CHAPTER VII

Allegiance Eternal

The man walked down the pathway, and wondered silently just how many times he had done so before. Idly, he ran a fingertip along the stonewalls, felt the cracks in them. They were old stones, cobbled long ago, millennia, before he was even born.

The torches were new, however. Some things had to be changed every now and then, in this old palace, and they were one of them. In fact, not too long ago, he had passed a monk doing just that chore. He wondered whether the monk tired of his work. Had he that position of monotony, the task of lifting the flaming sticks from their stands, their embers dying, and tossing them into a cart behind him after they were snuffed out, to be replaced with new, strong torches, which were instantly lit, he would not have grown bored. He did so enjoy the time he had to himself. There was precious little of that, under the service of the Emperor Shao Kahn.

He leaned on the wall to adjust his leggings. He loathed the uniform of Kahn's top humanoid men - it could become so tight and bothersome. At least it provided good protection in battle. The purple forearm and shin guards were hard as steel, and the matching loincloth, belt, and large hexagonal-shaped patches that adorned his overmantle would absorb a stray arrow or a blast of fire with the wearer unaffected. When it came down to it, he would choose protection over comfort every time, but that did not keep him from wishing that the garments were not so tight.

The mask and faceplate he found absolutely loathsome, however. He didn't like having his head covered, and the latter was nothing more than metal hammered to shape perfectly over his nose and mouth, with twelve gashes which allowed for breathing. The gashes were made wide, to his specification. The general did not like to feel too constrained. An unwelcome side-effect was that if you looked at the mask from a distance, it almost resembled a ribcage with bones that didn't slope down, but rather up.

As he ran his fingers through his long, shoulder length black hair, parted in the center, general Rain wondered what would crack first, the stone on which his hand now lay, or his mind.

He also pondered what died more everyday, torches in the palace halls, or pieces of his soul.

When one lives for thousands of years, one must learn to be patient. Rain did not know his true age, but he had reached 2,809 since he started counting. Judging by the average Edenian's aging speed, he would put perhaps 7,000 more years behind him. But he did not know for sure.

He wondered just when the Emperor would see fit to tell him the things he did not know about himself. His parents, his past, how he had come to be where he had been found....

Rain continued walking, and reached a flight of stairs. It was several floors down to his quarters, but he did not mind the time it took to get there. After making his weekly report to the Emperor on whatever missions he had undertaken (this week's had turned out to be peaceful, the investigation of a rockslide that had killed a village, which was judged to be merely a natural disaster, without a trace of foul play) he walked just this route, six floors down to the block of private quarters. It gave him time to think, which he enjoyed.

The long-haired man looked over the scrolls which he had been given by Kahn himself. Next week's assignment: The capture and elimination of a band of treacherous thieves who had been pillaging and robbing from the communities on the outskirts of the wastelands.

Rain sighed. Another mission of murder. He tired of them.

He wondered also, just how much blood he had spilt whilst under Kahn's service.

And then he all but smacked into the person walking the opposite direction, so absorbed was he in his thoughts.

"My excuses!" Rain said, ever polite. Then he noticed just to whom he was speaking.

He was about a half inch shorter than Rain was, but he appeared even shorter, since he walked hunched over half the time. His uniform was identical to Rain's in every aspect save for the shape of the faceplate (built so that the front resembled the jaws of some strange beast), and the fact that his uniform, which identified him as a ranking servant, was a dark green rather than purple. At the moment, his mask and hood were off, tucked into his belt, revealing a face featuring yellow eyes with black slits for pupils, a hairless scalp, the skin green and scaly all over, save for everything below eye level, where the green turned gradually to a white that colored the scales down his neck.

Assassin first class, and personal bodyguard to Shang Tsung, Reptile.

"It isssss no matter. In a palasssse with assss many occupantss asss thiss one, and with ssuch cramped quarterssss, ssuch thingsss are bound to occur."

The lizardman spoke with a strange lengthening S impediment, characteristic of his species, the name of which Rain did not know. Many of Kahn's men found it irritating, but none would dare say so to Reptile's face. Rain saw it as an endearing trait of individuality.

"Regardless," the general spoke, "I should have been more cautious. Were you carrying something fragile, you might have dropped it, and had it shatter."

"But I am not, and I did not." The lizardman smiled slightly. "All that I carry isss my ssssupper. Care to try a ssssample?" The smile broadened. Reptile knew that his fellow soldiers found his eating habits disturbing and bizarre, so he would every now and then offer up tasty treats to them, just for their reaction. While he did not show it often, he had a taste for comedy.

He carried in his right hand a covered wooden bowl full of various crawling insects and worms. He held the bowl out to Rain in supplication.

Rain's only reply was to close his eyes and chuckle. "Thank you, no."

"Sssssuit yourself." He opened the cover, and a large dragonfly took flight. In a heartbeat, Reptile snaked out a long tongue, caught it three feet in the air, and brought it back into his mouth with a crunch.

Rain leaned against the wall, and shook his head, looking on in bemusement, his lavender eyes taking in the sight of his friend. "You're disgusting, you know that?"

The other shrugged. "Eye of the beholder, and all." He picked at one long, razor-sharp tooth with an equally dangerous looking finger talon. "Do you mind if I walk with you? I am on my way to my own quarterssss, after all."

"How did you know where I was going?"

