The Dark and Forbidding Land Read online

  “I have been told that we must bring all of you to the militia base.”

  The twelve lizzies who worked at the Dechantagne house were guided by Mrs. Colbshallow and old Mrs. Godwin, who walked as slowly as the reptilians did, down the road and through the gate to the militia base. The previous two days had seen snowfall during the night—not enough to add much to the significant drifts along the sides of the road, but enough so that the road itself was covered with several inches. Once on the grounds of the base, they and hundreds of other lizzies from all over the colony were herded by soldiers past the long rectangular barracks to an open field. Here several hundred lizzie chairs, cut logs turned on end, were arranged in a semicircle. The lizardmen took their seats facing a raised wooden platform. Humans filled the area behind them.

  It didn’t take long before every lizzie in the colony, and if not every human then certainly a good portion of them, were in their places and waiting. Then two lines of soldiers marched out from behind one of the buildings. They flanked four lizzies. It was difficult to make out anything about them at first, but when they reached the platform, they were pushed to the front for all of the audience to see. Their hands had been tied in front of them and their legs were hobbled. Their yellow eyes were dilated and rolling around this way and that. Then the Matriarch, the one the humans called the governor, and a very old lizzie stepped out onto the platform. The governor spoke and the lizzie translated to the language of the people.

  “You are gathered here to witness the punishment for crimes committed by guests in this colony. As you must all learn: punishment follows swift on guilt. Prisoner Tacie, step forward.”

  The first of the four reptilians on the platform was pushed forward by a soldier at each shoulder.

  “The merits and evidence in this case, having been examined and weighed accordingly prior to this assembly, you have been found guilty of theft of property in the amount of six marks five p. By the authority vested in me by God and His Sovereign Majesty King Tybalt III, I sentence you to be flogged and to feel ten kisses of the lash. Sergeant at arms, carry out the sentence.”

  The two soldiers pushed the lizzie off the platform and onto the grass in front of the audience where, here to fore unnoticed, a metal post with a crossbar had been driven into the ground. The ropes around Tacie’s feet were looped around this crossbar preventing him from moving. The softskin that Tisson had identified as the warrior Clark stepped down from the platform and unfurled a wicked looking whip, with a dozen different lashes hanging down about four feet, and a metal scourge at the end of each lash. Whipping it through the air, he brought it down of the lizardman’s back. The poor creature hissed in surprise and pain, but Clark brought the flog down again and again until he had hit Tacie ten times, leaving not ten stripes, but a wide path stripped of skin and bleeding profusely.

  Bloody, staggering, and gurgling pitifully, Tacie was untied and led away.

  “Prisoner Sash, step forward.” Cissy actually jumped at the sound of the governor’s voice.

  The second lizzie, a large and very strong looking male, was brought to the front of the platform.

  “The merits and evidence in this case, having been examined and weighed accordingly prior to this assembly, you have been found guilty of theft of property in the amount of nine marks seventy-two p. By the authority vested in me by God and His Sovereign Majesty King Tybalt III, I sentence you to be flogged and to feel twenty kisses of the lash. Sergeant at arms, carry out the sentence.”

  Sash was brought down into the grass and tied to the crossbar sticking out of the ground. Clark went back to his bloody work, whipping the lizardman named Sash. Sash held up much better than Tacie had for the first ten strokes of the flail, but by the twentieth, his back looked more like raw meat than something that still had life within it. He had to be dragged away by four soldiers.

  “Prisoner Zinty, step forward.” This lizzie was a female, just a bit older than Cissy. This time the soldiers didn’t just push her to the front of the platform. They brought her all the way down and fastened her where the others had been flogged and where now the grass was flecked with spots of blood.

  “The merits and evidence in this case, having been examined and weighed accordingly prior to this assembly, you have been found guilty of assault and battery on a citizen of the United Kingdom of Greater Brechalon. By the authority vested in me by God and His Sovereign Majesty King Tybalt III, I sentence you to death. Sergeant at arms, carry out the sentence.”

