Farnath: The Frozen Heart Read online

  “Ivorin, Ivorin, Ivorin!” and then they stopped after he gestured to them and turned to Farnath.

  His bi-tech glasses analysed him and displayed all the information they could gather in at Ivorin’s eyes. Red male, age: unknown, 130 pulse per minute-no heart beats (!), temperature: up to 180C°, high blood pressure, irascible, apathetic, intelligent, unknown morality, selfish, medium quality clothes, unknown society position, DNA analysis: unknown name and surname according to the International Data of the 7 Kingdoms.

  “That’s strange, you aren’t filed in the ID7K and Ivorin’s glasses can’t scan you. Who are you and where do you come from?” Ivorin asked him neutrally.

  “My name is Dude and I’m from the capital,” Farnath answered, ready to burn him if he didn’t like his answer.

  Ivorin thought about it a bit and then smiled.

  “Of course! An excellent hacker wouldn’t let his data be in the ID7K! You proved that you are above the old corrupted and faulty system,” he said surprisingly satisfied and then he spoke to the crowd. “The world is waiting for us to bring order to the chaos caused by the humans’ imperfection. The robotic rationalism won over the weak human brains, so that today we gathered here in this sanctuary of evolution to be part of the battle against the decadent regimes. Ivorin salutes you and may ‘Dude’ be an example to all of us.”

  After he finished his speech, he decorated him with two medals while he was still examining him. Farnath realised that if he had chosen a side, he could end this war just with a fireblow from his mouth into Ivorin’s face, but then he remembered that his mission was Andria, the only person in his life that had managed to crack the ice of his heart, the only person who could break his curse. The only person who mattered!

  “Continue the good work soldier!” Ivorin told him after he put the last medal on his shirt and turned his back and left. Some of the programmers followed him and others started talking. Everyone’s attention was on them, the perfect distraction for Farnath to slip away through the corridor and started to search the building for the prisons. He arrived outside the manager’s office where two robots stopped him, scanned his medals and surprisingly they let him pass! The office was empty as everyone was downstairs to see Ivorin. On the wall he found the head quarter’s map and he found a building named “prison” just next to the control tower.

  Andria, meanwhile, was lying in an embryonic position on the bed in her personal high-tech cell of black granite walls, a small white light in the high corner gave a rudimentary lighting. She was murmuring the same song like a lullaby for her mind when she heard a voice. Someone was calling her back from her dreams to the unwanted reality.

  “Andria! Andria, are you there? Can you hear me?”

  “Arthas, is that you?” she said weakly, as she stood up and came closer to the metallic door.

  “It’s me! I heard that they would bring you here. It’s so nice to hear a familiar voice again,” he said excited.

  Andria didn’t get drifted by his excitement.

  “How are you? I haven’t had any news since they brought me here,” he continued, trying to start a conversation.

  She didn’t have the strength to say that her father had been killed as the very thought was bringing tears to her eyes and her throat was closing from the sobs.

  “Not good,” she finally said with great difficulty.

  “I’m going to find a way to get us out of here.”

  “Don’t trouble yourself, it’s not necessary.”

  “What are you saying? This isn’t the fearless and courageous Andria I know!”

  “This Andria doesn’t exist anymore. This Andria brought just death and disaster. Let’s leave it Arthas, it’s hopeless to struggle when everything is against us!” She said and returned to her bed, curling up in the same position that she was before.

  “I’m going to save us, Andria,” he whispered to himself.

  Farnath was almost running across the yard, drawing a lot of attention from cameras, robots and people. He arrived at the prison’s main entrance, guarded by two robot-soldiers. This time, their scanning of his medals didn’t grant him entry, so he looked around and realised that it would be very dangerous to enter by force as a whole army of robots from the lower ground levels, where they started marching in squares, had full visibility of them. He didn’t have any other choice though and he concentrated on making it happen swiftly when suddenly the doors opened and a robot officer came outside, followed by soldiers that made two lines and stood to attention.

  “Make space for Jake the Great General. Attention!”

  “The great general… pff!” Farnath said to himself and hid behind a column, waiting for the Great General to pass. Jake was walking up the hill to the door wearing an impressive black and red futuristic, military style outfit with high collar and a military’s officer’s hat and lots of medals covering his chest. He was walking very pretentiously. A couple of assistants were following him and everybody saluted, “Hail Jake Great General!”

  “The kid needs to be taught a lesson,” Farnath whispered to himself while he was playing a small fireball on his palm.

  After everyone entered the building, Farnath grabbed the opportunity and followed the minions through that door, but instead of going to the control tower he took some stairs down to the basement, where the prisons were supposed to be. In front of a heavy sealed door there was an even heavier robot-Taurus guarding it.

  “The area is restricted. You have not got permission to enter. Go away!” The robot said, but Farnath opened his palm near the robot’s face and melted it.

  “No,” he said and the Taurus fell like a trash can.

  Then Farnath melted the door, got in and the alarm rang. As he was walking through the corridors calling her, Andria woke up from her lethargy in the sound of her name and that particular voice, but she wasn’t sure if it was happening in reality or in her dreams. But the voice came closer and it was clearer than before. “It is him!” she thought and shouted back.