If Reptile had eyebrows, one of them would have tilted upward.

"We, all of ussss, have lived in this palasssse for thoussssandssss of yearsss. Every eighth day, you head directly to your quarterssss after ressseiving your asssssignmentssss and missionssss from hissss majessssty. How could I not know where you were going? I know what almosssst everyone doessss in this blassssted plasssse."

"I could have taken an alternate route. I know plenty."

"But you never do. You alwayssss take the same one. Ssssame turns, ssssame corridorsss, ssssame everything. You try to be efficient." He grinned again, the corners of his mouth practically touching his ears. "Assss a ressssult, you become predictable."

Rain folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. "How do you know all this? I have very rarely seen you on my way there."

Reptile slurped up a large slug. "I can become invissssible, you know."

"You know, if you used that power for more practical purposes, you could be a very rich man."

"There are downssssidessssss. I could do without the sssight of sssseveral Tarkatan troopersssss ssssstumbling about naked and drunk at all hourssss of the morning, for one." He shuddered. "And bessssidessss, if I made any notisssseable amount of money, the Emperor would taxsss me for breathing. Come, walk with me. Let'sss not tarry."

Minutes later, conversing still, they walked down another hallway littered with torches, as nondescript as the one they had met in. These hallways, however, were home to the quarters of Kahn's top officials and warriors. They stopped at a large wooden doorway. Rain reached for the handle, and pushed it open. He walked in. Reptile waited patiently outside, not wanting to trespass.

"Sssso tell me, old friend. What occupiess your thoughtsss ssso? You sssseemed rather preoccupied back there."

He noted the scrolls Rain was leafing through, and organizing.

"Isss that your forthcoming assssssignment? What isss it thisss time?"

Rain exhaled heavily, and wrapped the scrolls in a leather sheath, which he placed on the large table, already stacked with writing, beside his bed. The room was otherwise devoid of much, with the exception of some neatly stacked weapons placed upon a shelf, some uniforms hung neatly in a closet, and a large, thick book that sat open on the windowsill. Rain's diary, Reptile knew. He had told him about it, once. It looked to be about the right thickness for one, and there was a pen and ink well just next to it. The ink on the pages was just drying, Reptile could tell, but he did not try to read it. If Rain wanted to divulge its contents, he would have done so already.

Rain closed his eyes. "Murder," he said simply. "Again."

"I am ssssorry."

"It is none of your concern. Do not trouble yourself."

"I know how much you dessspisse killing."

"So does he. So why does Kahn do it? I've shown him, proven to him my loyalty, time and time again. Does he take pleasure in my misery?"

"...your hard work will be rewarded ssssoon, I am sure," said Reptile. "Maybe he sssssimply feelsss that you are not ready for whatever truthsss he hasss in ssstore for you, yet."

Rain closed his eyes, and sighed again. He wandered aimlessly over to his bed, and sat on it. He thought back, to his earliest memory, waking up in the middle of the wastelands, in the middle of nowhere...

...hundreds of dead bodies around him. Edenian and mutant alike.

And being surrounded by 20 of Kahn's troopers on horseback, and brought back to this same palace.

He was interrogated, almost tortured. He would have been, had he not pledged loyalty to the forces that held him, out of fear for his own life. And out of a hope for answers. Upon hearing this, the troops turned to each other, as if puzzled, and brought him before the Emperor.

He told Kahn everything, when he and the Emperor actually met. How he remembered nothing. And Kahn had seemed so imposing, so frightening then, that Rain had thought that a wrong answer might mean his death.

But to his surprise, Kahn had said that he knew what had happened. He would not kill him.

The Emperor promised instead to one day reveal all that had occurred.

When the time is right, he had said, staring into Rain's eyes. Were I to tell you now, the consequences on your own mind might be disastrous. But one day, you will know.

The troops who had interrogated him had long since disappeared. Rain suspected they were killed as men knowing the truth, or at least something close to that. That had made him decide not to pry anyone for information - he didn't want to inadvertently get someone killed. If the secret behind his past was that horrible...perhaps he could wait.

He had decided that almost 3,000 years ago.

He snapped himself back to the present, and answered Reptile's statement.

"I am. I have been ready for ages now. He dangles me on a thread like a puppet, and I tire of it."

Reptile regarded his friend for a minute longer from the doorway, silently.

"You and I are more ssssimilar than you know..."

Rain looked up. Could Reptile actually be on the verge of...divulging information about himself? Presumably, no one save for Kahn and Tsung knew much about the lizardman's past. He was very secretive, and while he could be social on rare occasions, he never took kindly to being asked personal questions.

"What do you mean?"

Reptile smiled. "It is passsst time I ssspilled my gutssss to sssomeone - metaphorically sssspeaking, of coursssse. Come, let usss talk on the way."

Rain got up, and walked over. "The way? To where, may I ask?"

The lizardman put an arm around his fellow warrior's shoulder, and led him back into the hallway.

"The rooftopssss. Ssssparring helpssss to vent frussstration, and that isss sssomething you and I have far too much of."

I thought you'd never ask, Rain thought with a grin. "It has been too long since last we had a go at it...hasn't it?"

Reptile's only response was to usher him onward.

Author : Bob J Dole

Creation date: 2005-2-12-3-36

Modification date: 2005-2-12-3-36