heard it not long ago. As it was told to me the story goes that Laius was the king of Thebes, married to a lady named Jocasta. He wanted a son, so he consulted an oracle in Delphi about when his wife would give him one." He half smirked, "The oracle says any son born to Laius would kill him. He goes home and his wife's pregnant." Riddick looked up, "Well maybe it won't be a boy right? So they wait."
"It was a boy child though," Vaako guessed.
"Got it in one," Riddick chuckled and continued. "So Laius gives the baby to a shepherd and tells him to leave him exposed on a mountain to die. But the shepherd feels bad, I mean who wouldn't, so he gives the baby to another shepherd who's traveling to Corinth."
"And Laius believed he was safe," The Purifier murmured thoughtfully.
"Yeah, nobody ever says how pissed his wife must have been, go through childbirth and then her husband takes her son away to be killed. Every woman I know wouldn't have waited for the kid to grow up and do the job, they'd have killed Laius themselves," Riddick looked up from his shiv with a grin and got an appreciative nod from Vaako and a thoughtful look from the Purifier.
"So the baby gets taken to the king and queen of Corinth, Polybus and Merope, who don't have any kids of their own, and they're perfectly happy to have him. And they give him the name Oedipus," Riddick explains. "And years later, some drunk tells Oedipus that he's a bastard, not the son of the king and queen who raised him. Well he goes to his parents and they tell him not to believe the lying drunk."
"So they lied to him," The Purifier frowned.
"Likely for the best of reasons but yeah, they lied," Riddick nodded. "And Oedipus isn't a moron, he figures something's up. So he decides he's going to go consult the Oracle at Delphi. Same one Laius went to."
"That…cannot be a good thing," Vaako seemed highly interested in this. Maybe Necros didn't have stories?
"Yeah, not so great no," He kept his eyes on his shiv. "Oedipus gets to the Oracle and it tells him that he's destined to kill his father and marry his mother." He looked up to see a completely revolted expression on both faces across from him and nodded. "Yeah exactly. So he figures, I'll stay away from my parents. I love my father, I don't want to kill him. And I definitely don't want to marry and have sex with my mother."
"Sensible," The Purifier agreed.
"You'd think," Riddick shook his head. "So he heads out to Thebes, figures that's far enough away that they'll be safe. And while he's traveling he meets this guy who picks a fight with him. And Oedipus is young and strong and the other guy isn't so he kills him. Oh well, too bad, let's keep traveling. And the only person who saw it was some guy who was going in the completely opposite direction."
"Hmm…" Vaako clearly thought that was of some significance but simply nodded.
"Well on his way to Thebes Oedipus runs into a type of monster that kills anyone that can't answer it's riddle," Riddick rolls his eyes. "Who knows what a sphinx is but apparently it's dangerous and tricky smart. But he manages to answer the riddle and the sphinx leaves. Who the fuck knows why."
He shrugged, "Oedipus goes into Thebes and Laius's brother says that the man who defeated the monster gets to marry the newly widowed Jocasta and become king." He shook his head, "Great news, if you're anyone but Oedipus I guess." His listener looked more than slightly repulsed and he wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, pretty disturbing. So he weds and beds Jocasta and I guess they were happy for about a year. Then a plague starts up and that same fuckin' Oracle says that if they find Laius's killer that the plague will be lifted."
"That could be problematic," Vaako commented.
"Slightly," Riddick agreed. "So Oedipus is searching far and wide, looking for the murderer so he can save his country. And his men come across this guy who saw the fight between Oedipus and Laius. So they gotta all go back and tell the king and queen that Oedipus is the one who killed Laius."
He kept sharpening his shiv and shook his head, "Well Jocasta is…not really feeling all that great. She tells Laius's brother Creon of the prophecy that the Oracle gave Laius, that his own son would kill him. Because she's figured out that she's married her son and he's been fucking her for about a year."