  Clark pulled the weapon from his belt and shot the lizzie in the head. He had done it so quickly and without compunction that the time between sentence and execution had actually been shorter than the time between the gunshot and Zinty’s body hitting the ground. There was silence for just a moment, and then a low deep gurgling growling noise began to rise from among the assembled lizardmen. It lasted only a moment, but it was long enough for the soldiers to grip their weapons.

  Cissy couldn’t look at the body on the ground in front of her. She looked around at the assembled lizzies. Their eyes all showed fear. Then she glanced behind her, shocked to see how many soft-skins there were—at least a thousand, probably more. She looked at their faces. Some had their mouths open in surprise, though a few of them showed their teeth the way humans did when they were pleased. Most of them were simply inscrutable, their oddly expressive faces too complex to read.

  “Prisoner Gorr, step forward.” This time, Cissy was not the only lizardman that jumped.

  The lizzie, another female was brought, just as Zinty had been all the way to the grass and tied up. The soldiers had drug away the body of the previous prisoner, while Cissy had looked around, but now the grass was covered with blood and bits of brain. Gorr began to shake.

  “The merits and evidence in this case, having been examined and weighed accordingly prior to this assembly, you have been found guilty of assault and battery on a citizen of the United Kingdom of Greater Brechalon…” The governor stopped and taking a deep breath sighed. “By the authority vested in me by God and His Sovereign Majesty King Tybalt III, your sentence of death is hereby commuted and you are sentenced to carry the mark of a malefactor. Sergeant at arms, carry out the sentence.”

  The soldier Clark stood mute for a moment then said something to the governor and shrugged his shoulders. The governor said something back and Clark walked to one of the buildings. The audience, both human and lizzie waited silently. The soldier returned a minute later carrying an axe. He looked questioningly at the governor again, who held out her hands about a foot apart. Clark approached Gorr, and stepping around her placed his boot on the bottom of her tail, forcing it to the ground. As he raised the axe above his head, lizzies in the audience began to hiss and squirm. A few jumped to their feet. But when the axe came down, all were silent, except Gorr, who hissed out in pain as the bottom twelve or thirteen inches of her tail were severed.

  Chapter Three: Marriage

  Yuah Korlann turned away from the street and made her way up the stone walkway, through the large snow covered yard of the Dechantagne estate. In a way it seemed odd that she wasn’t living there. She had lived in one Dechantagne house or another all her life. She had grown up with the three Dechantagnes of this generation, gone to school with them, worked for them. She paused to hyperventilate for a moment before starting up the steps to the portico. She had a white fur coat over a new pale pink dress and a new, extra tight corset beneath that. Standing at attention outside of the front door was a lizardman, naked except for a yellow ribbon with a gold medallion around its neck. As she approached, the creature suddenly moved. She flinched, but it was only reaching back to open the door for her.

  “Um, thank you,” she said, stepping hesitantly through the doorway.

  Inside was a maze of boxes and furniture heaped up against the walls. She navigated through them and into the parlor, surprised to find it clear of any such obstructions. A large comfortable sofa and several stuffed chairs had been set up around a small
table. There was even a hutch against the wall with a full bottle of sherry and several glasses upon a silver tray. A fire was burning in the fireplace. There was no drapery in place yet, but two large trees outside kept the light from being too harsh. Above the mantle was the only picture hanging in the room—a portrait of General Augustus Q. Dechantagne, the younger brother of Iolanthe’s and Terrence’s grandfather. “Good morning Yuah.”

  Yuah turned to find Terrence standing in the doorway. He looked good. He had gained a bit of weight, though he was still too thin. He was neatly groomed and dressed in a black suit. His bandaged eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark spectacles. With his left hand, he held onto the doorframe. Terrence had been captured, tortured, and blinded in the lizzie city of Suusthek, along with Corporal Bratihn. Ordinarily a magic user of Zurfina's skill could have restored their sight, but they had been cursed by a lizzie witch doctor and there was no priest in the colony powerful enough to remove the curse.

