In less time than it took for the Keeper to take everything in and react, his entire army was dead. Babel lowered the flames and scoured the scorched street for survivors. He saw none. The heat had been so penetrating that all that remained were charred lumps unrecognizable as corpses.
The Keeper and the Cancellarrii had fallen back as many military leaders do while the Klopph assembled and moved to the Erőd. The two had entered an office complex, a place that had obviously been looted during the time they were in the other world. The walls within were stripped and the contents of the offices were void of supplies and equipment. The Keeper was pleased that without his presence, the city had fallen into corruption.
“It appears all has gone to plan.” the Keeper said approvingly. “We will give the Klopph two days to rest. The word will spread quickly that we have returned and I do not think we can spare more. I would like you to take a few days in one of the outer palaces. Your choice. The Chokka can wait a few days. Go there, relax, and come back rested and focused on finishing the Chokka threat.”
The Cancellarrii started to object but that is when the windows of the building exploded inward. Flames spilled into the room and both men dropped behind a counter space. The walled counter provided little protection from the gushing flames but it did keep their burns to a minimal.
They crawled along the floor and entered a back room. The heat was intense and they could feel their skin burn. They had to get out. The back room led to another and finally to an exit.
The doorway led to the alley and the Keeper and the Cancellarrii remained there as the reverberation of burning air filled their brains. They were no strangers to the scent of burning flesh as it reached them.
After what seemed like ages, the air began to cool and all was silent. They snuck from their place in the alley, backs against the wall and what they saw when they breached the open street was difficult to decipher. Where their force should have stood was now only mounds of ashes. The street had become a grave with scorched buildings as tombstones.
There was no explanation as to what had happened. They stood in silence, two old friends that had begun designing their version of the world in the desolation of their childhood villages. They watched as the smoke of smoldering bodies began to thin and they could see the Erőd.
There they saw the man in the tower. And they knew who that man must be. It was the Chokka.
CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE
The people of the world had gathered in the city for a reason. It was true that the Keeper had kept them safe. But that safety came at a cost. There was the perpetual fear of the Klopph – the fear that one could disappear into the night, the fear that a teenage son would sneak out to see his loved one and never be seen again for breaking the curfew. Fear always turns to anger and it was no different for these people.
The thousands who had come to the city at the request of the Chokka had stood back in the shadows between the buildings. They watched in horror (but in also relief) the death of the Klopph. Now that the Klopph were only a depraved memory, they stepped forward into the street and they saw the two men that had caused them so much hurt.
The Keeper and the Cancellarrii faced the crowd before them and had no other options. They were alone. And so they turned and ran.
Babel watched as they ran. He had never seen men torn apart but imagined that was the death before these two men as the crowd reached them. They had been a hundred yards from the crowd at the end of the street and so had a sizable lead on the crowd. Plus, the crowd as they turned to pursue the two men became tangled in each other as the crowd converged on the street at once.
From his vantage point, Babel could see the Keeper and the Cancellarrii turning towards the river. Perhaps they had some sort of craft waiting there and their plan was to escape by water. He would not let them.
He scanned the area quickly and saw where he wanted their flight to end. He would help them get to that point and as they ran, he started a fire in their path. They made to turn to their left but he started a fire in that direction as well, forcing them right.
The Keeper cursed the Chokka as he ran. He knew that they were being drawn into a trap of some sort but were powerless to stop it. The Cancellarrii had a weapon but its range was not long enough to reach the Chokka.
Every attempt to get to the river was choked. Several Klopph surveillance craft awaited there that would allow them to escape upriver; he could see them but was unable to reach them.
Instead, they were faced with a large stone wall. Both men knew then where the Chokka was leading them. And now, it was not only the flames that outlined their path. The mob had escaped from the city street and now surrounded them on all sides. The flames rose again and the Keeper beheld in horror the closed gateway before them.
The gateway was only somewhat physical and did not bar humans from entering or leaving. It’s more appropriate design was to keep in that beyond the wall, to which the gateway was very physical.
They became desperate and for the first time considered chancing the fire. Even if they made it through to the ravenous mob beyond the flames, it
