Cc: zachstack@yahoo.com
Previously...
Outside the massed Spires of Radu and his two allies...
'We mustn't allow for that bitch Brittania and her gay compatriot to beat us to these new comers.' Vera was virulent in her arguement.
'Quiet, Vera.' Radu's mental prowess was tremendous. His mental voice although quiet, still echoed in the minds of his allies. 'You forget that we are still in the house of our enemies. Maltus The Magus is a thought theif. Careful of what you say. I agree with what you have to say, but we will not speak of this again until we are in the safety of our own homes.' Radu mounted his monster and flew out to a huge gust of dust and wind into the open air that was beginning to brighten to the coming sunlit hours. ******************************************************* Back at the Rache Camp...
"Nick, I have someone for you to meet." Jase whispered to Nick amidst all the chaotic partying of the tribe.
Jase laughed a rich boyish laugh, and leaned in to Nick. "Don't worry about it, I think you're adorable too." Nick leaned back to see if the other was joking. Jase winked at him happily and said. "C'mon, grab your friends, let's go meet the other Sleeper."
Nick whispered over to the other guys and they were quickly off with Jase to meet the other guy from their time. **************************************** Meanwile back in the Vampyre Valley. In Maltus The Magus' Citadel.
"I believe these three know something that we have missed. I have scried their minds, and all I see is chaos. I dared not venture deeper in caution of being caught." Maltus' frown deepened. "I must notify Lord Zakaiyus at once." He scampered off back to his launching ports to mount a dragon to his closest neighbor and ally's great ZakSpire.
End of Part 4
------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimers: This is a work of fiction and should not be taken any other way. It is a horror sci-fi epic that pits the members of the Backstreet Boys along with the remnants of the human race against vampyres in a post apocalyptic world. Any resemblances to persons living or dead -- aside from me -- is highly coincidental. This does not reflect the lives of any of the Backstreet Boys or Aaron Carter. Enjoy -------------------------------------------------------
BSB Broken Bonds Part 5 "Brother's Keeper"
Jase snuck them out from the main celebration to follow a segregated path that led from the main settlement to a rather thickly wooded area south of the main entrance. While animals of great diversity and shapes and form lined the flanks of the main camp, the path was pure and utter desolation. There was nothing; no noise, no sound, no smell, just the overbearing echo of silence and the ominous feel of something hiding in the dark.
Just as Nick is about to say something to Jase, they suddenly found themselves on a relatively large clearing that surrounded a relatively medium sized construct. The closest thing to resemble this squat new building that any of the boys have seen before was a lodge. But even that, they thought, was a stretch. The construct was obviously one story, and built relatively close to the ground. The roof was made thick with branches covered with a facade of leaves and vines. The porch stood alone in front of the circular house, with only one entrance. Windows adorned the sides of the house, but to say that they were indeed windows seemed wrong. These were square openings -- or seem to be -- with wooden covers that also gave off an illusion of vines and bushes. The house, if it could be called that, was a small hump on the ground consisting of dying and dead leaves, vines, thick branches lined with mud and straw. As though to contrast to the images of death and decay, the lump of earth also sported its own colourful array of living plants; cat's claw vines crawled up around its humped shoulders, large purple blossoms bloomed around the porch, and like a single beacon in a dark alley, a small torch lit the small entry way under the main awning in front.
"This is it." Jase said spreading his arms almost proudly as he continued to march the boys up the small gravel path up to the front of the porch. "This is the home of Paul The Sleeper." As though on cue, the hidden door opened and a large burly man stepped through to bare welcome to his visitors.
"Come in." His deep voice rang out like a gong in the night just before he disappeared once more into the shadow strewn house.
"Shall we?" Jase smiled and raised his eyebrows at the six new visitors.
"S-sure." Kevin answered. Even he was a little unsure of the current situation. The silence and the distance from the main body of the tribe was just too nerve wracking, even for him.
Jase then led all five of the Backstreet Boys and Nick's little brother, Aaron, up the surprising steps and into the roommy interior where the large man was standing.
"Paul?" Kevin asked when Jase seemed to have stopped talking completely.
"No. I am not the Sleeper." Was all the burly man said.
"This is Ramus. He is Paul's bodyguard." Jase continued with the explanation. "Paul, is very important to the tribe. He is an adept mathematician, philosopher, architect, and engineer. His skills has grown over the course of his stay with the tribe. He has also shown our young lads many ways to use weapons and strength building to keep us on our toes in case of a Vampyre raid."
