El Hazard: Continuations
Chapter 7


Deep in the caverns, deep in the underground tunnels
of Roshtaria; far away from the eyes of most
Roshtarians lived a civilization. A civilization so
entrenched with hatred and vengeance that it plotted
for the destruction of everything Roshtaria and the
Bugrom stood for.

Nahato inspected the million-strong army also standing
at attention to him. He was no longer the quiet young
boy whom Lord Galus had taken under his wings (and
maybe more...) several years ago but a teenager on the
brink of adulthood. His eyes betrayed a maturity that
was way beyond his age but more frighteningly, they
betrayed a look of murderous hatred and vengeance.
A crooked smile of satisfaction crossed his face as he
inspected the troops. All this time of hiding was
worth it. They had spent all the time hiding by
strenghtening and training what was probably the
largest army the Phantom Tribe would soon unlease on
the world of El Hazard.
Through word of mouth passed on by those Roshtarians
returning from Japan, he had learnt about the death of
his capable general Lagus. That didn't matter now. The
Phantom Tribe was always skilled at trickery and
deception and through his deception and trickery, they
had managed to destroy the fragile Roshtarian-Bugrom
alliance.
He had nothing to do with Abzahai but the gods must
have been smiling at him because he had managed to
weaken the Roshtarian army. Through his spies he had
found out that only Makoto and an injured Ifurita had
returned from the tragic expedition.
*Demon goddesses down, only the priestesses and a
weakened army: that should be easy.*

The Bugrom Queen was dying; they would be next. But
first Roshtaria.....

In a few days. Just a few more days.

***************************

It had all happened so fast...

Inari, the Bugrom and Nanami had reached the desert,
and a dark, carbonized mound...the remains of the last
fiery battle with the Dorylae.
Cautiously, they had approached and scouted the mound,
on guard for any sign of living Dorylae. But there was
nothing. Nothing had stirred here in months.

Nanami would not venture onto the mound for worlds,
and at last, when the Bugrom had scouted every inch,
Inari had leapt swiftly to the centre of the mound, to
be assured for herself.

She was the straw that broke the camel's back, as the
bottom suddenly fell out of the world.

Before Nanami's astonished eyes, the top of the huge
mound suddenly dropped out of sight with a great
whoosh, and seconds later the outer rim followed,
sliding in billowing clouds of dust down the steep
sides of a giant pit.

"It's caving in!" Nanami screamed. "Get out!"
She might as well have tried to shout over a tornado.
Ash, sand, debris and struggling Bugrom hurtled down
the incline in a pitiless avalanche towards the pit's
widening bottom. Coughing as she looked over the
brink, Nanami saw below that the bottom was suddenly
writhing in black shapes, bursting from the earth
itself.

They were pouring from the earth, black carapaces
gleaming and long arms waving. They swarmed over the
first Bugrom that reached them, surrounding the
smaller invaders and using their bodies as stepping
stones as they fought upwards.

"Oh my God!" Nanami cried. "The Dorylae!"

Inari was still rolling down the slope, buffeted by
the bodies of her own warriors as they fell around
her. She could hear their screams, and hear the
familiar hiss of the Dorylae army. As she tried to
grab something, anything, to stop her fall, she became
aware of her own voice screaming, "Papa! Papa!"

In the pit, all was chaos and terror. The Dorylae's
long legs and wide feet skimmed over the sand while
the heavy bodied Bugrom floundered helplessly on the
sandy slopes. Full-sized and ravenous, the Dorylae
hatchlings's mandibles ripped through their enemies'
armour like wet cardboard.

With no one to lead them, the Bugrom were panicking.
Blinded by the dirt, some fled down instead of up,
right into the enemies' path. Others struck at their
own comrades, or trampled them as they sought to
escape. The Dorylae moved swiftly, their jaws,
stinging tails and powerful limbs literally ripping
the Bugrom to pieces.

Inari gasped as her stomach struck what seemed to be a
branch of a tree. It stopped her fall, and she looked
up down to see that it was a dark red Bugrom's arm.
The Chico Bugrom hoisted her up on his back.
"Princess!" he gasped. "Get to safety!"

"To me!" Inari cried, and those Bugrom who could still
listen fought their way to her side and formed a
circle around her and the Chico. She saw the carnage
below, and shouted her instructions to her warriors.

"Form circles! Fight back to back! On the right flank
- form a ladder of your bodies and start climbing out
of here!"
She could see her warriors struggling to obey, but
they were vastly outnumbered and demoralized. She
heard her father's words come back to her...

