"I knew it! I bloody knew it!" shouted Thunderchild, slapping his hand against his forehead "She's been too damn quiet lately!"
Domino too groaned inwardly, this was the last thing she needed, an attack by her past self.
"So…what's happening, what's she doing?" she asked
Reiganna pointed a finger at a crystal screen which flickered to life displaying a Mistodon, Domino recognised it from her time on Gaia.
"Over the past two Gaian days, these creatures have penetrated into the realms of the Twilight Forest, only a couple at first but then many more. Other creatures followed," she said changing the screen to show a small army of Magic Vices and even worse, Genomes. "And so far, all the Forests defenses have been unable to repel them."
"What are they doing here?"
"So far their only activity has been the destruction of the trees in the forest and the gathering of the crystals that you see around you."
"The trees? No…they couldn't…" gasped Thunderchild
Reiganna looked puzzled at him
"What is the matter Thunderchild?"
Thunderchild wiped a hand across his brow and rubbed his eyes
"I can feel the trees presence, hear their talking, feel their emotions." He explained
Reiganna quickly ran over to him and pressed her hand onto his chest
"You speak the truth!" she asked, a sense of urgency in her voice
"Yeah, I lit my sword as we entered the forest and I felt their fear at the flame. As we walked through the forest I could feel them watching us."
Reiganna looked into his eyes, examining him, trying to tell if he was speaking the truth. She turned away, and thought for a moment
"If what you say is true…then you could be the one who saves the forest…you need to talk to the trees."
"Talk to them! How!"
"I do not know…if I did then I would have already done it!"
"Ok, ok. Talk to the trees…how hard could it be!" said Thunderchild, looking very confused
Domino smiled at him but she too was confused, what was Reiganna going on about? She always spoke in riddles and never fully explained herself.
Reiganna meanwhile had walked back to the crystallised control station and has pressing buttons and flicking switches.
"So…er…Reiganna," began Thunderchild "When do I start…this talking…?"
He began to walk over to her and suddenly vanished in a flash of white light.
"Thunderchild?" called Domino, startled by his sudden disappearance.
"It is ok Domino, that was me. It would take too long to explain it to him in a way in which he would understand. I hear that he and you are now married. Come, please walk with me." Said Reiganna, beginning to walk over to a corridor in the other side of the cavern.
"Yeah, we've not long been married….it's been so much of a blur, especially with Jara arriving on the scene again. I never could imagine that in one week I would discover so much."
Reiganna run her hand through her hair, and sighed slowly
"There is much more that is hidden Domino…Thunderchild holds a great deal from you, for fear of hurting you. That is another part of the reason I brought you here, I want you to see first hand what he is hiding from you."
"He's hiding something? What?"
"It is mainly from a time on his Discworld…during his army days. I have reviewed it myself, and I think you are ready to as well. Although it is not a pleasant thing to behold. He has had a troubled past….a very troubled past."
Reiganna walked into a room which was perfectly spherical in shape and had a polished crystal surface, a small platform stood in the middle and a raised walkway led out to it. Reiganna walked down it and then turned to Domino.
"Are you ready to see this?" she asked
Domino frowned
"Possibly…but it has to be seen."
Reiganna nodded and twirled around once on the spot, as she twirled the walls rippled and suddenly they were no longer standing in a crystal room but in the middle of a dry desert.
"What the…? Where are we Reiganna?"
"A place known as Klatch….near another place known as Ankh-Morpork."
"I've heard of these places, Thunderchild has mentioned them."
"These are his memories…."
"Oh yeah." She said, mentally cursing herself for being so slow.
She looked around, there was nothing but sand for miles around but in the distance she could see spires of some sort…a village or a town perhaps, it was hard to see at this distance.
"So…where is he?" she asked, her tail twitching uncertainly.
Reiganna looked upwards towards the sky, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand.
Overhead, about one mile above the ground four rectangular shapes glided noiselessly through the air heading towards the spires that Domino had spotted. As she watched they slowly glided lower and lower, but picked up speed.