"Thank you, Jase." A quiet voice came out of the shadows as an old man strode into the room. He showed grey hair at his temples mostly, but the top of his strong round head showed dark hair turning to iron gray colours. He was not entirely old, maybe in his 40's, but the lines on his face made him seem older. But while his voice seemed quiet, and his hair has turned with time, The Sleeper was definitely a helpless old man. His looks alone made the boys think twice about him needing a bodyguard. He was not tall, about 5'10 at the most maybe, but he held himself confident that he didn't seem to notice. His strong face rested upon a thick well muscled neck over shoulders almost as broad as Howie was tall. He was barrel chested, and but solid as a bag of bricks. His huge forearms glinted in the dim light of its bronze tan while his muscles of hard work rippled underneath his skin. "Good evening." His quiet, but pleasant voice reached out to his guests as he spoke. "I am Paul, also known as The Sleeper amongst members of this tribe." He smiled, showing strong white teeth. "But to my friends, it is Paul all the same."
He extended his large arms in a welcoming gesture. "Sit, please. How may I help you this close to dawn?"
He sat heavily onto a large, highbacked leather chair.
"Paul, may I introduce Kevin, Howie, Aj, Brian, Aaron, and Nick." Jase nodded his respects to the old grizzly. "Guys, this is The Sleeper. Paul."
"Welcome, all." Paul nodded to the guys while they offered him their hands and respects.
"Paul, these are..."
"The Backstreet Boys, I remember." Paul again smiled, cutting off the younger man. "My apologies to you Jase, I forgot myself in the excitement of finally meeting others from my time." He almost added the grim truth of how most of them usually ended up dead or under the mercy of the Vampyre lords -- they sometimes did not know whom were the luckier ones.
"No problem, Paul. It seems you and the...er...Backstreet Boys may have things to catch up on. Ramus, why don't you join me in the cuisine, let us not let our mouths get dry." Jase excused himself, as did Ramus, and made their way to the back.
"Jase is a regular here. He is one of the more curious youngsters of this tribe." Paul answered the questions on the faces of the Backstreet Boys. "And yes, I do remember you. I wasn't this old back in our own time, you know."
"Always, great to meet a fan." Brian added politely.
Paul smiled warmly. "Sad to admit, I wasn't." Paul shifted to a more comfortable looking sprawl on the chair. "I was not a fan, but I had sisters...and a brother." The last he said almost sadly. Regretful. "It is true, though, when I said it is a great pleasure to meet someone from our time. In this place, loneliness can come very easily when you don't belong. But, tell me first of your story and what your fortune -- or fate -- has allowed you to sit where you are now, almost 2 centuries past our time and the Genocide? In short, tell me how you got here."
"Well, all we can really remember is getting into the elevator cab of our hotel headed home from a club when suddenly there were huge explosions that rocked the building and our cab crashed." kevin looked around if someone wanted to pick up. No one did, so he continued. "The next thing we knew was that we were waking up one by one covered in dirt and soot with more explosions outside our half buried elevator. Surprised as we were that we had survived, it was pretty much almost traumatizing when we saw what was left of New York when we got out."
"That's when Jase showed up." Nick cut in.
"Yeah, he saved me from huge wind that almost killed me." Aaron chimmed in.
"Ah, I see." Paul smiled and nodded in response. "The explosions that had sent you plummetting to your doom were the beginning of an all out nuclear warfare." Paul noticed the shock on the others' faces, but continued. "The time was troubled with dealings between the US and China. Bush was our president then, and he was not out to make friends. He made the United States a beginning of a veritable fortress much to the chagrin of our allies. When China had had enough of our "remorse" she had joined with Iraq and Russia and bombed us and our allies. After that, the world plunged into what is now known as the Genocide. Our enemies targetted large and small cities of the US for their missles. Thankfully most of them ran off course. However, now most of what had been the United States now lay in ruins. Everything south of New York has turned to waste and swamplands. New York and a few smaller states survived, while the rest of the northern east coast has been swallowed by the Atlantic. Of course, we have also been cut off from the West. No one knows if there are any survivors from the west. There is only barren desert wastelands of searing heat that no human can live through there for more than an hour. The world as you and I knew it back in 2001 is dead."
"How could that happen? I mean, the world seemed as though we were in peace?" Brian blurted, still shocked at what he had just heard.
