Days of Future Past - Part 3: Future Tense Page 8

  I looked up and Riggs had stuck out his hand. I was rather shocked by that, so I stuck out my own and shook hands with him.

  "Course I still think you're a bit of an ass half the time and an obnoxious prick most of the rest." Riggs chuckled, "but at least you get the job done."

  "Thanks," I said half-heartedly. "So, you going back?"

  "I'm thinking of it. I miss my wife, my family. But knowing what's coming? I don't know, it's kind of hard to want to go back and face all of that."

  "Maybe the only reason that the Navajo are even around today, is because you went back and got them ready for what was coming," I said and motioned towards the outside of the tent. "For all that I was a slave when I lived among them, I actually like them. They're decent people, and I think they still need your help."

  Riggs was quiet a moment, in obvious thought. Then he stood up, "You're right, Paul. My people still need me."

  "So they're your people now? I seem to recall a little bit of protesting back in the cockpit," I laughed.

  Riggs laughed as well, "Yeah, funny how that works. I always used to think they were living in the past, but now? I can see that they're the future. Good luck, Paul. I don't think we'll be meeting again."

  I nodded and looked up at him, and then slowly getting to my feet I saluted him. He returned the salute and then left the tent, so I dropped my salute and then dropped back down onto the cot. I was tired, and I was hungry, and I was still pretty sore all over. Sleep sounded like a good idea.

  "My, it's hard to believe that you've become such an altruistic person," Coyote said, sitting on the foot of the cot.

  "Oh, he'll now go the rest of his life knowing that he got credit for something he didn't do," I grumbled half-heartedly. "I figure that's revenge enough."

  Coyote gave one of those little bark-laughs of his, "You're learning."

  "But not fast enough. Why are you here, anyway? Aybem is dead; the war is over, the gods won. You don't need me anymore."

  I lay back down on the cot and started to pull the cover over me.

  "Actually, there's one more thing I need you to do, Paul."

  I groaned, "No. I'm done. Kill me, torture me, do whatever the hell you want to me. I don't care anymore. Sarah and Heather are dead, I did what you asked of me, and I lost everything that matters. I'm done. Just leave me alone."

  "Actually, they're not dead, Paul."

  I didn't think I could still move that fast, but I had my hands around his neck and my face was inches from his muzzled.

  "If you are lying to me, I will spend the rest of my life destroying you!" I growled.

  "It was a trick, an illusion. I made it look like they were dead so the others would leave them alone and they could get away."

  I let go of his neck and put my hands down on the bed and sighed, a sudden spell of vertigo catching up with me from the outburst.

  "Thank you."

  "Oh, don't thank me, Paul." Coyote sighed then, surprising me.

  I raised my head up and looked into his eyes wondering just what he'd done to me this time.

  "I set you up to be captured. I never intended you to go through the tunnels. I needed you to be inside Aybem's stronghold, in the room with him when the time came."

  "Why?" I said and flinched as I thought of the torture I'd endured.

  "Because you really did distract Aybem, with his human brain dead, your being there made him less efficient. He had to pretend, or rather the machine had to pretend, to still be a living thing whenever others were about. It was hard coded into him. If you hadn't been in the room, he wouldn't have used those consoles, and wouldn't have been easily distracted by you. But because you were, he had to pretend to still be alive."

  "What?"

  "The man who had lived inside the machine didn't want anyone to suspect he was dead. So when he realized he was dying, he programmed certain protocols into it to behave like a living person. Otherwise those that followed his leadership would have rebelled. They might willingly follow a monster, but they'd never have followed a machine.

  "Of course it abandoned those when Riggs broke in, survival protocols trump everything, which was why cutting the umbilicals had such a big effect on it. You isolated it from half of its computing power, most of its storage, as well as all of its external senses. Plus its internal batteries were almost shot. Another fifteen minutes and it would have just collapsed on its own."

  I nodded slowly, then got back to what really mattered.