Riddick wrinkled his nose, "So Creon goes and tells Oedipus the prophecy and Oedipus remembers what the Oracle told him. He goes back to his house and when he gets there Jocasta has hanged herself. So he takes the pins from her dress and he stabs himself in the eyes. I guess Creon figures blinded and helpless is good enough justice to lift the plague and they take him to the borders and let him wander the wilderness to suffer until he dies."
"Two dead before their time and one crippled, because a king tried to avoid a prophecy," The Purifier mused. "Because he feared to die."
"Pretty much," Riddick nodded. "They call that a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because trying to get around it makes it come true."
Vaako looked more than a little disturbed. And somewhat relieved when the creepy dead/not quite all the way dead thing began to speak. Thoughts about prophecy seemed just a little too deep for a soldier maybe.
Riddick didn't even try to conceal his distaste as Vaako and the Purifier spoke to Dame Vaako through the mostly dead corpse.
Much as he disliked bringing a fourth person into the conspiracy her input had been surprisingly helpful. Helion Prime had proven unexpectedly resistant in its opposition and only now were the Commanders making any meaningful progress in quelling it.
The Lord Marshall wasn't best pleased and news of Vaako's triumphant return would see him receiving his Commander in the throne room to commend him upon his success. Perhaps in an effort to shame is other officers and make more obvious his displeasure at their lack of progress.
So, they had a plan.
Even Necromongers needed to sleep apparently. And he caught a few catnaps sitting in a chair while the other two worked. The ship flew the same as any other, with some added bells and whistles. Some shielding or something like it, that meant they didn't need to use cryo to travel so quickly. Or maybe it was that mark of the Necromongers? Protecting them the way being Furyan protected him. No wonder they'd caught up with Toombs so quickly. They seemed to think he was awake, his eyes hidden behind his goggles from the glare of the screens. It helped that whenever they said his name he responded.
Sleep was for when you were dead as his old drill sergeant liked to say. He guessed the Necromongers qualified. But it gave him time to look at the crystal the Purifier had passed him.
Histories, stories, maps, star charts, files upon files and one labeled quite simply: Riddick.
Opening it he wasn't sure what to expect. Certainly not what he saw. A written treatise on the events after Zhylaw had razed Furya. Zhylaw had killed every Furyan found, searched them out and killed them on other worlds as he followed rumors of survivors. A select few he had converted, but most were simply slaughtered.
Before he'd left Furya he'd entered one of the most sacred spaces and toppled the pillar that served as the center of the temple, part of the altar. He'd left carrying a trophy, one of the round stones that made up the column. Upon ascending to Lord Marshall Zhylaw had placed the stone at the base of the throne in the great hall. Whenever he sat upon the throne his feet rested on the sacred stone of Furya's temple.
Riddick smiled slightly and looked off to his left as something stirred in the shadows.
"You have found the keystone," Shirah commented as she spun thread at her wheel. River was working the loom silently, for now anyway.
"Yeah, I figure Vaako's gonna turn on me. Either that or his snake of a wife will stab me in the back." Riddick nodded.
"It is likely," Shirah agreed. "They are…treacherous and do not value any but those of their religion."
"Necromongers heed no code but their own," River commented. He'd known she wouldn't stay quiet for long. Another tilt of her head, and she remarked, "Necromongers… Some wanted to put a crown on my head... Some wanted to put a noose around my neck... Okay…more nooses than crowns." Something eerie about the rhythm and words he'd use coming out of her mouth. Doubted he'd ever get used to it.
Riddick nodded his understanding, more and more it was looking like even if he took the route of killing Zhylaw and taking his place, he'd end up with trouble. Lazy and fat, like a gelded lion, sated with luxuries…and people trying to kill him anyway. Didn't sound like anything he wanted to be part of. Live amongst the people who'd tried to destroy his by root and seed? Fuck no.
"But you have an ally, unexpected but an ally nonetheless," Shirah reminded him, drawing his attention. "There is no rest, for all who wear the mark."
"Marks…" He considered that. "What is the Mark of the Necromongers anyway?"
"The mark of pain, in echo of the torment their leader suffered for his faith," Shirah half smiled. "It is nothing in comparison to yours. Scars, pain, and a tenuous connection to faith, to the Underverse, as they let all other considerations die. In true believers the bond deepens."
