David was looking around him. “I know. I’ll be happy to get back to Earth, I guess. This area reminds me of Montana. At least the pictures I’ve seen of it; I’ve never actually been there. Except there are no buildings here, of course. I don’t think there are any areas back on Earth that don’t have some type of man-made structure. I’ve always wanted to hike through Montana.”
“Why?” Janan asked, taking a sip from their canteen. They had found a small creek a few miles back, and had filled up the canteen again before moving on. David had wanted to stop there and rest for a while, but Janan had convinced him they were very close now, and they should keep moving. David had finally relented after drinking his fill directly from the creek.
David was looking down at the ground. “I don’t know, really. It doesn’t matter anyway. My father never would have stood for it. All of my time was spent training for football or working. Then I blew my knee out playing football in college. After that happened, it didn’t matter anymore. I had a hard enough time walking to the fridge and back.”
“That which we love the most shall in turn hurt the deepest,” Janan said.
“Something like that, I guess,” David said. He smiled. “It’s strange, though; my knee hasn’t hurt since…you know.”
“Kartan said that, by the way,” Janan explained. “He was a famous phil…phila…uh, thinker? A ghoshal.”
“Philosopher?” David offered.
“Yes,” Janan replied. “That is the Human word. Although all of the Elders are Priests of the Kha, there are other leaders in thought on Rajan. The Sekani have their own religion, though it’s banned by the Rajani, but we have also had those who were able to think without the trappings of religion.”
“So he was a Sekani philosopher?” David asked.
“Yes,” Janan answered, stretching his arms over his head.
“Are you ready to go?” David asked, sensing that was all he was going to get on the subject from his friend.
“Yes,” Janan replied. “Let us burn some rubber, as you Humans say.”
Janan jumped up on David’s back piggy-back style. David powered up, his force field once again surrounding both of them. He started running and was soon a blur moving down the road, heading east toward the city.
#
Bhakat knew he didn’t have much time left. Rauphangelaa needed medical attention, or he would die. It was that simple. Bhakat suspected that his Master had a broken leg and at least a few broken ribs. There were probably some internal injuries as well as some internal bleeding, and, more than likely, a slight concussion.
The Tukuli had run out of power shortly after Bhakat’s operation, so he had been forced to place Rauphangelaa and whatever food supplies he could find inside an escape pod and swim, pushing the pod toward the surface of the ocean as he did so. He wasn’t used to his new powers yet, but he did know how to swim well, so it only took a moment for him to break the surface of the ocean. He took a moment to catch his bearings before finally setting off westward toward where the coast should be. The water was full of floating pieces of the ship, as well as lubricating liquids and other chemical substances, which had formed a large slick.
Bhakat swam on, pushing the escape pod ahead of him, and saw land in the distance after swimming for what seemed like an hour or so. He was amazed that he’d been swimming for so long and still felt like he’d only just started. He had a slight headache from the effects of the operation, but he wasn’t too worried about it. He needed to get Rauphangelaa to safety. He could see why his ancestors had placed a high value in the Johar Stones. An army implanted with the Stones would be almost unbeatable. But he could also see why they were so feared. There was no way to negotiate with an enemy who saw you as no threat to them. There was no leverage against invincibility.
A short time later, he was standing in the shallows of a secluded cove as the sun slowly set, casting everything in shadow. The cove was dominated by a tall cliff that overlooked the small sandy beach he had pulled the escape pod onto. He knew from the territory that he must be a ways north of the city. The coastal area along the city’s borders consisted of sandy beaches. He also knew that the only direction he could go was south, to Melaanse. He strapped a bag with food onto his back and then gently picked up his Master and began his search for a medical facility. He hoped he wasn’t already too late to save Rauphangelaa.
#
Yvette was sitting in an alley between two partially destroyed buildings. There was rubble and trash strewn all around her, but she didn’t pay it any attention. She was used to the destruction by then. She was hugging her knees to her chest, crying. She had powered down and found a spot that was as secluded as she could manage. There hadn’t been a Krahn attack for at least an hour. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold up. She was exhausted, and her last meal had left her still hungry. The meat had been gamy and stringy and not very palatable, but she had eaten as much as she could find on the creature, even gagging down its brain. Despite the unexpected protein boost, she knew she’d have to eat again soon, or else she might pass out from lack of nourishment.
From around the corner peeked two children, a Sekani girl and a Jirina boy. Both had the look of combat survivors, their faces dirty, and a vacant look in their eyes. They walked away a little from the mouth of the alleyway. They were holding flowers that they had picked in a nearby park.
“What’s wrong with it?” the Sekani asked in Talondarian.
“I don’t know,” the Jirina answered, absent-mindedly chewing on a flower. “Maybe it’s hurt, or lost.”
They slowly came out into the open. Yvette was startled by them at first, but then saw that they were only children. “Oh! It’s…it’s okay. I won’t hurt you,” she told them in English.
They slowly walked toward her. She smiled, wiping the tears from her face. “Oh, James,” she said quietly. “Where are you?”
The children came closer to her. The Sekani began to hand her the flowers from her hand. Yvette reached out for them. Then she saw a Krahn warrior walk around the corner. She screamed, “No!”