"Never lose your head in battle. Never let your
emotions cloud your judgement..."

Fighting her own terror, she grasped her spear and
thrust at the enemy.

At the centre of the pit, a figure was slowly rising,
its armour badly cracked and dented from previous
battles. As the creature stood straight, the brittle
armour shattered and fell about it, revealing its true
shape.
Inari saw it, and gasped. Even in all the earlier
battles, no one on the Roshatarian/Bugrom side had
ever seen the Queen of the Dorylae.
Queen Diva had not lied. All the Bugrom Queens were
made in the image of human woman. But surely only a
madman could have created a woman like this.

She stood eight feet tall, her long, dark green mane
lashing about her like angry serpents. Her skin, a
lighter shade of green, was as rough and glistening as
that of a toad. She was muscled like a bull, and the
talons on her great hands curved like an eagle's. When
she threw back her head and hissed, her fangs gleamed
wickedly.

But worst of all were her eyes. They were monstrous,
white, compound like a fly's, and blind. She hunted by
scent alone.
The scent of battle, and of food, was good. But
suddenly she caught another scent - that of another
Bugrom Queen.

The Dorylae Queen turned towards Inari, snarling, and
began to fight her way towards her.

"Papa!" Inari prayed. "Papa! Where are you?"

The desert sun blazed like a furnace. Shading her
sweat-stung eyes, Diva stared at the vast mesa that
spread below her warriors.

The surface ground was baked too hard for footprints,
but her antennae could still take in scent. She sat
up, trembling. "Inari is ahead, and my Lord Jinnai,
and..."

and a faint scent like fruit gone rotten...

"Forward!" Diva screamed, and the bearers took off at
a dead run.

Something clamped onto Inari's upper arm and she swung
to repel it. She made to strike at her attacker's head
- but it had none.

Inari found herself staring at a jagged stump attached
to a six-legged thorax. The head, she suddenly saw,
was still clamped to the Chico's arm with furious
jaws. The antennae were still twitching. And the legs
of the headless torso were scrabbling against her,
clawed feet struggling to take hold. Inari shrieked.

"No!" She spitted the horror on her spear and flung it
away, shivering in disgust. She pried at the head's
jaws with her spearhead, but they clung on in grim
death.

"They live a few hours like that," the Chico told her.
"It was like that when we battled them before."

Inari remembered now; that was why the allied army had
eventually used fire to destroy the Dorlyae. And even
that, it seemed, had not been enough. "I can think
like the Dorylae Queen," she had bragged to her
mother. But without her father, in the horror and
surprise of this battle, she found she could hardly
think at all. And the cries of her warriors...her
brothers...were all around her...

"Beware, Princess!" she heard the Chico yell, and had
a vision of the steel-sharp stinger of a scorpion
Dorylae arrowing straight for her heart. But the Chico
lurched backwards, throwing her from his shoulders.
Seconds later she slammed into a heap of debris with
enough force to knock the breath and sense from her.
Bright pinlights danced in the darkness before her
eyes.
"Chico! Chico!" Inari struggled against the shooting
pain in her head. She tried to stand, but a broken
ankle gave way under her. Blinking to clear her eyes,
she saw the great red Chico Bugrom lying before her,
shattered like a fallen melon in the marketplace. The
scorpion, huge stinger still buried in the Chico's
chest, lay twitching feebly in the great red arms. The
Chico raised his head to look at her, whispering, "It
missed you...thank God!"

Inari shook, then burst into a low, keening wail.
"It...hit my heart, Chico! I can feel it breaking!"
"Hush, Princess. We live and die to serve you. Our
hearts will only break...if you forget..." The Bugrom
sighed, lowered his great head, and died.
"Wasurenai," the princess whispered in her father's
language. "keshite...yakusoku..." I will not forget.
Never. I promise.

A nearby scent like fruit gone rotten told her the
battle was not over. She pivoted painfully, sinking
with the broken ankle. "I don't pray to live," she
whispered. "Only not to fail..."

********************************

The long march had been hard on his soldiers Jinnai
new, but he had to catch up to Inari. Over the horizon
he could see a huge battle taking place.

"Oh s--- that stupid daughter of mine got herself
ambushed."

Before Jinnai could issue an order to form up to
attack Diva came rushing up in her litter with the
rear guard of their army practically running.

"Hold it right there Diva....Damnit I said HOLD IT!!!"

Startled by Jinnai's plea Diva stopped and looked at
him.