  “Farnath, I’m here!” She called him a couple of times, finding her courage again.

  He stopped outside her cell and melted the door and when she saw him she ran to his arms and hugged him with all her strength. He tried to reduce his body temperature to avoid burning her and his heart’s ice melted a bit more leaving just a thin layer. He felt a sudden pain in his chest that brought him on his knees, as he suffered from the storm of feelings that was coming from his heart through the ice. He felt weak and Andria helped him stand on his feet and he held her arm, burning it a bit by mistake, but she didn’t let him go. She would suffer anything for him!

  “What is going on Farnath?” she asked him worrying.

  “I think is the curse. It is breaking slowly and it’s painful! I don’t know what this pain is,” he said desperately.

  “I think it is your feelings! You are starting to worry, to care and to lo…” She suddenly stopped scared of what she was about to say.

  They managed to walk out and as they were passing outside Arthas’s cell, Andria pointed at his door for Farnath to bust open.

  “Thank you, Farnath,” Arthas said and helped him walk faster carrying him from one side.

  In the meantime the robot-soldiers who were running all over the building, entered the prison’s corridor at the moment that the three escapees passed into the next building through a hole that Farnath made in the wall. As they ran around the corridors they entered a dark chamber of unknown size and closed the door behind them. They walked carefully in the dark and a metallic noise came from the dark. Farnath got ready to burn whatever it was coming. A small, silver robot, Sila style, a cleaner, appeared, looking at them with curiosity. It walked around them examining them and then just walked away. They calmed down as they realised that it wasn’t dangerous so Farnath created a small fireball to light up the place a little, just in time to see the robot-sila moving to the wall, stop by a panel and press the buttons to turned on the lights of the huge chamber. I
n the room over one hundred robot-Taurus were standing inactivated.

  “Oh mighty… we entered the wrong room,” Arthas said in awe.

  “Just walk silently to the other side. We can’t go back now!” Andria answered staring at the Taurus.

  The robot-sila went closer to them, looked at the intruders, not so friendly anymore, and made a loud electronic noise similar to a scream. The Taurus army awoke and looked at the three humans scanning them to see if they were friend or foes.

  “Dance?” Andria said to them awkwardly.

  The robots were still looking at her without any change.

  “No?” she said, a bit scared. “Ok, run!” She screamed.

  Farnath had the ability to melt them all but he knew that the extreme heat could kill his two companions too, so he fired a fireball that produced black smoke and created enough cover for them to pass between the terrifying army. At the same time the robot-soldiers that were after them arrived in the room from behind and started shooting at them. Some robot-Taurus got hit by the bullets while others got confused by the smoke and attacked the robot-soldiers! The Taurus didn’t have any guns as they were intended to carry heavy objects or fight in close combat with their big size and strength and caught the human-sized robot-soldiers by surprise destroying a lot of them with their arms. Farnath threw two more smoke blasts on his way to the other side of the chamber and they managed to pass through without a scratch, leaving chaos behind them. Andria arrived at the exit of the room, where the small robot-sila was looking at her, almost guiltily for the chaos it caused.

  “Leave this to me!” she said to Farnath and she smashed it with her bare hands in front of the two surprised men.

  They exited the building and arrived in the large square where a fleet of spaceship-fighters were parked. Arthas ran excitedly to one of them and tried to turn it on and the other two climbed in after him.

  “Arthas, they are coming”! Andria screamed, looking behind them.

  “I’m trying, it’s different than the others.”

  A group of robot-soldiers were running towards them from a distance firing , while other robot-pilots entered in their fighters.

  Finally the prince managed to take the plane off and shoot the robots that were still on the ground destroying most of them and some of their planes. Jake was watching the whole scene from the control tower and pulled a lever. The main gates of the whole base, two huge metallic doors started to close slowly and Arthas noticed it, but he couldn’t reach them as he was under fire from ground anti-air weapons and fighters. He manoeuvred the fighter on the air like dancing, evading the fire when two fighters blocked his way to the gates, forcing him to turn left to avoid crashing with them. This extra manoeuvre cost him time and the gates were about to close so he turned back towards them, a whole squadron of fighters chasing him. He sped up to reach the gap in the gates, but he calculated that it was too late to pass and at the last moment he turned up, as the gates closed just in front of them. His fighter avoided the lethal crash, but trapped in the base without any other way out and under heavy fire from all sides. One of the fighters that was after them didn’t manage to turn so skilfully though and crashed on the heavy gates.

  “What are we going to do now?” Andria asked.

  Arthas didn’t reply as he was concentrating on his personal battle against the man, who had insulted him so many times in the past and was behind their kidnaping too. Jake! Arthas led the fighter towards the control tower, the tallest, glass building in the area and smiled when he launched two missiles at it.

  “The ‘Big Belly’ is sending you his respect, Great General!” Arthas said smirking.

  Jake saw the two missiles coming towards him and t the last moment jumped outside the dark control room onto the stairs, falling down two flights. Seconds later the missiles destroyed the tower with a large blast and Jake ran down two more floors to avoid being burnt, but he felt his whole body was injured . Arthas flew back to the gates and destroyed them with another two missiles before passing into the tunnels. The flight was terrifying as there were a lot of turns and dead ends and really they didn’t know how to escape from this labyrinth and all the while five fighters were chasing them. Thirty minutes later they managed to find their way out and only three fighters were still following them.

