Part Three: Assembly of Tryanny
October 6th, 2000, City of Lud, Nahara…
Visser six arrived at one in the morning the night before, followed shortly by Visser's two and ten, the former being Efflit 1318's old nemesis, Nodnarb 395.
"So, Nodnarb, again you advance beyond me, if only by one rank."
Yes, but one rank is all that is needed. My council with the Gervasid chieftains went very well. So well in fact that they will pay us double their current tribute.
"What good is tribute in Sala and Vran skins? Or Chelswatta fruits?" Sneered Efflit.
Watch who your talking to. I may be the one who pisses you off, but I still outrank your aristocratic ass.
The Vissers were arriving two or three a day now, until all but Visser three and Visser eighteen were absent.
With the exception of Efflit, Visser sixteen (A Taxxon) and Visser four (A human), all held newly aquired Andalite hosts.
Visser one, holding the host of the former Andalite Electorate, Leeram, was held in high esteem by the rest of her colleagues.
But none were aware of the Shrike lurking in the Naharan wilderness, waiting silently, with an otherworldly calm to its prey.
~The time is at hand. If the prophets were correct, six shall fight, and three shall die.~
The Shrike, Tyrak, hid in the wastelands near the City of Lud, an ancient Naharan word for 'Stone'.
~Soon.~
Then, from out of time, came Puck.
"How's it goin', buddy-boy?"
~It never ceases to amaze me, Quinz, how you talk so eloquently around our master, but so…common, around others.~
"You should see me when I'm drunk."
The two beings stood in silence for a moment, until Puck began to talk again.
"So, I just got back from watching Hunting for a bit."
~And?~
"Well, you know how I can't do much outside of dreams in that dimension, none of us can. And that little putz, Drode, has been hard at work manipulating time and space so that Hunting will never get anywhere, but I just watched him give a nice, long rant about ol' Hunting. Very entertaining. Crayak's worried."
~Who wouldn't be? If that dimension is destroyed, he gets kicked right back to the Machine. And you know what IT would do to him.~
"Yeah, I know, I know."
~How would you know? You've never even been in it's presence. I had to go INTO it.~
"Whatever."
Puck drew a deep breath, "Look, I want to know what happened to you, I sent you off fifteen centuries ago to look for the Stone and you never come back. What gives?"
~On the planet known as Earth, the Stone fell. It fell to the eastern forested land of the continent known as Europe. There, their prophet waited for me.~
"A prophet?"
~Yes. But not a human. A Maiar.~
Puck looked nervous, "Maiar? Shit, on Earth? Actually doing something? Was it Gri'yang and Fred? They made a mess out of Berensons dimension, you know."
~No. More powerful. Lathos.~
Puck was very nervous at this, "Lathos? One of the first! Fuck, he was supposed to be DEAD!"
~I know. I watched as he was slain by Naysrak, Lord of Terror, in he dimension of Telamon. He was indeed dead to our eyes.~
"I mean, Chira's still alive, we know that…Gray'ang…we got him, too…Darius…we all know what happened to HIM, for the fire of Hell. And Mar…Mar…Ma…"Puck stuttered, trying to speak the name, "Well, we know. Lathos was killed!"
~When a Maiar is slain, they become one with the Power. It is obvious he was resurrected. Incarnate in a mortal form.~
"What else?"
~Lathos had a following. They made many prophecies about your Beast, even though it had yet to manifest in that dimension. They built a fortress in the lands known as Romania, where they held the Stone away from things like us. I found it there, and they trapped me. Then, fifteen hundred years later, I was found by humans that called themselves Nazi's. They freed me, but the Stone was gone. Lathos must have sent it elsewhere. He had put a curse on my prison, whoever freed me would die within two weeks. As I cut my way back to Hell, I saw that the Nazi in command, Heinrich, was killed eleven days later in Slavic lands, at the hands of a rebel group. That is all I know.~
"FUCK!"
~I Know.~
"Very bad…very bad…another Maiar out there, who knows all about our plans? Fuck!"
~Indeed, though they already knew. The Power knows everything, and that meddler, Whistler, would have told them, without a doubt.~
"We need Taggart…he cant die…don't kill him. Kill the rest. Get the Stone. Taggart is needed."
Puck looked at Tyrak cockeyed, "Wait…you know even more, don't you? You know how its going to End!"
~I know how that battle will begin, who shall slay whom, but I know not what waits at the end of that conflict.~
"What about it?"
~The Beast will play the biggest part in the end of all things. Our master knows this, as well. Even if I kill Taggart, the Beast shall reassemble in Tartarus. It is foretold.~
"Jesus…I'm getting too old for this shit?"
Puck said 'fuck' once more, and was gone.
The Shrike sighed. The orders of the Dark Lord outweighed those of the Jester of Hell. It would find the Stone…and kill whoever carried it.
ABOVE THE PLANET, October 8th, 2000…
DAVID
"We're going in."
"That's suicide!" Said LaRouche.
"Madness!" Blurted Skorre.
"I guess you don't like living, eh, David?" Muttered Aleks.
"Dog-Shit! Insane!"
Only Sara remained silent after hearing of my plan to raid the Vissers summit.
"Well, their all there, this is our best fuckin' chance of assassinating the top warlords in the high command! We cant pass it up!" I said.
" Why am I surprised? You drag us out here right after LaRouche tells you exactly what you want to hear: That Efflit, and your parents, are going to be wide open and ready to be hit. You didn't even TELL us what you were planning until just now," said Aleks, "Fuck, I mean, its not supposed to BE this way!"
"And how is it supposed to be, Aleks?" Asked LaRouche.
"There's a plan, bigger than ours. Like a Machine, you know? That runs everything."
Sara spoke up, "Uh oh, he's rambling again," She said, looking to LaRouche.
"You don't say."
"Look, this is not a democracy. This is a dictatorship. And in MY dictatorship, my command is what we DO. None of you can protest that. We have a job to waste all these slugs and take down their bloody Empire, and if we have to…"
Skorre, normally 100% loyal to me, said " Get your parents? Is that what you want, David? Will you risk our lives for your personal gain, or vengeance?"
"Damn right I will. We attack them tomorrow morning when their in full swing. Morph Hork-Bajir to get in and then pick them off in quiet."
"Anything else?" Asked Ripper, seeming somewhat worried.
"Yeah. When we find Visser 11, we take him alive."