"Look Diva, I know you're worried about Inari, but we
can't go rushing in there without some sort of plan.
The Dorylae's weakness is fire however we havn't
really prepared a plan on how we can use this to our
advantage."
"Our daughter is down there. Lord Jinnai you just want
us to wait to.."
"Hold on a second Diva, I'm way ahead of you. I
propose we shoot a round of fire arrows into the
battle and then charge them with torches in hand.
Hopefully this will scare them into making a temporary
retreat. We might hit some of our own soldiers with
the round of arrows, but thats a risk I'm willing to
take."

Before Diva or anyone else could approve or reject
this plan Jinnai started barking orders.
"Hurry up now form up. Fire those arrows on my mark.
Groucho I want you to lead the attack on the Dorylae,
rescue my daughter."
Groucho saluted and took off to the front of the army
to issues the orders to light up some torches.

"Ok men fire arrows on my mark. MARK!!!!"
A couple hundred arrows were loosed from their shafts
and veered down onto the Dorylae and Bugrom below
causing a panic.
"Alright charge men charge. Death to all that oppose
us AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"

After he finished laughing Jinnai realized that almost
all his troops had already left him.

"Hey wait for me you dolts WAIT!!!"

Taking off as fast as he could Jinnai ran down the
hill after his men.

**************************

The Dorylae Queen's antennae, long as her own body,
twitched and slithered in the smokey air.
She could smell the smoke, the blood, even the fear of
the creatures fleeing around her. She could smell the
other Bugrom Queen. But as her antennae swung higher,
she suddenly caught a faint scent that froze her where
she stood.

The scent of a man.

Desperately her antennae licked the air. She had laid
her last egg clutch months ago. Greater than her need
to eat, or even to kill, was her need to mate. The
battle and the other queen vanished like phantoms. She
had to find him.

aahhh...he was over to the right about half a mile
away, moving down the incline. She wheeled and sprang
towards him over the flames, like a huge black widow
spider.

As she leapt, a large bulb at the base of her brain
began to pulse with hidden power. Vaguely she
remembered her last mate, and his wild cries as he'd
gripped her in his arms. "My God, you're beautiful!
More beautiful than any dream of beauty I've ever
known!" And then afterwards...when her hypnotic waves
had ceased, his very different cries and struggles to
escape. He could have injured her. She would not make
that mistake again.

She would use stronger waves this time, and keep up
the illusion until it was all over. Then she would be
able to feast in peace.

Followed by his battalion, Groucho charged forwards,
slashing with his torch at the Dorylae warriors.
Instinctively terrified, they scattered like leaves.
Fallen warriors lay in their wake like a grim
harvest--and at any moment, Groucho feared he'd spot a
human form among them. "Please, be alive, Princess!
How can I face Lord Jinnai and my Queen if..."
Suddenly he heard a voice calling his name. He spun
'round, and could have wept for joy.
Kneeling amid the holocaust, she was ragged, filthy
and pale as a corpse, her long hair hanging in
blood-streaked, matted ropes. But she was alive.

"Little sister!" He swept Inari up into his embrace,
but at her cry of pain he gasped and relaxed his hold.
"Princess, did I hurt you? Forgive me!"

She shook her head, smiling weakly. Her broken ankle
would have caused a human to faint, but she was not
human. "Oh, Groucho! You came! You came!"
"Dearheart, you must have known we would!"
"I didn't know anything, Groucho. Only that I was
about to fight that monster...did you see her,
Groucho? She ran away soon after your fire arrows
landed...but I have to find her. We still need her
blood, for Mama." Inari dragged her dirty sleeve
across her eyes, exhausted. "Where is Papa, Groucho?
He must be here somewhere. Where is he?"
Groucho pointed. "Coming down behind the rear guard,
over there. We run faster than he does."
He stopped as he saw Inari staring off in that
direction, her eyes widening with horror. "What is it,
Princess?"

"That way...oh, my God...the Dorylae Queen! She
scented something..." Inari leaped onto Groucho's
back, stifling a cry of pain at her wounded ankle. Her
voice rose in hysteria. "She's trying to get to Papa!
Go after her, Groucho! Go after her!"

"What the heck is Katsuhiko trying to prove? That he's
just as suicidal as my niece?"
Breathless, Nanami skidded to a halt beside Diva's
litter. The bearers had all left their queen to join
the battle; Diva, meanwhile, had pulled one of the
shafts free and stood leaning on it as she stared down
into the chaos. Suddenly the queen grimaced in pain
and clutched at her heart, almost dropping the shaft.
Nanami grabbed her arm as the taller woman stumbled
forward.

"Queen Diva, you're supposed to be sick! Why didn't my
stupid brother make you stay behind?"

