Farnath: The Frozen Heart Read online

  “I know, I’m sorry. I thought about that as soon as I mentioned the age difference. Are you sure he smelled the perfume?” she asked and Andria nodded. “Well, older people are experienced at least. This is an advantage you shouldn’t ignore!”

  “He was living alone with a huge bird, eating dragons for lunch on the sun for almost all his life. Which of his experiences are supposed to be useful to me?” Andria replied.

  “Ok I give up! What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to visit him at the new prison in the north suburbs. Someone enraged him and he burnt the door off his cell so they had to transfer him to Nasir’s prison, to a specially designed cell made of tungsten, which is resistant to fire and heat.”

  “Be careful then. I’ll call you later, my Princess.”

  Andria knew that it was not just the mission that motivated her to visit him. There was something about him, an unknown magic that attracted her, making her miss him. He was unique and much more interesting than the average man. Andria was very picky and found it difficult to accept people in her life, so only someone really extraordinary would attract her attention.

  She left driving her bulletproof car, while two vehicles with guards escorting her for her security. Erica, meanwhile, was still trying to call Roy to ask him about their morning discussion, but the lines had parasites or were broken. As Andria was driving, she suddenly had an uncertain feeling about the surroundings and her instincts were warning her of an upcoming danger. She started checking every detail around her, the few cars driving in the opposite direction, the pedestrians walking on the street, the traffic lights and even the guard’s cars that were following her. The two escort cars then accelerated and came next to her from both sides and one of the men made her a gesture to stop. She slowed down a bit, but then she noticed that they were holding guns for some unknown reason and she didn’t recognise any of these guys so when she arrived at the traffic lights instead of stopping, she accelerated and passed through the intersection with great speed. The surprised guards sped up as well and almost crashed into passing cars. They chased her through the city, driving dangerously through the tunnels and the avenues.

  And still Erica couldn’t find Roy on the phone. Roy was waiting outside an old factory site named Code-Z, smoking a cigarette. He was coughing lightly as he didn’t smoke often, when the ground started to tremble under his feet like an Earthquake, the lights flickered and his cigarette fell from his hand. A gigantic worm-like robot broke through the ground making a huge hole and stopping just in front of him, raising clouds of dust and sending stones flying everywhere. He looked at it impressed, but also a little scared by the size and its incredible loud metallic noise. A door opened from the rear and eight robots similar to Taurus and twenty human sized silver robot-soldiers came out and lined up. One of the robot-soldiers with a black line coming from the forehead towards the chin stood in front of Roy and scanned him with a green light coming from his eyes. Then it took photo of him and compared it to its data before greeting him by his name and asking about the reactors. Roy was more than surprised by their advanced technology and led them inside the factory where there was another gate guarded by soldiers. When the soldiers saw the metallic intruders they immediately pounded the alarm and pointed at them with their rifles. The armed robot-soldiers opened fire on them and they immediately returned fire with their rifles and the two machine guns at the rear of the gates. The one-eye robots-snipers took down the machine gunners while the rest of the soldiers were under suppressing fire. Roy, covered by a heavy robot-Taurus, led them to the fence which they immediately cut and passed to the main buildings behind the enemy’s line of defence. In the east of Code-Z there was an isolated warehouse with eight locks and an alarm on its double door. The Taurus smashed the door easily and they all passed through. After a moment, each one of them was carrying one nuclear reactor back to the robot-worm. Under firing, Roy heard his phone ring and managed to answer, covering himself behind a Taurus.

  “Honey, where are you, I was worried about you?” Erica said. “I’ve been trying to call you for one or two hours! What are these sounds, what’s going on?”

  “I’m in the middle of something now, dearest, let me call you later,” he said while bullets were traveling past his head.

  “Are you ok? It’s sound like you are in the middle of…”

  “Baby, I’ll call you later, I’m busy right now and work is killing me!”