"The Mark connects them to the Underverse…their Threshold?" Riddick looked over at River.
"As his connects him to Furya," River smiled as she worked the loom, the child he'd known once again. "In one both Marks struggle."
"The Purifier," Riddick recalled the awestruck and appalled expression on the man's face when the Wrath had hit him.
"How else would he know of the temple stone?" Shirah agreed. "He was there to see it taken."
"So Vaako's gonna turn on me, big fuckin' surprise there, the Purifier will help me, and at the end of it all…Wrath." Riddick summarized.
"He must rest," River rose from the loom and walked towards him; her face and body changing, maturing as she drew closer. A woman's slender body leaned into his. Silken hair a caress to his skin. Soft lips pressed to his jaw and sharp little teeth set into his neck like a caress he wanted to return. "Sleep. None will dare harm you. Not now."
They were gone, like smoke in the wind and he took the data crystal out of the cortex and slipped it back into its hiding place. Better take their advice. He found his chair and held a shiv in his hand before he let his eyes close.
When he opened them Vaako was just entering the room. "We'll be beginning our approach soon," The Commander remarked as he took a seat at the console. "I am not much of a pilot, though I can manage."
"I can fly her," Riddick shrugged and rose from his seat, tucking the shiv in his belt. "She's just like every other ship." He took the stick, "Bit top heavy though isn't she?"
"The armor," Vaako explained and glanced over at him. "I knew what you were the moment I saw you." He said seemingly out of the blue. "I've been thinking about an early campaign. My very first. I was but a boy. We dropped from the sky and did what Necromongers do. The destruction was breathtaking. But then we met resistance. Ferocious; like a storm of lions. Each one of them killed over a hundred Necro before their weapons failed. And then they killed another thirty more in hand to hand combat. Our firepower and strength in numbers eventually won us the day. I can still see him, the last of those magnificent warriors, standing on a pile of his own. He looked at me. And I will never forget those eyes. His eyes were just like yours."
He paused as if in thought, "Zhylaw…he commanded the attack. But I was on the ground. He never met one of the warriors face to face."
"More concerned with cutting babies out of their mother's wombs and strangling them," The Purifier commented as he entered the room and took a seat at the navigation console. "Adjust for higher gravity due to solar positioning."
Riddick nodded and set the dials to correct his angle, "Adjusting." He glanced at Vaako, "I don't recall you, or anyone else, saying anything about how I looked."
"The other Commanders were not there," Vaako shrugged. "I was."
"But you didn't say anything to Zhylaw," Riddick keyed in the angle of entry, not bothering to wait for the cortex to finish its calculations. A half minute later, and barely in time in his opinion, the cortex echoed his course.
"It was not my place to say anything. Should the Lord Marshall have wished to hear my opinion he would have commanded I give it," The Commander replied. He began to flip the heat shields on as they approached the atmosphere. "I doubt he even recalls I was there. They were outnumbered, four to one. But fighting one was like fighting five men at once. If we hadn't had the numbers, if they'd had even half our men, we'd never had conquered Furya."
The Purifier murmured, "Seeing him fight…that's what brought it back for me. No one but a Furyan moves like that. Preternatural speed and grace. Uncanny and as intuitive as breathing."
Vaako nodded his agreement, "The Lord Marshall cannot outrun a prophecy."
"No matter how he tries," The Purifier agreed, a smile on his face unseen by the other Necromonger.
The Basilica hadn't changed. It was still one of the most ugly-ass ships he'd ever seen, and that was ignoring the interior. Not in the least bit aerodynamic it relied on pure power to maneuver, more of a city on thrusters than a ship, at least in his mind.
Troops met them at the landing field, falling in around him and behind Vaako and the Purifier at Vaako's command. Riddick tested his chains surreptitiously and nodded to himself. They were standard manacles and cuffs, strong but he'd be able to muscle his way out of them easily enough. The question was when Vaako would make his move.