  "Where are Sarah and Heather?"

  "They're with the dwarves of course."

  "Why aren't they here?" I asked, a little surprised.

  "Heather tried to put a bullet through Riggs," Coyote bark-laughed.

  "What?!" I said surprised. "Why isn't he dead? She's not the type to miss!"

  Coyote grinned, "Yes, she isn't. But the battery in her rifle mysteriously went dead and so nothing happened."

  "Do they even know I'm alive?" I asked quickly. If they were persona non-grata in the camp, they may not have heard about my survival.

  "Not yet, and if you hurry, you might beat the messenger that Riggs just dispatched."

  I blinked, "He's only telling people now?"

  "He wanted to talk to you without anyone else around," Coyote laughed again, "and all things considered, it was good that he did. Your sending him off with the bug in his head about helping the Navajo was something that needed to be done."

  I got back out of bed and started heading for the exit.

  "Aren't you going to dress?" Coyote asked.

  I looked down at myself, I was clean, someone had cleaned me up apparently, but I was also naked. Not surprising as any clothing I had was either on my dead horse, or the orcs took it.

  "Is there anything in the tent for me to wear?"

  Coyote shook his head, "Nope."

  "Then no," I said and left the tent.

  I stopped as I stood outside, there was quite the party going on, and thankfully I wasn't drawing any attention, yet.

  I poked my head inside, "Are you going to lead me to where they are?"

  "Why would I do that?" Coyote chuckled.

  "Because you want me to do something for you, that's why."

  "I'm a god, Paul. I don't serve your demands, you serve mine."

  "Coyote?"

  Coyote grinned, "Yes, Paul?"

  "Get your fat lazy ass out here. Until I actually see the girls again, you're not anywhere close to getting me to work for you again."

  "Well, it's not like you haven't earned it," Coyote agreed and hopping off the cot he padded out of the tent and I followed him out into the camp.

  "And take the shortest path," I warned him, "I don't give a damn about people seeing me naked, I want to get there quickly."

  "That means cutting through the elven camp," Coyote warned.

  "Like they care?" I sighed.

  Apparently they did care.

  Oh, not in the 'put some clothes on human' kind of care. More like the, "Wow, you're really rather well developed! Why don't you stop and spend a little time," kind of care.

  And those were some of the more polite comments, I got quite a few much more cruder ones, and not just from the gals either. Apparently when it comes to parties, the elves are rather jaded. I thought I'd heard and seen a lot growing up in California.

  Thankfully it was too dark for them to see me blush at least.

  "Paul, is that you?" One of the dwarves asked as I came into their camp, still following Coyote, who apparently nobody could see but me. Well that or they were just ignoring him; coyotes were kind of common around here.

  "Simri?" I said surprised, stopping to look at him, "Yeah, it's Paul! Glad to see you're still alive. How's the hand?"

  "Ach, the hand is fine," he said and showed me a rather crude prosthetic, "When I get back I'm going to ask me uncle Grunim to make me something like that foot he made. But, why are ye naked?"

  "Because I wanted to see my wives and I wasn't gonna wait for th
em to find me some clothes!"

  Simri laughed at that and handed me a beer. Where the hell he got it from, I don't know and I actually didn't care at that point, "They're over in a tent by the command standard," he said and pointed it out, the multiple campfires that everyone was drinking around made it stand out rather clearly.

  "Thanks!" I said and headed off in that direction, Coyote was still there surprisingly, and he continued leading me to where they were as I followed him.

  A loud cheer of "PAUL!" went up right after I set foot into the circle of tents, Hakk was there and he was waving at me, along with several of his captains.

  I got tackled by Heather before I took another step, with Sarah piling on immediately.

  "You're alive!" They both yelled and kissed me.

  "Yes, very much so," I agreed.

  "And you're naked," Heather laughed.

  "Very much so," Sarah added.

  "How about we adjourn to someplace more private before we end up putting on a show for the others?" I asked as Sarah's hands were already groping me in some very private places, but then I wasn't being much better with either of them.