  A blast from a bomb that landed next to a Taurus, which was covering him, threw him violently to the ground. After a while he managed to stand up, dirty, clothes ripped, and, limping, he picked his phone up from where it had fallen two meters away and continued walking as he put it to his ear.

  “What happened? I lost you for a while!” she said.

  “Don’t worry, I was just I stumbled a bit! I have to go now, bye!” he said and hung up.

  Erica, more troubled after this conversation, tried to call Andria who was driving at full speed though the narrow streets of the city.

  “It’s me, Erica. I just called Roy and he was acting even weirder that before! I don’t know what is going on but it sound like a battle in his background! Can you hear me? I can barely hear you?”

  “I’m in trouble! They are chasing me!” Andria said loudly as she took a dangerous turn.

  One of the chasing cars approached Andria and one man unsuccessfully shot at her wheels with his pistol. The princess screamed and she instinctively veered towards the armed guard’s car. Her car violently pushed the other and as its driver tried to avoid her, he drove off the street and crashed into a column. Andria, relieved, picked up the phone again.

  “I didn’t hear what you said. Are you driving and speaking at the phone? Don’t you know how dangerous that this?” Erica said to her.

  “I’m aware of that, don’t worry,” she replied.

  “You know what men say about the women drivers, that we are dangerous…”

  As Erica said that, Andria drove onto the sidewalk and the pedestrians were jumping away to avoid her.

  “…We don’t have good reflexes if anything happens…”

  Andria was quickly manoeuvring on and off the sidewalk to avoid hitting anyone and she drove into a shopping centre, crashing through some cafeteria tables. The last pursuing car came closer and pushed her car towards the stores of the mall, breaking several showcases and, just before she crashed into a column, she managed to push back forcing them to make a dangerous manoeuvre to avoid a column only to crash into some escalators just afterwards. Erica was still speaking.

  “… and that we are terrible at parking.”

  Andria drove to the other side of the shopping centre, which was emptier, but there was a man wearing a canary suit, holding an advertisement board and dancing peacefully, unaware of the imminent danger. Everybody else noticed Andria’s car and stepped aside, but he didn’t see or listen anything outside of his heavy uniform and even when the people gestured to warn him, he gestured back, thinking that they were just teasing him and continued dancing. Andria saw him at the last moment and in a desperate attempt to avoid him, she made a sudden turn, hit a small bench that made the car fly up into the air above the canary-man’s head, smashed the plate glass door of the mall, and landed on its wheels, outside of the building, in a tight, empty parking space. Andria looked around her, surprised and in a bit of shock, and said to herself,

  “I would disagree on that!”

  She picked up the phone that fell at her legs.

  “Are you there? What were all these sounds? What’s going on with you people today?” Erica said desperately.

  Screams, explosions and shots sounded from a distance and, through the mirror, Andria saw some people running in masses in one direction, some of whom fell at the sound of a shot.

  “I’ve got to go, I’ll call you later!” Andria said, hung up the phone and climbed out from the window because the door was jammed.

  The king, sitting at his desk, was
receiving reports of territory violations and, according to his generals, there was a proper invasion of the capital by reported robot-soldiers. He declared a State of Emergency in the city and ordered all the military units to gather at the palace and move against the robot-soldiers. He was worrying about his daughter when Roy came in, dirty and limping.

  “Roy, do you have any news of Andria? We have been invaded! What happened to you?”

  “I’m afraid I don’t have any news about the princess, your Highness,” Roy replied. “But last time I saw her she was going to the prison accompanied by two cars to guard her. I just had a small accident and, yes, I heard the news, they are robots, aren’t they?”

  “Then she might be in danger! She is in the middle of all this chaos. Find her, keep her safe! I count on you!” the king said, grabbing Roy’s shoulders. “These robots, where did they come from, do you know anything?”

  “I have no clue, my King, but when I find out I will inform you. Don’t worry about your daughter, I will take care of her,” he said.

  The king turned to his generals again and at the same time Erica came in and hugged Roy, who tried to avoid her a bit.