Ceremony (or maybe practicality) dictated that Commander Vaako wore his full armor, greaves and gauntlets. The gloves were tricky things, he'd seen similar during the initial siege of New Mecca. The spikes protruding from the back of the knuckles would detach and remain in the enemy's flesh. Razor sharp they'd continue to do damage to the muscle, veins and bone if they weren't removed fast.
The halls of the ship were more crowded than the last time he'd been there. More activity. He guessed the troops were falling back to their ships. The ship was trembling underfoot, a precursor to liftoff which would make this particular escape very interesting. But there was always some sort of lifeboat or shuttle; he'd figure something out. He always did.
Brought to the throne room he saw it had filled with troops, the upper galleries with onlookers and several men in armor similar to Vaako's standing near the dais on which Zhylaw's throne sat. Nothing like an audience for the big show they were about to start.
Zhylaw rose from his throne and descended the dais, "I have gained a first among commanders." He proclaimed. Almost fondly he added, "It is overdue, isn't it...that we acknowledge your many accomplishments, your steady faith, and above all, your unflinching loyalty."
Vaako knelt before the Lord Marshall, "Obedience without question. Loyalty till Underverse come."
Riddick regarded the dead man in front of him and nearly smiled as the Lord Marshall praised Vaako, "Well done, Vaako. This is a day of days." He regarded the Purifier who bowed and stepped to the side near a pillar, "I am surprised you were able to bring him back alive."
Vaako stood, the newly gifted helmet under his arm, "It was no easy task. He killed nearly all of my men. In the end, only the sun half blinding him allowed me to accomplish it." He gestured at Riddick, "I had the thought that you might wish to speak to him. And see the deed done for yourself."
Zhylaw looked even more pleased at Vaako's understanding of his desires, "That you anticipate my thoughts is a great gift in a commander." He commended the Necromonger. "I would indeed."
He took a step towards Riddick, a condescending smile on his face and Riddick smiled back. This fucker was so dead. The manacles were strong, but he was stronger. Just like in Crematoria, only even easier than that, a hard twist and flex of his muscles and the chains were off. Vaako thought he'd disarmed Riddick, the boot knives and blades that had been at his hips were all in the Purifier's custody. But they hadn't found the one he kept inside his belt. The Lord Marshall took his boot to the chest before he blurred and retreated and Riddick drew the shiv.
Around him the guards snapped into a more aggressive posture only to pause as the Lord Marshall shouted, "Stay your weapons!" He stared at Riddick and the seemingly shocked Vaako, "He came for me."
It was going to be tricky. He had to maneuver so that he ended up near the throne and take the beating that would allow Zhylaw to draw out the fight. It was apparent that the Necromonger's arrogance wouldn't allow for anything other than Riddick's crushing, public defeat. While Riddick just needed enough of an opening for the Wrath to break free while he stood on or at least touched the keystone.
Zhylaw was fast, just a touch faster than Riddick, until he started really trying. Letting go of everything and allowing instinct, the primal, the animal…the Furyan to guide him. The tip of his blade scraped across Zhylaw's cheekbone and in outrage the Lord Marshall threw him, towards the foot of the dais.
Riddick stayed where he was, sprawled out for a moment, and let Zhylaw think he had to catch his breath. The Lord Marshall wasn't content to wait in silence however, "Consider this; if you fall here now, you'll never rise." He gestured to the throng around them, "But if you choose another way...the Necromonger way...you'll die in due time...and rise again in the Underverse."
Riddick's answer came as he stood and gripped the shiv, his gaze murderous.
Zhylaw charged him with that half dead ability and grabbed him by the throat, throwing him back across the hall. Now he was in the wrong fucking place and he'd have to either go through it again or do something else. Before he could stand Zhylaw was on him, hands on his head, "Give me your soul…" Pulling, pulling, pain…trying to rip the life right out of him and the answering flare of rage roared through him, drawing his self back, defying the Necromonger's power.
"Fuck you," He spun in Zhylaw's grasp and threw the Necromonger across the room, following him with a deliberate step.
