The Winter Tyrant-Chapter 92: The Enemy of My Enemy

Zach and the others weren’t waiting outside the village. They had moved on from Mick’s route and had begun targeting other settlements which paid tribute to the raiders.

Though many of the men used different paths every day to throw off pursuers, especially after the death of Marcus and his crew. They all fundamentally converged on the same point after their daily runs.

And that was the foundry. So... the plan was simple: wait just outside the foundry and tail the raiders with a mixture of aerial reconnaissance and personal stalking.

Each time they cemented a route, they established contact with the settlement most perturbed by the Raiders and their constant exploitation.

There they fulfilled a similar transaction. Intelligence and sabotage in exchange for security and the promise of working towards a similar aim.

Zach and his men only ever had contact with the leaders of the communities, evading detection from anyone else that could conceivably report their actions to the bandits.

Those who agreed received instructions, supplies, and means of contact. It wasn’t just Mick and his crew who had their vehicles and helmets sabotaged covertly with samtex plastic explosive.

Today they gazed through rifle scopes while concealed from a vantage point. Watching another group of raiders stop for rest.

One of the peltasts in Zach’s squad crawled over to him and whispered by his side.

"Hey boss? How many more are we going to sabotage? We got four of their crews marked already. When do we trigger the checkmate?"

Zach didn’t shift, he didn’t move, and when he spoke there was no heat generated by his breath. He was as cold and emotionless as the being whose image he wore upon his balaclava beneath his sniper’s veil.

"After the fifth one... The Archon has given his orders. The enemy is sufficiently spooked, they’ve had time to spread the rumors, and now we just need a stage. Luckily, today appears to be that time, doesn’t it?"

That time... The man sighed and dropped his head into the snow. He didn’t want to think about it, but once a week the raider crews demanded a special tithe. Not of grain, or gunpowder, but of blood.

More specifically, women for their enjoyment. They called it a hostage exchange, but it was really just slavery of whatever women they had gained an attraction to on their runs.

There was only so much longer the tithes could go on , and the towns knew it. The peltasts nodded his head, and patted Zach on the shoulder, before crawling back to the position where another of his comrades was posted.

Zach sighed and shook his head... Muttering something beneath his breath has his crosshairs fixed themselves perfectly on the torso of the man down range.

"It’s got to be tonight... The locals can’t take much more of this."

---

Like clockwork, it was exactly as Zach had described to his subordinate. The raiders had concluded their raids by taking a woman of their choosing. They were dragged off kicking and screaming to their fortress.

They’re gathered in the snow outside the safety and heat of their walls all the other crews gathered to witness the arrival of their "triumphant heroes."

Zach and his men had spent the week ensuring that every crew going out to make their runs had been properly marked.

And it was when they showed up to the courtyard, witnessing the hollering, hooting, and pumping of their comrades’ fists that Zach decided the time had come. Each man stopped their snowmobiles to a halt.

All while Zach pulled his radio out of his pouch, and used his gloved fingers to press the buttons on its receiver.

He dialed a number and waited for it to connect. Watching over the ledge where he and his men waited in silence.

There Mick stood before the others. Roaring like he were some kind of primordial beast.

"Brothers! I have returned!"

The others cheered even louder as Mick reached for his head. And then... boom.

Mick’s head exploded on the spot. Not only his, but the other captains and all of their men too.

It happened so suddenly, so viscerally, and during the midst of celebration that it wasn’t until the men felt their faces and bodies were stained with grey matter and blood that they finally understand what had precipitated.

And immediately they began to panic. Some of them began to scream like frightened children, others stared in shock at the sudden assassination.

Aidan just watched his closest ally lose his life, and all of his men with him. And that wasn’t all, of the captains and their men who had lost their lives had been from his own faction.

Their headless bodies lying in the snow, their warm blood pooling around them, carving out a channel in the white powder.

Aidan wanted to scream, he wanted to wail, but he couldn’t. While others lost their minds, he couldn’t. He instead growled as if he had suddenly been consumed by the wrath and power of a thousand stars.

"Quickly! To arms! They couldn’t have gotten far!"

Some men rushed to arms, other to their snowmobiles. But... Jack and his men remained behind while Aidan sped off, desperately searching... everywhere... for a sign of who had conducted the attack.

But it was Jack who had found the evidence. Loitering in the sky above was a blinking red light that took off and headed in the opposite direction.

He couldn’t see the shape of the drone formed around it, for its silhouette blended in too well with the storm. But he knew all the same that the enemy was indeed Elysium.

A cruel sneer curved itself on Jack’s lips as he muttered beneath his breath.

"It is what they say... now isn’t it? The enemy of my enemy is my friend? I suppose we should thank Elysium for deposing Aidan for us, now shouldn’t we? What gift do you think we should prepare for our benefactors?"

In the distance, beyond the walls of the foundry, the storm carried the echo of something unnatural.

A dull, thunderous crack. The villagers froze where they stood.

Those who had been watching the horizon lowered their heads instinctively, as if expecting death itself to crest the snow and descend upon them.

No one spoke; they had all heard the stories.

The whispers passed between settlements in hushed voices and nervous glances.

A shadow in the storm, a skull in the snow, the reaper that followed the raiders.

Josh exhaled as he gripped the bow in his hands.

"...It’s started," he muttered.

A sentry beside him clutched his coat tighter around himself, her eyes fixed on the distant walls.

"What has?" he asked, though his voice betrayed that she already knew. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Josh didn’t look at her. "Judgment."

The word hung in the air, heavy and unmoving. More of the villagers began to gather, drawn by the sound. Some looked afraid, others... hopeful.

That was the strangest part... Hope.

It had been so long since they had felt anything resembling it that the sensation itself seemed foreign; dangerous, even.

Another distant crack rolled through the storm. This time nobody flinched. They watched and waited. As if they were witnessing something inevitable.

A younger man stepped forward, his hands trembling slightly.

"You think... you think it’s them?" he asked.

Everyone knew who they were mentioning. Though only a few had seen them, the shadows of death, the men who hunted the raiders, and their own allies had quietly become rumors around their communities.

Josh was the first to make contact with them, and he slowly nodded his head.

"Without a doubt... We have thrown our lot in with them. But I fear it will be us who bear the consequences.

Silence followed his words. A dread that was left unspoken, but felt by all.

Whatever was happening beyond those walls, it would soon find its way back to them.

---

Aidan had searched frantically through the storm until it had penetrated the layers of cloth that kept the cold from freezing his flesh and bones.

He hadn’t found a single trace of the enemy who had killed Mick and the others. And by the time he returned to the foundry his hair was frozen to near ice, and his face was showing signs of early frostbite.

He ultimately had no choice but to give up the hunt. He returned empty handed after his men had been killed right in front of him. By an enemy left unseen. It was a testament to his failure as a leader.

And the worst part was... It was his men that were dead... He couldn’t help but think that this wasn’t Elysium... I mean how could they have possibly pulled something like this off? They would have needed access to the helmets worn by the deceased.

At what point could that have possibly occurred? It wasn’t until a voice called out to him, the vexing tone lay buried beneath a layer of false concern that Aidan finally understood, or at least thought he understood who was truly responsible.

"So... did you find the men who did this?"

Aidan turned and stared at Jack, the look of anxiety etched across his features was perhaps the most obvious façade that he had ever seen in his life. And Aidan snapped....