The hand that was reaching out to grasp the flowers now extended into a spear from her force shield, racing between the children and killing the Krahn instantly. The flowers fell to the ground, forgotten. The two children ran away, disappearing around another corner.
“No, wait!” Yvette yelled after them. “Wait…please.”
She stood there, next to the fallen flowers and the body of the Krahn, its blood slowly seeping under a pile of trash.
#
David and Janan were finally entering the outskirts of Melaanse. The road they were walking on was in much better condition than it had been when they’d left the desert. The sun was shining brightly, though it was much cooler nearer the coast than it was inland. Janan was aghast at the destruction surrounding him. David was no longer powered-up; his attention was on his surroundings as well. They moved past the wreckage of buildings and various-sized transport vehicles, the smell of dead bodies almost overpowering.
“By the goddess, no,” Janan said. “It…was once so…it was beautiful.”
“I’m sorry,” David said quietly, unable to look away from the expressions of terror on the faces of the Rajani and Jirina that were scattered among the rubble and trash left over from the Krahn attack.
“There’s truly nothing left for me here now,” Janan said, a tear tracing down his furry cheek.
They passed by a dark alleyway, unaware that there were Krahn warriors crouched down, watching them from the darkness of the alley.
Janan stopped to look at a broken-down vehicle, hoping that it would be operable. If not, they would have to continue to rely on David’s legs. There were still a few miles until they would reach Rauphangelaa’s estate. Janan figured that was as good a place as any to begin their search for survivors. And Janan needed to see it with his own eyes. David kept walking a little, and then stopped to look at the broken statue of a Rajani. Janan wasn’t aware th
at a Krahn warrior had crept up and was standing behind him. His mind was still overwhelmed by the destruction of his home world, as well as thoughts of his family, and the guilt of being the lone survivor.
“Janan, is this Ruvedalin?” David asked, still looking down at the destroyed statue. He knelt next to the statue pieces. There was little left of the body but rubble and dust. He picked up the almost complete head of Ruvedalin, and began acting out a scene from Shakespeare. “Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him…” He smiled, remembering the cute girl from his college acting class; a memory from another time. That’s when he heard the reptilian hiss coming from behind him. It was already too late for David to react as the Krahn hit him in the back of the head with the butt of its rifle. The Krahn stood over David’s unconscious form, looking down at him as if making sure that the human was not going to get up again.
Two other Krahn came from ahead of them. One of them was holding the unconscious body of Janan. The Krahn held him up by one of his ankles. “What about the Sekani, Sendok?”
The first Krahn was still standing over David. Its tongue hung out of its mouth in satisfaction. “Bring it. We may get hungry on our way to Nestbase One.” He smiled, knowing that this was one of the aliens that Ronak had ordered the capture of, and that it could only mean a promotion for him. He pulled out his communication radio and called into the base. “Sendok to Nestbase One,” he said.
“This is Nestbase One,” a voice replied softly. The communication radio’s reception was notoriously bad on Rajan, for some unknown reason.
“I’m returning with an important prisoner and his Sekani companion,” Sendok said. “Let Toruq know it was I who caught it.”
“Reminder,” the voice said, “your orders are that you return all prisoners alive to Nestbase One. Orders are from Ronak himself.”
“Both prisoners will be brought in alive,” Sendok said. He couldn’t keep the note of disappointment out of his voice. He’d been looking forward to a good meal as a reward for his efforts.
Chapter 8
Yvette was sleeping inside the ruins of an abandoned building. She was dirty, and her clothes showed wear and tear from her adventures amongst the Krahn. She was curled up as small as she could make herself. The night air had developed a chill, and she didn’t have any other way to stay warm.
Two Krahn warriors outside of the building were debating whether or not to go in to capture her. They’d been following her from a distance, staying out of her kill radius. They knew she would have to get tired after a while.
“Why do we have to do this?” the first Krahn said. “Ronak already has one of them.”
“We do what we’re told,” the second Krahn responded. “If he says he wants more, we get more. You should know that by now.”
The first Krahn pointed toward the building, referring to the sleeping form of Yvette. “But this one is dangerous! It killed many from my unit. It brought down one of our ships, Jpak curse it!”
“All the more reason you should take your revenge,” the second Krahn said. “As unit leader, it’s your responsibility to make sure the alien is captured. Fail, and Ronak is liable to skin you alive.”
“Don’t remind me,” the first Krahn said.
A shadowy form, huge and dark, appeared behind the Krahn. Bhakat, now powered up, was determined to keep Yvette safe.
“I didn’t like them that well—” the first Krahn started to say, crossing its arms before it.
A powered-up hand grabbed both Krahn around their faces from behind, and neither one made another sound. Yvette heard none of this. She was exhausted, both physically and mentally, and remained asleep, oblivious to how close she’d come to being captured or killed.
#
Janan was scared. He didn’t know what had happened to David after they were separated. The Krahn had split up, taking the still-unconscious Human to the east and Janan south, toward their main base. He wasn’t even sure why he was still alive. He’d been told by his captors, with longingly hungry looks, that Sekani were considered food by the Krahn, and that he looked delicious. There were times he wished he could turn off his translation implant. After listening to more of their conversation between each other, he had come to the conclusion that Krahn would eat just about anything, but his kind were considered especially tasty. His stomach roiled at the thought of being eaten by the creatures.
