It All Went Haywire

MOTE Prompt Response

I let the car roll to a stop, staring out the dirt-smeared windshield. The dragon crouched in the middle of what was left of the road. One of its eyes turned my way, but it didn’t make any other moves. I exited the car slowly and stepped toward the gigantic head where it rested on the beast’s crossed front paws. Whisps of smoke rose into the cold night, or really very early morning, air from the rubble surrounding the dragon where it lay.

“Eindur? Are you all right?” I kept my voice quiet, although if there was anyone or anything lurking around, they’d already heard the sound of my car.

I’m fine. Tired. There’s no-one else here. His voice sounded in my head. He really was tired if he was using our mental connection instead of speaking out loud. Eindur was particular about speaking out loud. He felt it was rude to speak mind to mind when others were around – assuming those others weren’t enemies.

“What happened here?” I rather dreaded hearing the answer.

I’m not sure yet. But if I’d known this would be the last one before things went haywire, I’d never have done it.

“What the hell does that mean?” I asked.

I think I finished the wrong unit in the royal army. Eindur’s presence was starting to fade from my mind.

“Okay. You need to rest. I’ll set up camp next to you and we’ll figure things out in the morning.” I started back to the car to get the camping gear I always carried with me. I’d worked with Eindur for the last ten years and I’d learned to be prepared to spend the night anywhere from a five-star hotel to this – sleeping in the ashes of a village burned by the king’s not-so-secret security cavalry.

In the few minutes it took me to extract my gear from the trunk of my car, Eindur had fallen asleep. At least I hoped he was just asleep. I spent a minute watching his sides for the tell-tale intake of breath before I let out my own breath in a small sigh of relief.

I’m not dead yet. Eindur’s amused voice sounded in my head and one eye opened the merest slit.

“Just making sure. You’ve got me worried, my friend.”

Apologies. I do not mean to worry you.

“No apologies necessary. Do you feel up to telling me what you meant about ‘things going haywire?’”

This was the last village visited by the King’s SSF unit. They took all the villagers hostage and burned the buildings to the ground. I arrived too late to save the buildings, but I did manage to rescue the villagers. They’re safe elsewhere. But that’s when things went haywire. I guess the king has created some sort of magical self-replicating soldiers? Zombies? I’m not sure. Anyway, if I’d known the first group was the last fully human unit of the SSF, I would never have eliminated them all. It all went haywire as soon as that happened.

I stared at him. “But obviously you got rid of the following units. Is that why you’re exhausted?”

Yes. But we will have many more problems in the future.

“Well, let’s get some sleep now and we’ll figure it out in the morning.” I pitched my little tent up against his forearm and crawled in. Eindur’s warmth was already filling the small tent and I let my mind rifle through everything he’d told me as I made myself comfortable. Eventually I drifted off.

******

This week’s prompt came from Fiona Grey: If I’d known then that it would be the last one before things went haywire, I’d never have done it. This was one of those where I just started writing and waited to see how it ended up. Frankly, I’m not sure where it ended up. Oh, well. Here it is. If you want to try your hand at responding to a prompt challenge, just find your way over to More Odds Than Ends and grab a spare or send one in to get a surprise for yourself.