  “Are you hurt? I heard there is a revolution of robots! Oh my god, Roy, what will happen to us?”

  “Don’t worry, you are safe with me,” he said, trying to calm her.

  “But I just spoke with Andria, I think she is in danger! We should tell the king!”

  “She is in good hands,” Roy said. “I set this up.” And he smiled sinisterly when Erica looked away..

  According to reports the robot-soldiers had retreated slowly and the Ardonian defenders celebrated their victory. The king was pleased, but still worried that all this had happened under his nose. “How was it possible that the intelligence agency didn’t know anything about this hidden army? And where is Andria?” These questions troubled his mind.

  While the soldiers were drinking and celebrating the Earth shook, an unusual Earthquake occurred and then it stopped just as suddenly as it started. Everybody was silenced and looked at each other questioningly, when suddenly an enormous ten meter wide robot-worm appeared under their military vehicles, throwing them onto a building, destroying a part of it, and then it disappeared again underground, making a creepy metallic scream, and leaving a huge hole. After a few seconds, two robot-worms appeared before anyone could react and attacked the king’s army from beneath, destroying the defensive line of sandbags, barbwire and anti-tank obstacles and throwing people and vehicles against the walls and the streets. Then they too disappeared under the ground before the soldiers managed to aim at them. The morale of the men was broken and they ran away as they couldn’t predict where the worms would strike again. The king and his generals, along with some heavy reinforcements of tanks and mobile anti-tank weapons, arrived at the location, gathered the dispersed army around them and ordered them to attack to these things to protect the king and their country. Most of them returned to their positions and got ready to fire, but then a new threat appeared. Giant robots, a huge multi-canon tank and hundreds of robot-soldiers appeared from the worm-holes and moved towards the human army. An epic battle of rockets and bullets began, people were hit, robots destroyed, vehicles blasted and neither of the two sides seemed to give up. The huge robots were too thick to be penetrated by the machine gun bullets and the light anti-tank weapons, but the king’s tanks managed to destroy the first of the huge robots after several shots at its head. The robot-tank, eight meters wide and fifteen in length, crushed the defences, destroying everything in its way while the five canons were firing in all directions with great accuracy. The men took cover behind walls and inside buildings and even the king was unable to deal with this threat. One tank missile hit the robot-tank in of the tracks and immobilized it, but still it was able to fire and absorbed any hit from the royal army. The king ordered his men to retreat to the palace to plan the military operations better, so the generals and the captains withdrew with their men, covered by mobile anti-air fire.

  King George entered the throne room exhausted and found Roy waiting for him.

  “We must inform the other kings that we are under attack and we need their reinforcements to fight these robots. Some of them are huge and almost indestructible. I’m going to call the tactical army from the other cities too, our armoured divisions and mechanised infantry. They should arrive in a few hours in front of the Forbidden Forrest entrance and from there we can march to defeat the enemy.”

  “My King, I think we should negotiate with the intruders to avoid further destruction and deaths,” he said in a creepily calm voice.

  “Are you mad? There will be no negotiations with the terrorists!” King George said angrily.

  “They have your daughter,” Roy said before the king could leave.

  “What? Where is she, how do you know?”

  “I just…” But before Roy finished his sentence Andria entered breathless and Roy almost collapsed by surprise and disappointment. The king hugged her and she responded warmly as she was also worried about him.

  “I thought I lost you again!” he said. “Roy told me that they kidnapped you”!

  “I’m ok dad, they tried but…” As she hugged him she looked at Roy who was walking to the king’s office and realised that she hadn’t told anyone that they tried to kidnap her and even Erica didn’t understand that from the phone.

  “Come on my girl, we need to inform the kings about our situation.”

  When they entered the office, Roy already had video-called King Martin, who appeared on the big screen in front of the office.

  “George! Thank God you are alive,” said King Martin said, clearly very worried.

  “How are you? Did they attack there too?” King George asked.