Janan was puzzled, then, by the fact that he had not yet ended up as the evening meal for his captors. They had spent time talking on a communication device, but he hadn’t heard what was said, only that his Krahn guards were seemingly disappointed they had once again been ordered not to eat him, and to deliver him quickly to their base.
The group trekked through the heart of Melaanse, Janan in tow, and wasted little time in bringing him to the main Krahn headquarters, which they referred to as Nestbase One. He was led to what could only have been the house and grounds of a Rajani Elder. He saw that the Krahn had housed many of their troops in the surrounding quarters, which had previously housed the Elder’s Sekani and Jirina workers and servants. Janan was led straight to the main house. By this time, he was both exhausted and starving. He hadn’t eaten nor slept for two days. He was dragged before a Krahn, who seemed to be in charge of the house, judging by the respect shown to him by the others. The Krahn was sitting on a large chair that had been set in the middle of the largest room of the house, almost like a throne.
“You have a translation implant?” the Krahn asked him, while leaning back nonchalantly in the large chair. Janan didn’t reply. The Krahn nodded to the guard closest to Janan. The guard hit Janan in the small of his back with his weapon. The pain exploded as his legs buckled. He fell to his knees, gasping from the agony in his kidneys.
“I will ask you once again,” the head Krahn said. “Do you have a translation implant?”
Janan nodded slowly. “Yes,” he whispered.
“Good,” the Krahn said. “My name is Toruq. I’m fortunate enough to have risen in the ranks of my cousin’s army to the point that I am important enough to have had one installed as well. Luckily, I haven’t given Ronak cause to question my usefulness. I mean to keep it that way.”
Toruq stood and walked to where Janan still knelt. “What is your name, Sekani?”
“Janan’kela,” Janan replied. His back hurt too much for him to attempt any subterfuge.
“Were you aboard the ship that attempted to get past our blockade? The one that eventually crashed into the ocean?” Toruq asked, walking slowly around Janan.
“Yes,” Janan said, looking down at the stone floor. A tear escaped his left eye and fell to the floor, creating a dark spot. He hadn’t known what happened to the Tukuli after he’d escaped, but if it really had crashed into the ocean, then Bhakat and Rauphangelaa were more than likely dead.
“Were there other survivors besides you and the alien creature that you were discovered with?” Toruq asked.
“He and I were in an escape pod together,” Janan told him. “I don’t know if any others survived. I don’t know anything else.”
“I don’t believe that,” Toruq said. “Let’s delve a little deeper, shall we?” He stopped in front of Janan. “Be thankful. If I thought you had nothing to offer me, your remains would already be sitting in the bellies of my warriors. Now, the creature you were with was taken to the only medical facility in Melaanse not destroyed in our initial attack.” Toruq walked back and sat languidly in the chair once again. “I’m afraid that some of our pilots became a little carried away with their strafing runs. They do so like causing wanton destruction. Ah, to be young once again. There’s nothing to be done about it now, though. Anyways, the creature you were with; was it by any chance implanted with what is known as a Johar Stone?”
Panic flooded Janan’s mind for a moment. So this is why I’m still alive, he thought. But how could they know the Humans were implanted?
“I’ll take your silence as a yes,” Toruq said. “Don’t worry, we will find out soon eno
ugh. We have a medical team prepared for your friend’s arrival at the facility. If there is a Stone, it will be found when it’s examined. And then it will be cut out. Messy, yes, but again, there’s nothing for it, I’m afraid.”
Janan looked up at the Krahn finally. Toruq was smiling at him, one leg propped up on the arm of the chair. “You will not win this war,” Janan said. “Whether you kill me or not; whether you kill a thousand of us, it doesn’t matter. You’ve woken the sleeping beast, and you’ll pay for it with your lives.”
Toruq placed both feet on the floor before him and sat forward. “Your threats mean little to me, snackmeat. When we find the Stones, we will leave this ball of dirt, and all of you can rot, for all I care. For now, you will be our…guest until we know more about your friend and the role it plays in all of this.” He sat back once more before continuing. “Guards, take him below and make sure he’s as uncomfortable as possible.”
#
Yvette was now sleeping on a pallet inside a different building, although it looked much the same; partially destroyed and full of rubble. She was covered with a blanket, and her head was propped on one of the Rajani robes. Bhakat had tried to make her as comfortable as possible. She awoke suddenly with a gasp. She sat up and was powered up instantly before she realized Rauphangelaa was sitting next to her. Bhakat was standing next to the wall; he’d been acting as a lookout while the other two rested.
“Hello, child,” Rauphangelaa said, softly in Rajani. “We did not wish to disturb your sleep. You looked as though you needed it.”
“It was damn sloppy—” Bhakat began, not turning to look at them.
Rauphangelaa smiled at Bhakat, even while admonishing him. “Silence, Bhakat. She was exhausted. I doubt she has had any nourishment at all since she landed.”
Rajani Chronicles II Page 9