The low, gutteral response was unintelligable. Oh, I
wish we were still in Japan, Nanami thought. We could
understand each other there! I wonder if she knows any
Japanese? "I'll look," she ventured, and held up her
binoculars to try to get a closer look at the battle.
"What's going on down there? There's my idiot brother,
bringing up the rear, and where...let's see...hey,
there's Inari and Groucho!"

Nanami turned to Diva, smiling. "Inari's OK," she told
the anxious Queen, lending her shoulder for support as
she passed over the binoculars. Diva scanned the pit.
Suddenly she froze, antennae and wings quivering. Her
fingers dug into Nanami's shoulder like pincers.
"Diva! What's wrong?"

Diva dropped the binoculars and stabbed a finger
towards the pit. Her deep voice rasped in Japanese. "I
go! There! Now!"

She staggered forward, but bent nearly double as
another spasm took her. Nanami rolled her eyes to
heaven, then looped the determined Queen's arm 'round
her shoulder. "We go," she announced firmly. Diva
nodded, and they lurched forward together.

Katsuhiko, thought Nanami grimly, if we make it, I'm
going to get you for this...

She had crouched behind a huge boulder as the Bugrom
reinforcements charged by. Now the prey she hunted was
approaching, alone.
Through the pulsing lobe in her brain swam images and
emotions from deep in her quarry's subconcious. The
lobe transformed them into chemical codes that poured
into her blood and steeped through the millions of
tiny glands under her skin.
An invisible cloud enveloped her, heady as incense,
intoxicating as musk. His senses would reel at the
first whiff. He would see, hear and feel only what he
most desired.
It was time. The Dorylae Queen stepped slowly out from
behind the boulder. In front of her, she heard a soft
gasp.

Smiling, the fatal vision reached out her arms.

******************************

Running down the hill as fast as he could Jinnai found
himself lagging somewhat behind his army, although
some of his soldiers were keeping up with his pace to
protect him. Usually Jinnai had his own personnal
guard, but they were at the front line of the battle.

"Strike quickly men find the queen!!!"

Wiping his forehead Jinnai suddenly felt funny.
Something was pulling him towards the center of the
battlefield.

"Wha..at is this? I..I have to find out."

Peering ahead Jinnai saw something golden cutting his
soldiers down one by one.
Unexpectedly, Jinnai stumbled toward the Dorylae
queen.

"What is that power? I must have it!"

Jinnai stumbled nearer and nearer the Dorylae Queen.
She had chosen the perfect form to lure him: a
dazzling golden demon goddess, radiating power. "I
have come to help you conquer the world, Master," she
intoned, without truly understanding what she said. At
the sound of his laugh, she knew she had him.

"Are you out of your mind, Katsuhiko? She's about to
spring! Eat this, you bitch from hell!"

Suddenly something sprayed the Dorylae Queen full in
the face. Thick, liquid and salty, it splashed over
her skin, blocking her sense of smell. She vomited
violently at its taste, breaking her hypnotic
concentration. The illusion vanished. Again she was a
half-human, half-insect, wholly monstrous parody of a
woman.

She heard Jinnai's cry of horror. Then something stuck
her in the back and hung on, sending her staggering.
Over her own shriek of rage she heard a new voice
crying, "Papa! I'll hold her back! Run!"

********************

Inari had sprung from Groucho onto the Dorylae Queen's
back just after Nanami had sprayed the Queen with soy
sauce. The Bugrom Princess wedged her arm under her
enemy's jaw in an effort to break her neck, but the
Queen's bones were like steel bands. Might as well try
to break the bars of a portcullis. The monster reached
back, sinking claws like meathooks into Inari's
shoulders and hurling her head-over-heels into the
armoured bodies that lay strewn about them.

Dazed, Inari tried to roll to safety. But the Queen
moved with terrifying speed, planting a clawed foot in
her spine and catching up a handfull of Inari's long,
black hair. Pushing down with her foot, the Dorylae
Queen yanked Inari's hair backwards with awesome
strength. Inari twisted and struggled as her throat
bent back like a bow and the bones ridged under her
skin. Her hands tore uselessly at the thick coils of
hair in her attacker's iron grip. She heard her father
shouting at Groucho, who launched himself at the
monster. With a single blow, the Dorylae Queen sent
the big bugrom spinning like a child's toy. Her grip
on Inari did not slacken by a hair. She continued to
haul backwards as Inari's lips went purple and horrid
gagging sounds sputtered from her throat. She managed
to choke out two words: "Papa! Run!" before she
shuddered, and went limp.