  “Where should I go?” Arthas asked.

  “Turn it to the forest!” Farnath said.

  “What? Are you crazy? We’ll put it in danger!” Andria said.

  “Trust me, princess,” he said tenderly and touched her chin gently as he looked in her eyes. She was charmed by his way and didn’t bring up any more objections.

  Arthas flew to the gates of the Forbidden Forrest and fired two missiles, destroying them and allowing them to pass into the Forbidden Forest. The three planes followed them, firing sporadically. Andria was waiting to see what Farnath’s plan was when a shadow moved beyond them and landed on one of the three fighters violently. Felix the phoenix dug his talons into the fighter’s wings and threw the craft onto the next one, making them both explode in the air. Then he landed on the front of the last plane’s cockpit, grabbed the robot-pilot with his beak and threw it away. The plane crashed on the ground and everyone celebrated their victory and escape. After they landed, Andria caressed the bird which had landed next to her as it recognised her and wiggled his tail like a dog.

  “Felix, I knew I would see you again!” she said.

  “He seems happy to see you!” Farnath said smiling.

  “So what are we going to do now? We are just three of us and the bird against a whole army of robots,” Arthas said.

  “We are not alone, Arthas. There are still troops away from the capital that can fight for the king. We should gather them and prepare them for battle!” Andria said as confidently as she always used to be.

  “Finally, this is Andria I remember,” Arthas said and smiled.

  A very cold wind came through the broken gates and became even cooler slowly.

  “That’s strange, do you feel that too?” Arthas asked and rubbed his hands.

  “It’s not the first time, but now it is even colder!” said the princess also folding her arms.

  “I’m afraid this isn’t just a cold wind,” Farnath said.

  “What is it then?” Arthas asked, but Farnath remained silent, staring into the distance and showing an emotion that they didn’t expect to see on his face. Fear.

  Part 9:

  The Counterattack

  J ake opened his eyes and was blinded by the white light. Two red spots were dancing in the air in front of a weird blurred figure, probably a bald man who could see Jake’s statistics written on his bi-tech glasses. White male, around 28, sprain on the right leg, bruises in several parts of the body and face, temperature normal, tactician, low morality, apathetic, rationalist, opportunist, unstable, high quality ripped and dirty military clothes, DNA analysis: Jake Maley, convicted ex prisoner for arson, hacking, Forbidden Forest violation, kidnapping and committed conspiracy against the Seventh Kingdom.

  “You are a disappointment.” Jake listened to Ivorin’s voice as if coming from his dreams.

  He couldn’t accept the reality yet, that he had lost the royal prisoners through his own fault, that they had, in the process, destroyed a large number of robots, the control tower, the main gate and more than ten fighters were damaged, lost or destroyed. He was injured and humiliated by one of his most underestimated enemies, Arthas. And now his boss, his only hope in this world, was chewing him out.

  “I’m going to catch them or dying trying,” he promised Ivorin. “Now it’s personal.”

  “Ivorin hopes that they will just hide and not resist. We don’t need more troubles now that our war-machine is ready to crush King Martin,” Ivorin said.

  He decided to provide him with a whole army of robots and also a colossal 15 meter tall robot-soldier that Jake would pilot personally in the battle against these enemies and their fire wizard.

  “They hav
e a wizard that can produce heat that melts our machines,” Jake said as he was imagining the upcoming fight.

  “There is no magic in the technocratic world,” Ivorin replied. “Even if he destroys a few robots from many, one bullet would be enough to terminate him. He is made of flesh, he is just a fragile, expendable human.” .

  The fighter was flying fast through the tunnels towards the military camp of Sessia, a city of the Seventh Kingdom, which Andria hoped that it was still unoccupied by the enemy.

  “Hey Farnath, look, there is ice on the surface! Isn’t it strange? Hey are you ok?” She noticed that Farnath was pressing his chest.

  “After the curse started to break I lost some of my powers.”

  “Or the will to use them. You should probably rethink the sun issue and the heat problem since the curse is almost broken.”

  “The sun is already less hot since I left, but mostly I worry about this ice. There is something worse than robots that can’t be fought by arms,” he said.

  “What is it, something I should know?”

  “Here we are!” Arthas said as they arrived at the military camp.

  Refugees had walked all the way there from Ardonia, hoping to find a place to stay, away from the strict rules of Ivorin’s new authority. Carrying just a few belongings and gathered next to the military camp, they were asking for a place to sleep, food and water from the military officers. Arthas landed outside, drawing everyone’s attention as his fighter belonged to the enemy and, quickly, the soldiers surrounded, pointing their guns at it. General Tulious, a man of around sixty with grey hair, a dark moustache and a military haircut, ordered them to hold their fire until he gave the command and stood with crossed arms, facing the fighter’s door, waiting for its crew to surrender. The door opened and Andria came out slowly and as everyone recognised her, the soldiers lowered their guns.