"Magic Carpets?" she asked
Reiganna nodded
Thunderchild wandered alone in the forest, but something bothered him. He wasn't feeling alright, he felt as though someone was prying into his mind. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being examined.
FLASHSpeeding through the air on the back of a magic carpet the rest of his Carpet Squadron members sitting alongside him sharpening their swords and crossbow points.
FLASH"What the…?" he muttered
A flashback to Bazaar Oasis…he hadn't had one of them in years. What a strange time to have one he thought but carried on walking through the trees, trying hard to think to them but that niggling feeling worked at his mind until he just gave in and welcomed the vision back.
FLASHAnd so he sat, under the sun scorched sky, with a cool breeze created by the movement of the carpet.
"So…the Intel on this is pretty good?" asked Ghot-Kin-Jip, a new member of the Screaming Vultures carpet troopers squadron, he had brown hair, like Thunderchilds but also sported a long beard as was popular in the Klatchian Army, he was polishing his loaded crossbow.
"Yes…minimum enemy activity. We should have those bridges by nightfall and then the Thirtieth Camel Corps moves in and secures the lot. We'll have this war over soon." Assured their squadron leader, the venerable Lap-Fit-Prin who was in his late forties and the veteran of the last Ankh-Klatch wars.
"Bout bloody time" Thunderchild heard someone say in a voice he knew was his own and as he looked up and across to the other side of the carpet he saw that he was right.
His younger self sat crossed legged near the edge of the carpet, polishing his two-handed sword.
God, did I ever look so young and naïve? thought Thunderchild I'm going to have a lot of growing up to do today.
"Target is approaching sir." Said the pilot of the carpet
"Ok men, remember your training and good luck. We'll meet up at the agreed rendezvous point." Said Lap-Fit-Prin.
Oh no we won't thought Thunderchild or at least half of us won't
Suddenly a fireball whistled past them and exploded above them
"Anti-Carpet defences!" screamed his younger self
"Stay calm men, we'll be over the Drop Zone shortly."
Domino and Regianna now stood in the centre of the town that Domino had seen earlier, it was bigger than she expected. Overhead a low flying magic carpet was blown out of the sky by a well placed fireball, it spiralled down and smashed into a building not far away exploding with a loud boom.
Another carpet flew overhead but this one managed to dodge the fireballs launched at it, and four men jumped out of it. As they fell each one of them opened up a large sheet which helped slow their descent but not by much, there were four heavy thumps and strong language as the carpet-troopers hit the road not far from Domino and Reiganna.
"Whoever came up with the idea of Carpet-troopers needs to try it themselves." Said a voice that Domino recognised.
"Is that..?" she asked Reiganna
Reiganna nodded as Domino watched a younger version of her husband pull himself free of the sheet that had fallen over him.
"Everyone here?" he asked
There are a few mutters and "yes" s and the rest of the carpet-troopers pulled themselves out of their sheets.
Suddenly a building nearby exploded, bricks and masonary showering over them
"Crap! Take cover!" swore Thunderchild as he dived behind a nearby wall.
What the hell are you two doing here! said a voice in Dominos head
She turned around and saw another Thunderchild standing there, this one she recognised as being the Thunderchild of the present.
What the hell are you doing here! she returned the question with a question
I'm having a vision of my past…and you're not suppose to be here!
Behind them Thunderchilds squad had been pinned down by fireballs and were returning fire with crossbow bolts.
"No-one said anything in the briefing about bloody wizards!" shouted Ghot-Kin-Jip
Their commanding officer Lap-Fit-Prin stood up and rolled to one side to attract the attention of the fireballs.
"Now run for it!" he shouted at them
As the rest of the squad ran for it several fireballs flew out and struck down Lap-Fit-Prin causing him to cry out in pain.
The young Thunderchild stopped and ran back to his commanding officer, dragging him back behind the wall that they had hidden behind before. Although this was taking place a little way away from them all three could hear the whispered conversation as clear as a bell amongst the chaos of the battle.