  “How did you know it was me?”

  “The smell. With all those potions and lotions you use, it had to be either you or a group of a dozen other women. And since I didn’t hear any chattering, I decided it couldn’t be the latter.”

  “Very astute. I was just admiring the portrait.”

  “Great Uncle Augie, is it?”

  “Yes. Isn’t he the one that… um…”

  “Lost his manhood to a musket ball. Yes. I think Iolanthe is trying to send me a message, but I don’t know what it is.”

  “I’m not certain I would want to know.”

  Terrence made his way to the hutch, stepping confidently but following along the wall with his left hand.

  “Brandy?”

  “It’s way too early for me to drink,” replied Yuah.

  “Fortunately, it’s not too early for me.” He poured himself a glass, his finger dipping over the lip of the glass so that he could tell when to stop pouring, and took a sip. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

  “I was hoping I could get you to take me somewhere. You really should get out.”

  “Get out? I’ve just gotten in here.”

  “You know what I mean. You’ve been cooped up inside, first in the apartment and now here, since the first snow fall.”

  “Where do you propose that I take you? Birmisia isn’t exactly known for its lively social spots and it’s too bloody cold to do anything out of doors.”

  “Well, we could take a stroll to Mr. Parnorsham’s Pfennig Store.”

  “More lotions?”

  “Notions actually,” Yuah replied pertly. “I need a bit of thread and a needle.”

  “Of course you realize that you passed Mr. Parnorsham’s on the way over here.”

  “Of course.”

  He took another sip of his brandy, and then set the glass down next to the others. “I’ll have to get my greatcoat.”

  While Yuah waited, she pulled a hand from her fur muff and primped her hair. Within five minutes Terrence had returned, dressed for cold weather. Yuah took him by the hand and led him through the mazes of boxes and furniture to the front door. The lizzie opened it just before they got there.

  “What do you think about all these lizzies your sister is hiring,” she said as they made their way across the front yard.

  “I prefer not to think of them at all.”

  “Hmm.”

  They reached the center of the road and began walking west toward the Town Square. The road was slightly slippery from the snow, which had over the past few nights turned into ice. There were no vehicles in Port Dechantagne, unless a wheelbarrow could be considered a vehicle, so the roads were often left to the vagaries of the weather. Yuah tucked her hands in around Terrence’s arm as though he was guiding her rather than the other way around.

  “I went to the execution the other day,” she said.

  “Why would you do that?”

  “I don’t know why I did it, but it was awful. There was so much blood, and that poor creature with her tail cut off.”

  “What possessed you to go?” Terrence asked again. “I don’t understand why you would want to see that.”

  “I didn’t want to see it! I don’t know why I went. I just wish that I hadn’t.”

  “That’s one thing I don’t miss seeing.”

  “Well, I can’t see how anyone or anything could have deserved that,” said Yuah. “Having the skin scourged off your back for a few marks?”

  “You have to set an example,” said Terrence. “They will recover. The same can’t be said for Mrs. Gompers or that Wills fellow.”

  “Yes, that was unfortunate about Mrs. Gompers. She just startled that lizzie and was badly bit for it. But who knows what Mr. Wills was doing to get clawed in the face? You can bet he was doing something that no decent person would do. That man should never have been allowed in the colony.”

  “Well, I don’t know him,” said Terrence begrudgingly. “I’ll have to take your word for it.”

  “Well, you can rest…” Terrence suddenly felt Yuah stiffen. She turned around to look behind her, and then came to a halt, halting him as well.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s those horrible birds. There’s a pack of them following us. I just saw one off to the left and there are two more behind us.”

  “Velociraptors?”

  “No, the bigger ones. The ones with the brown feathers.”