The Dorylae Queen paused, snarling, and finally
released her prey's head, which slumped to the ground.
She had turned to seek her original prey when a second
weight struck her back, and sank fangs deep into the
base of her throat. Shrieking, the Dorylae Queen
plunged her claws into this tormentor too, but it
clung on, as if it would cling unto grim death.

For Queen Diva, who thought she had just seen her
daughter die, was determined to do just that.

**********************

Inari moaned, feeling like her throat was on fire. She
could hear her father's voice, knew she was lying in
his arms. What was he saying? And why hadn't he run to
safety? Then she heard him say her mother's name, and
her heart turned to lead.

Twisting 'round and looking up, she saw as in a
nightmare Queen Diva clinging to the back of the
raging Dorylae Queen, like a wasp trying to sting a
tarantula. Green liquid dribbled from beneath Diva's
fangs, sunk deep in her enemy's throat. Though the
Dorylae Queen was spinning like a mad bull, Diva would
not let go. But it was only a matter of time before
the monster clawed her off, and then--

"Mama!" Inari screamed. Her father's hands were on her
shoulders now. He was urging her to do something,
shouting orders at both herself and Diva. She forced
herself to concentrate on what he was saying. When he
pushed the plastic bottle of soy sauce into her hands,
she understood what she had to do.

**********************

Diva had heard the order too. She released her hold on
the Dorylae Queen and slumped to the ground. The
monster turned to finish her off, but then heard
Jinnai's voice calling to her, taunting her. With
these interlopers beaten, her urge to mate returned.
She hissed and lurched towards him, great clawed hands
outflung.

In those few moments of distraction, Inari staggered
between them, darted under the Dorylae Queen's grip
and rammed the mouth of the bottle into the creature's
jaws. As the hands closed on her, Inari squeezed for
all she was worth.

Sauce gushed into the monster's mouth, gagging her as
she swallowed helplessly. The Dorylae Queen reeled
backwards, choking and sputtering. Then an
extraordinary thing happened.

She began to heave and wretch like someone who had
swallowed carbolic acid. Her limbs jerked
spasmodically, and foam frothed from her writhing
lips. Crumpling to the ground, the Queen gradually
curled up in a fetal position as her legs and arms
shook. At last, with a final, terrible shudder, the
great blind eyes glazed over, and she heaved a rasping
breath, and was still.

All across the pit Dorylae warriors froze, antennae
helplessly searching the air for orders they could no
longer hear. One by one, they buckled and collapsed
like punctured weather balloons.

Inari stared around herself in a daze. It was over. It
was impossible. They had won.

**********************

She was hardly aware of Groucho now behind her,
helping her to stand. Nanami came up, pale as a sheet.
"Of course," she whispered. "Killer salt! No soy sauce
on El Hazard...nothing with that much salt. Even we
have to watch how much take in, but to them...it's
deadly poison!" Katsuhiko will take the credit, but it
was my soy sauce, she thought with a hidden smile.

"Remind me never to eat in your restaurant," Inari
murmured incoherently. She still couldn't take
everything in.

"And remind me never to let you or your mother out of
my sight again!"

Inari turned and gave a cry of joy. There stood
Katsuhiko Jinnai and by his side, a radiant Queen
Diva. Inari flung herself into her mother's arms. "But
how?" Inari gasped. "You were dying, Mama!"

Diva pulled back, eyes shining, skin glowing. Demurely
she wiped the last trace of green from her lips. "I
can feel this blood racing through my veins, Inari,
like a cool river! I feel stronger every second. It
may be a little while before I reach my former
strength, but the danger is gone." Her eyes softened.
"You were magnificent, my love," she murmured.

"I was a fool, Mama. I almost led us into a disaster.
I promise, I'll never disobey you or Papa again!"

"Hmmph. I believe that like I believe Mizuhara is my
secret admirer!" Inari felt her father's hand on her
shoulder, the tension in his fingers betraying how
frightened he had been. But he smiled at her. "Nice
job, kid."

"Uh...I hate to interrupt this cozy reunion, but the
battle isn't over yet." The threesome looked up to see
Nanami standing with an ironic smile, arms crossed.
"There's still the little matter of the Phantom Tribe,
who poisoned Queen Diva in the first place. I hate to
say it, but by the look of things when I left, they're
probably attacking Roshtaria by now. Don't you owe the
Phantom Tribe a little something, big brother?"

This time he had to give her the credit. For the first
time in her life, Nanami Jinnai heard her brother
admit that she'd had a good idea.