"Dammit Khit, I thought I told you to get out of here!" said Lip-Fit-Prin, gasping for breath
"I can't leave you behind sir." Said Thunderchild trying to stop the bleeding
"I'm done for, now get the hell out of here."
"But what about the men?"
"Get them out of here…you're in command now. Try to get across the bridge to the other side of the river, we're on the wrong side…behind enemy lines."
With that Lip-Fit-Prin, commanding officer of the Screaming Vultures, gasping in his last breath and died. Leaving the younger Thunderchild in command, in command of a situation that was rapidly getting out of control.
Someone shouted in a foreign voice from further down the street, looking up from his CO's corpse the younger Thunderchild saw Ankh troopers starting to walk down the street. Darting away he attracted a few shouts and crossbow bolts but no-one pursued him.
As he ran, he was watching impassively by his older self.
So…why the hell did you bring this up Domino? Why did you have to pry like this?
Domino looked slightly embarrassed and blushed slightly
Well…it was Reigannas idea…
Thunderchild turned on Reiganna, for the first time speaking aloud.
"I would have thought you'd have better sense than to drag this back up!"
Reiganna said nothing.
"On come on! What's the matter…not so smug and superior are we now. End this flashback and end it now!"
"But it hasn't finished yet."
"Reiganna…we both know how it finishes and I don't want Domino to know!"
That got Dominos back up
"Why! Why don't you want me to know, what are you hiding from me?"
Thunderchild turned back towards her, tears beginning to form in his eyes.
"I don't want you to see…what they put me through…"
Domino looked confused as the battle of Operation Bazaar Oasis played out behind them, Thunderchild sighed and turned around indicating what was left of the Screaming Vultures squadron behind him as they huddled behind a garden wall as Ankh cavalry troops marched by.
"No-one had mentioned the cavalry regiment that was based in the town of Arn-hemn, our goal was simply to land one side of the river and work our way over to the bridge. Old men and kids, that what we were told we were up against…instead we found ourselves on the wrong side of an elite cavalry force."
A crossbow bolt passed between the three and thudded into the wall behind them.
"Erm…Reiganna, just how real is this? Can we…be injured?"
Reiganna shook her head
"No…we remain outside of events, they cannot effect us in any way."
Thunderchild looked at Reiganna, tears flowing freely down his face
"Oh they can Reiganna…they definitely can."
The scene had changed now, they were on one side of a bridge. It was not the longest bridge Domino had ever seen but it certainly seemed a long distance to the other side.
All was still and quiet, and Thunderchilds squad was crouching behind a burnt out wagon.
"Right lads…this is the bridge. We've got to get over it and we'll be safe, on the other side are the rest of our forces. Then we can get this blasted war over and done with."
The rest of the squad looked expectantly at him, he knew he was in control now…that his decisions affected the lives of these men, that this day they would either live or die. His best friend, the beard sporting Ghot-Kin-Jip clapped Thunderchilds younger self on the shoulder say
"Today Khit-Ghot-Jip we make history. No one will forget our capture of Arn-hemn bridge, eh?"
"Lets hope not Ghot…right, so we divide in two. Khil you go to the left, I'll go to the right, ok?"
"Ok."
"Good luck my friends."
On the younger Thunderchilds nod the group split up and moved onto the bridge from the left and the right, using the many burnt or burning wagons as cover.
Half way across the bridge as they were beginning to think that they had made it, that now their struggles were over; A crossbow bolt slammed home straight into the heart of Ghot-Kin-Jip. He clutched at it and fell to the ground, the younger Thunderchild who was on the right hand side of the wide bridge ran across to him dodging a hail of crossbow bolts and dragged him behind the nearest wagon.
"Dammit Ghot…don't die on me, ok, You never gave up when I was dying of thirst in the desert…you found me and brought me home now don't give up!"
"Khit…tell my parents I'll miss them." He said as his eyes closed and his life came to an end.