Zhylaw did that blurring thing up to one of the balconies and came back down with a spear. It gave him more reach, and along with the blurry undead thing he did, made it much more difficult to keep up. Biding his time and maneuvering wasn't going to work, Zhylaw would wear him down. He threw the Necro over his shoulder and Zhylaw blurred again and got behind him, using the spear across Riddick's throat to choke him.
Wrapping one arm around the end of the spear he began to force it down, only to have it abruptly go slack. Turning he saw the Purifier holding a spear of his own, and he'd driven it right into the Lord Marshall's back.
The converted Furyan spoke in quiet anguished tones, somehow echoing through the great chamber, "We all began...as something else. I've done... unbelievable things...in the name of a faith that was never my own." Those words, his dark eyes…Riddick knew a gauntlet thrown down when he saw one. Zhylaw would not fail to respond. But the interpreter of the faith had sown seeds of doubt that could not fail to find some fertile ground. Not that it would matter if this fight ended the way Riddick had planned but still… Furyans, defiant until the end.
With a roar of bestial rage at such a heinous betrayal the Lord Marshall backhanded the Purifier and sent him flying against a pillar with an audible crack. Riddick pushed himself to his feet and the Lord Marshall staggered straining to pull the spear from his back.
Above them Dame Vaako screamed, "Now, while the beast is wounded. Kill it." Even in the middle of a battle she hedged her bets, her wording could be taken as a plea to kill Riddick, should the coup fail. Her husband stood at the edge of the improvised arena, coincidentally (or not) close to the Lord Marshall and the Furyan.
The Commander however, attacked the Lord Marshall, but not before Vaako drove a fist full of spikes into Riddick's shoulder. "Gǒu cào de gǒu niáng yǎng de," The Furyan cursed. Well he'd known the Necro would turn on him. And even if he hadn't suspected, Shirah and River had warned him. Necromongers heed no code but their own. With an annoyed growl, Riddick tore the spikes out of his shoulder, switched the shiv to his left hand and charged into the fight again.
Between he and Vaako they harried the Lord Marshall until Riddick had been thrown to the base of the throne and Zhylaw was poised over Vaako, ready to deliver the killing blow. Riddick looked down and smiled. Zhylaw had thrown him onto the keystone. He could feel the echoes of his people inside it. The spirits of Furya, weak echoes, ready to waken fully now that a Furyan stood upon the stone.
"Problem with prophecy," He murmured, his voice echoing in the acoustics of the hall as the Mark on his chest pulsed in time with his heart, light swelling out of it. "The more you try to avoid it…the more you fall right into its trap." He groaned as the Wrath began to take over, stronger than he'd ever felt, Furyan energy, the rage of a thousand generations past and the thousands to come, lost to one man, heat like a volcano in his chest, strengthening with every heartbeat, "If you hadn't slaughtered my people… If you hadn't left me for dead…I wouldn't ever have had reason come after you. But you did… and now Furya will have its vengeance."
He watched through the haze of ghostly blue, deepening cerulean to indigo, as Zhylaw's face slackened with horror, Vaako's eyes grew wide with shock and the Purifier smiled. The blue light pulsed and exploded out of his chest, the fury of the gods, the rage of his people, left forgotten on a lost and broken world. He had about five seconds to hope that he didn't make the damn ship crash before he passed out.
Author's Note: Sooo… different ending than the movie… which I really found to be a bummer. I didn't want Jack to die. And Riddick got to show off some of the assorted knowledge he picked up over the years and with River telling him stories. And that Oedipus kind of reinforced his point about self fulfilling prophecies was no accident. I also had the idea that he'd know more about religion than he liked, after all, knowledge doesn't mean respect.
Knowledge is power though. So it's a good way to play a slightly different kind of mind game.
What do we think?
Chinese Translations:
Gǒu cào de gǒu niáng yǎng de (dog-humping son of a bitch)
Quote Sources:
he who complies against his will is of his own opinion still - Hudibras – Samuel Butler
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers – Henry V – William Shakespeare
From this day to the ending of the world, but we in it shall be remember'd; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother. – Henry V – William Shakespeare