  "Yes, lets," Sarah said in a rather husky voice, and the two of them dragged me off to a nearby tent, not that I needed much dragging.

  - 9 -

  "So what happened to you?" Sarah asked me, much much later.

  We were sitting in the mess tent and the cook was piling a ton of food on my plate, along with giving me the mandatory mug of beer. They hadn't found any clothing for me yet, I was a bit too narrow and tall for anything made for one of the dwarves to fit me, but I'd made a fairly simple loincloth and was wearing that and just going barefoot for now.

  "And what happened to your back?" Heather was sitting on the other side of me and several times they'd each taken a look at all of the new scars I now had, but they hadn't asked about them as we were well occupied with more enjoyable pursuits.

  "Well, when the grenade when off, I was stunned and trapped under my dead horse. I then got knocked unconscious, and when I finally came too, I was a prisoner and tied over the back of a horse or something." I told them between bites of food. I was starving and I really couldn't stop myself from picking up pieces and stuffing them in my mouth while the cook was still piling it on. Every time he looked like he was about to stop, he'd look at me, mutter something about "Too thin," and add some more.

  "Eventually they took me to Aybem's stronghold, where I was tortured for a while," I grimaced while recalling that, "then I ended up in Aybem's lair and got to take part in the final fight when Riggs came in. At one point during the fight I was thrown against a wall," I winced, remembering, "and a whole bunch of things on the wall stabbed me in the back, along with the third degree burns and all the other wounds I had there."

  "So you were there when Riggs killed Aybem?" Sarah asked.

  "Yup," I said and grabbing a knife and fork I started in on the food now that the cook was done putting it all on my plate. It all looked so good, though I doubted I could eat even half of it after the week or two I'd just had, but I was sure as hell going to try.

  "How much of it is true?" Sarah asked me.

  I shrugged, "I have no idea what they're saying. But whatever it is, I'm fine with it."

  "Well," Sarah began, "they are saying that there was a great fight and that Riggs killed Aybem in single combat with one of Aybem's own weapons. That you guarded his back and killed those trying to attack him from behind while they fought, and even took a few blows during the fight to help and protect him. All of this at great personal risk to your own life of course, because you didn't have any of the protections of the gods, like he had. Which was why he directed that all of your wounds be healed and that you should always be welcome among all of the tribes for your very many selfless sacrifices that you made for him."

  "Wow, that was rather nice of him," I said between bites.

  Heather snickered suddenly, "That's not what happened, is it?"

  I grinned and shook my head, "Not exactly, but it's close enough. And he did save my life when he could have just let me die." I picked up my mug and looked at Heather, and then Sarah.

  "Besides," I said in a low voice, "that is what I told the others when they came and found us. So it must be true."

  "Idiot!" Heather said laughing as she punched me in the arm.

  "Hey, watch it! You almost made me spill my beer!" I laughed and Sarah put her arm around me and just hugged me.

  "Well, I for one am glad that this is all over with, and we can go home now."

  I sighed and put down my beer.

  "What is it, Paul?" Sarah asked, suddenly scowling at me.

  "Coyote says he has another job for me."

  "What?" her expression suddenly got a lot darker and I wondered if Coyote was going to have to start dodging spells as well.

  I shrugged, "I don't know, I told him it would have to wait until after I got back to you two," and I went back to eating.

  "Aybem's dead! What the hell else could he want from you?" Heather demanded.

  "Yeah, that's what I said," I agreed. "But he's being nice to me now, so it must be important."

  I changed the subject then; I didn't see any reason to get upset over something I didn't know anything about.

  "What happened to you two, after I was captured? I thought you were both dead."

  "Coyote told us he had cast an illusion to protect us, and that we needed to run," Sarah sighed.

  "Bastard wouldn't let us go back and save you, either!" Heather complained.

  "I do not know that we could have," Sarah admitted, "there were a lot of them."