"No…dammit, this can't be happening!" shouted Thunderchild as he watched the rest of his squad pinned down behind other wagons, they couldn't move, couldn't retreat or they would be shot, couldn't advance or they'd be shot.
Feeling the rage within him mount Thunderchild stood up and ran forward as fast as he could at the enemy lines, he could see them now, peering out from behind a blockade at the end of the bridge.
"ULLLLAAAAAAAA!" he shouted, holding his sword up high.
Crossbow bolts whistled past his head, some missing him by a matter of inches. One struck him in the side of his chest, causing him to stagger but carry on as the rage within him increased. Somehow he actually made it to the enemy lines, causing the soldiers there to drop their crossbows and draw their swords. He jumped the barricade in one leap and began slashing at the soldiers gathered there.
Two of them fell and he advanced on more, swinging his sword left and right, a murderous rage in his eyes as he prepared to kill those who had robbed him of his friends. But then he saw him…the young recruit, he could only have been fifteen. Cowering in the corner, he was absolutely terrified, holding his sword in completely the wrong way, he would do more damage to himself than to Thunderchild and yet he tried a few experimental swings.
The younger Thunderchild just stopped, his rampage halted by a sense of guilt. These men were only human too…why was he killing them? Why were they fighting? What had they done to deserve this…why were they at war? He'd never met the people here and didn't want to fight them.
It was while Thunderchild was having this crisis of morals that an Ankh soldier walked up behind him and clubbed him on the back of the head with the butt of his sword. Thunderchild collapsed to the ground.
"I lost almost all of my friends that day…" said the older Thunderchild as he watched the soldiers gather around his fallen self.
"I'm so sorry Thunderchild…I never knew."
"None of us made it across that bridge…the reinforcements on the other side didn't make it anywhere near the damn bridge. Out of about 100 or so men who went into Arn-hemn…only about 20 or so of us made it out alive. But we were all captured, no-one in Arn-hemn got back out as a free man…"
"I'm sorry…Reiganna can't we shut this down?" asked Domino, having already seen too much.
"Not yet…it has not finished…"
"Not finished? What do you mean, what else is there?" asked Domino
Thunderchild began crying again, sobbing freely as many years of repressed emotion resurged within him as he remembered the events that had so left their mark on him.
"I was transported back to Ankh-Morpork with the rest of the prisoners…I was taken into custody…and….and…." it was a struggle for him to continue
"They tortured you?"
Thunderchild nodded, crying heavily as the memories came flooding back.
"Yes…please Reiganna, stop it. I don't want Domino to see, for her to know what happened!" shouted Thunderchild, grabbing a hold of Reigannas shirt and shaking her.
"Please control yourself…." She said in a clipped tone of voice
"CONTROL MYSELF…you stupid bitch, I've spent the majority of my life, trying to FORGET this, and then you drag it all back up and tell me to CONTROL MYSELF! Damn you stupid genomes, damn you to hell and back. You don't know what you meddle in!"
Domino walked forward and placed her hand on Thunderchilds shoulder as a prelude to hugging him but to her surprise Thunderchild pushed away her hand and turned his back on her and Reiganna.
"What have you done to him?" she asked Reiganna
"Nothing he hasn't been doing to himself ever since his battle began."
The scene changed now…to a prison cell, Thunderchild was hanging from his hands which were manacled to the wall, as were his feet. He was virtually naked, with only his groin being covered by torn cloth. All over his body were cuts and bruises, many of them fresh and bleeding. His face was a mess and blood dripped from his mouth.
A rattle of keys at the door made him weakly raise his head. The door opened and two large men came in and undid his chains, grabbing him roughly by his arms and legs another man walked in and punched Thunderchild hard in the stomach, as Thunderchild fell to the floor the man kicked him repeatedly in the side of his chest.
The two men then dragged the semi-conscious Thunderchild out of the cell as the man who had hit Thunderchild removed knuckle-dusters from his hands.
"Welcome," said the older Thunderchild "To the Ankh Prisoner of War camp…"