  “No, but they kidnapped my son Arthas!”

  “This is the second time that you’ve said that. Did you check his apartment in case he is just playing video games?” Roy interrupted.

  “No, this time it really happened! Some metallic robots appeared at his camp where he goes to relax sometimes and took him! I saw it with my eyes… on the camera I mean. I don’t know what to do, they disappeared inside a hole in the ground!” He was almost in tears.

  “Dad, I think we should ask Farnath to help us. He is powerful,” Andria said.

  “I don’t trust him enough. He is dangerous and he cares only for himself.”

  “Trust me, he will help us! He would do it for me.”

  The king wasn’t sure of the meaning behind his daughter’s words, but he had made his decision. He rejected her request and said that the only people that he would trust to ask for help would be his friends and allies, the king of the other six kingdoms.

  “King Martin, I kindly request your assistance in this revolution of the machines. We need any military support you can provide us, to honour our alliance and friendship.”

  “My friend and ally King George, I would like to send you support, but I’m afraid I will have to reject your request as I face a potential threat of the machines too! I can’t leave my people unprotected George. I’m sure you understand this, my friend? And they have my son, they may hurt him if I help you.”.

  “I see, my friend. I see. Good luck with your son.” King George hung up, left with a bitter taste in his mouth.

  Roy then called Arabat who seemed to be fully informed about the situation in Ardonia.

  “My friend and ally, I offer my deeply sympathies for your tragic situation and I hope God Saah will save us all,” Arabat said in an exotic accent.

  “Thank you my friend and ally, Arabat,” King George said, as calmly as possible. “It seems you have already been informed about the invasion and I hope that, according to our agreement for mutual defence, you will honour it by sending your troops to reinforce us after our heavy casualties.”

  “My friend, George. A king must look after his people first and protect them. If I send troops to your support, who will send us help when we need it after—”
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  “After they destroy us, is that correct…friend?” King George said, losing patience.

  “Please, try to understand. You would do the same if it happened to me. And besides this agreement of defence is against any of the existing kingdoms! Not any outside intruder that anyone could provoke. Maybe this Master of the Machines has something personal against you. We shouldn’t involve in personal feuds, should we?”

  “What do you mean ‘personal feud’, what do you know about this?”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know anything, is just a hypothesis. Now excuse me, but I have to go. Good luck there.” Arabat terminated the video-call without letting the frustrated king respond.

  “I cannot believe that my allies have turned their back to us in our most desperate time!” King George said to his daughter.

  “Don’t lose hope dad, we didn’t ask everyone yet. Maybe some will respond positively,” Andria tried to encourage her dad, although she had doubts.

  “I will try, my pretty, of course! Maybe there are still some decent men out there, that aren’t friends just in words but strangers in reality.”

  Before he finished his sentence another face, familiar to Andria, appeared uninvited on their screen. Ivorin!

  “Ladies and gentlemen, King George and Princess Andria and the rest, hello! It’s Ivorin speaking from his Kingdom of the Future, the Kingdom of the Machines!” The bald man had a victorious smile on his lips.

  “Who are you and what do you want? Do I know you?” said the king angrily.

  “Don’t you know? Well, perhaps you and Ivorin haven’t been introduced to each other, but their fathers were. Ivorin’s father, Dr Vorich, was the leader of the scientific team that worked for King Hubert, your father. His team worked on the advanced technology that would improve the welfare of people, a project with the code name “Crystal B” which was supposed to bring the uncorrupted machines into authority, slowly so that humanity would be led by decision making algorithms that would never be wrong. The same maths that made universe so perfectly just! But your father denied and closed project “Crystal B”, called it too…dangerous! Ivorin’s father and his loyal team couldn’t stand this narrow minded and unfair decision and they revolted against your father with the help of their machines. They lost the war and most of their resources, but, after years of reorganising and regrouping, the only ancestor left of them, Ivorin, is ready to bring justice and evolution to humanity.”