  “Deinonychus. You can bet that if you see three, there are three around here that you can’t see.”

  “Will they attack?”

  “Maybe. Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” Terrence reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a .45 caliber revolver.”

  “Wonderful,” said Yuah. “It’s enough I have to worry about killer birds. And now a blind man with a gun.”

  “It’s not a gun. It’s a pistol,” said Terrence. “And I’m not going to shoot it. You are.”

  “I can’t shoot a gun… a pistol.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll guide you through it.” He took her by the wrist and placed the revolver, handle first, into her small hand. “Where are they now?”

  “Two are in the road about thirty feet back. I don’t see the one in the woods anymore.”

  At that moment a squawk came from the woods to the left, and was answered by a similar call in the woods to the right.

  “Well, we know they’re there. Hold the pistol in your right hand, and cup your left hand under the grip.”

  Terrence stepped behind her and reached around to hold her hands in his. His body pressed against her backside so that her bustle collapsed inward and her dress ballooned out somewhat in front. She could feel his breath on her neck.

  “Pick a target and line it up with the sight at the end of the barrel. Do you have it?”

  “I’m afraid.”

  “Don’t worry. I have you. Do you have the bird lined up?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then gently squeeze. Don’t pull on the trigger. Just squeeze.”

  There was a tremendous boom and a cloud of metallic smoke. The gun’s kick had pushed Yuah back, but Terrence’s body hadn’t moved. She leaned backwards into him.

  “Did you hit it?”

  Yuah opened the eyes that she hadn’t even realized she had closed.

  “Oh, no. Now there are three of them.”

  “Do you see any in the woods?”

  She glanced to either side. “No.”

  “How about behind us?”

  “No. I hear something moving in the woods now though.”

  “Yes, I hear it too. Let’s take aim again at the one we missed.”

  “I don’t know which one it is.”

  “Just aim at one Yuah.”

  Yuah took aim down the barrel of the pistol at the deinonychus that was closest to the center of the road, and just as Terrence had instructed before, squeezed the trigger. Again there was a tremendous boom and a cloud of smoke. This time as the gun pushed her back, Yuah leaned into Terrence’s body. He didn’t move. Th
e birdlike creature that she had aimed at was hit. Its chest exploded and it was flipped end on end.

  “We got it,” said Yuah turning her head so that her face was only an inch from Terrence’s.

  “Good,” he said, but made no move to take his arms from around her shoulders or to turn his face away from hers.

  “Should we shoot another one?”

  “I don’t know. What are the others doing?”

  “The other two on the road are sniffing it. Wait… three more are coming out of the woods, but they’re not looking at us. Do you think they’ll eat their friend?”

  “Maybe. Proper animals wouldn’t resort to cannibalism, but these Birmisian creatures… Let’s get out of here anyway. If they don’t decide to eat it, they might come after us yet. And something else might come along.”

  Terrence unwrapped his arms from her and took the gun, putting it back in the pocket of his greatcoat. They continued down the road. As they walked, he put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. Yuah looked back once to see that the deinonychus, now six, were still sniffing at their dead companion’s body.

  “The tyrannosaurus is in the area, you know,” she said.

  “So I’ve heard. I’m a little more concerned about utahraptors. They can come up on you a lot more quickly and more quietly than the big fellow, but they can take down a man just as fast.”

  “They are pretty though, if you’re seeing them from far away.”

  Just outside the Town Square, both sides of the road were fairly thick with workmen putting the finishing touches on several large houses. Yuah felt more secure. The deinonychus and their smaller cousins the velociraptors were too shy to come close to such a large group of humans. But Terrence took his arm from around her shoulders, instead wrapping her hand around his arm.

  When they stepped into Mr. Parnorsham’s store, the bell on the door still ringing right above them, Yuah stopped so quickly that Terrence bumped into her.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s thick with lizzies in here.”

  “How thick?” he asked, cocking his head to the side and listening.