"Like you, Brian, I do not know the answer to that. Just like you, I also found myself in an elevator cab frozen in time by the radiation of the nuclear genocide. I surfaced only some 24 years ago. I was not there when everything turned to hell on earth. And no one you can access knows what happened. Even the records of the Rache tribe do not speak of the events that happened. Only the general truths and results of the war." Paul shifted in his seat as Ramus and Jase returned with trays of drinks for everyone.
"No one short of the oldest Vampyre master can tell you what happened during the great calamity of the Genocide." As he said it, Jase wished that he could take it back. But before he could say anything, screams echoed in the night so blood curdling, that it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. ******************************************************* [Back at the main camp a few minutes earlier...]
"Mikas, I think I am going to retire now." Nolan turned to his friend. "I am tired, and we still have a long trek tomorrow."
"As am I my friend, as am I. But look, there is our Cheiftain now, looks like he has something to say." Mikas, Nolan, and their circle of friends and family members turned to their leader.
"As you all know, there is once again trouble amongst our enemies. Vampyre sheds vampyre blood once again. A blood war has ensued, the great Lord Lobos is no more, and we have among us more Sleepers that have survived their ill fates. Tonight, indeed, is a cause for celebration. Tonight, is indeed a momentous occasion..." Rache's thunderous voice echoed to silence when propulsions and large bellowing beasts came crashing down around the camp. "Battle stations!" The chieftain's voice was edged with fear an panic. But there was no hiding now, this was reality. Where was Ithica?! ******************************************************* [Farther back still in the cycles of time. At ZakSpire's lofty appartments.]
"You summoned us, your Lordship?" The delicate Lord Donovan came weaving onto the rear launching port of Zakaiyus' great fortress. His slick purple robe billowed around him like wings as he dismounted from his great beast. His right hand man followed suit. It was his lover that had accompanied him.
"Aye, Donovan. Where is the Lady Brittania?" As Maltus mentioned her name, the beautiful lady seemed to materialize inside the great port on one of her own beautifully crafted creatures.
"I am here, your Lordship. How may Donovan and I serve you?" Brittania courtsied from the saddle of her creature, paying respects to the two oldest and most feared Vampyre Lords of the Valley.
"I have a job for you." Zakaiyus' awesome gravely voice echoed in the cavernous room. "Lord Radu and his allies have gone hunting for the new sleepers. I want you both to intercept them, and capture the sleepers first and bring them to me alive before Radu gets his paws on them."
"But this close to sunrise, my lord..." Brittania omted to protest, but Zakaiyus was in a foul mood this close to sun up. He was always the most sensitive to bright lights.
"You have already failed me once tonight, my lady. I suggest you not make a habit of displeasing me, or you will indeed find yourself chained to meet the sun!" Zakaiyus growled. "Lord Maltus, The Magus, has pin pointed the location of new beings. The Sleepers, we believe. Fetch them for me. And do not kill any of them. Especially the old one. In fact, leave him, but take the others. I grow weary, do not return empty handed. Now go!" Zakaiyus commanded as he ascended the stairwell to his dark private chambers.
"You heard your Lord, go. Do not bother with your armies. I have pin pointed the location of the Sleepers. Go there covertly and capture them before Radu does. But remember not to hurt the old one, he has special meaning for The Lord of ZakSpire." Maltus drew a crude map onto a piece of dried human skin. "The encampment is only a few miles past the great ruins. But your goal is around it: here. There is a small hump of a dwelling there. Crush it. Send your creature to collapse the dwelling, and capture everyone that comes running out. Spare the old one. Now go." Maltus handed the map to Donovan, and watch Britannia launch first with her beast accompanied suddenly by another monstrous flying thing with numerous arms and legs that once upon a time belonged to human beings.
"As you wish, M'Lord." Donovan saluted, and then he and his lover were off with Brittania in search of the coveted Golden Sleepers. ******************************************************* [A few minutes before the screams, but many past the schemes of the Great Vampyre Lords Maltus and Zakaiyus.]
'Vera, Vilya, now quietly, without mists, send your creatures to destroy their fences. We will take them now by surprise. They will not expect us this close to sunrise.' Radu commandered from the back of his creature. His own small contingent hovered behind him. "Attack NOW!" He screamed his fury and it was not a moment sooner when his creatures and lieutenants came crashing down upon the unsuspecting members of the Rache Tribe.
End of Part 5