  "Still, we could have tried," Heather grumbled.

  "Well, things turned out okay in the end," I said and decided not to tell them that Coyote had set me up to be captured and hadn't wanted them to save me. I don't think that would have gone over very well with either of them right now.

  "He led us back to the army," Sarah continued, "and we followed them here for the assault."

  "Is that when Heather tried to shoot Riggs?" I asked and looked at Heather.

  "How did you know about that?" she asked, blushing.

  "Coyote told me," I grinned.

  "He would, the little snitch."

  Sarah laughed, "She tried to kill him when he refused to let her lead a team of fighters in for the sole purpose of rescuing you while he went after Aybem."

  "Aww, thanks, Love," I said and gave Heather a hug.

  Heather stopped grumbling and hugged me back.

  "How long ago was I captured, anyway?" I went back to eating again as I stopped feeling full.

  "Eight days," Sarah replied and finally started in on her own breakfast, Heather following suit as I took another drink of my beer.

  "So, any idea what happens next?" I asked a few minutes later as I watched them eat and wondered if I might actually be able to finish the food on my own plate. To my own surprise I'd eaten more than half of what had been put there, and I was just waiting for my stomach to settle so I could eat some more.

  "The dwarves and the elves will head west and go back home," Sarah said between bites. "The Washoe will go with them. The Navajo and the other tribes are heading south, they will split up after they get to the Vegas ruins and each go their own way."

  "Why are they traveling together?"

  "While Aybem is dead, and most of his army here was destroyed, there are still a lot of orc, goblins, fey, and other fell creatures running around. This is the Nev Wastes after all."

  "In short," Heather picked it up, "they're traveling together for safety. They're less likely to be attacked by any stragglers or any still functioning units of Aybem's army if they're in one big group."

  I nodded, it made sense.

  "Let's get our stuff, and get packed up," Heather said once we'd finished breakfast. "Everyone will be moving out today and heading back home."

  I nodded and followed them back to our tent, going perhaps a bit slower than norm
al as my stomach was so full all I really wanted to do was lie down and digest for a while.

  "Paul!" Hakk came over and handed me a fresh mug and clapped me on the back, "I'm so pleased to see that you made it out of there alive!"

  "You and me both," I smiled nodding my head.

  "Well, me and my troops will be heading out within the hour. If you want to come with us, you're more than welcome, Lad."

  I shook my head, "Thanks for the offer, Hakk. But I think we're going to head home with the Navajo."

  "You know, that Riggs, he was a pretty smart man. Told us all how even though you two hated each other, that you agreed to work together to save the tribes and the rest of us. That the gods had chosen both of ya' for your skills. I have to say, I've never seen a commander possessed of such skills as his."

  I nodded and sighed, "Yeah, I know."

  "Kind of hard to admire an enemy, isn't it?" Hakk laughed.

  "You got that right," I nodded.

  "Well, I won't keep you any longer. If you ever venture our way again, stop by. You're always welcome."

  "Sure, thanks. Give my regards to everyone." We shook hands again and I went and caught up with the girls who were already taking down our tent.

  "Think we can get me some cloths and a horse from the Navajo?" I asked.

  "Maybe a horse, but I don't know about the clothes," Heather grinned looking me up and down. Except for the loincloth, which really wasn't more than a g-string with a front and back flap, I was completely naked. Everything I had, I'd lost when they'd captured me.

  I sighed and shook my head.

  "Definitely, no on the clothes," Sarah agreed, smirking.

  "Not you too!" I grumbled playfully.

  "Well you are rather easy on the eyes, if I do say so myself, Hon."

  I just shook my head again and helped them pack the rest of the stuff and get it on their horses. We left the dwarven camp which was quickly being struck and headed off to catch up with the Navajo before they left.

  They were able to provide me with a horse, a rather good pair of moccasins, a canteen, hat, and a light shirt to help keep the sun off. Other than that, they didn't really have much in the way of supplies that they could share.