by Ky Tyrand
“What do you want with me?” Ki’ara muttered, more to herself than any of the men. “All this, for a Bounty?”
The tattooed man smiled and shook his head. “Little girl, I could care less about the Bounty. In fact, these men will be splitting my share, just for being here.”
The soldiers nodded and grinned, even let out a cheer.
This made no sense. “What then?”
The huge man sauntered forward, waving the unlit Niksuru handle at her like a finger. “You took something from me, little girl.” His expression turned dark. “And I want it back.”
Ki’ara had no idea what the man was talking about. She was no thief. “What could I have possibly taken from you?”
“My brother’s life,” he hissed.
Ki’ara closed her eyes. Now it made sense. “Syjak,” she whispered.
The man took a sharp breath when she said his brother’s name, as if she’d just put a blade into him as well.
“I’m sorry about your brother,” she told him truthfully. “But he tried to kill me. He tried to kill my father. And he tried to kill my friend.”
“I don’t understand where you’re going with that…”
Ki’ara’s eyebrows narrowed. “He had it coming.”
The man shook his head like he couldn’t reason out her meaning. “I don’t care,” he told her.
“Well, for what it’s worth, I am sorry,” she admitted. “I didn’t want to kill him.”
“No. No, no, you don’t understand. I don’t want you to say you’re sorry,” he told her. “I want you to BEG for forgiveness. Again. And again. And again. Until I finally get sick of hearing it. And then you’re really going to need to SHOW me how sorry you are, until I’m satisfied that you truly mean it. And when I tire of seeing you beg for your suffering to end, perhaps we can make that happen.” He held up his hand and waved the lifeless Niksuru at her. “But not a moment sooner.”
Ki’ara stepped forward, holding her lone Blue Energy blade at him. “That’ll never happen.”
“Oh yes,” said the man, moving forward to meet her in the middle of the room. “Yes, little girl, it will.”
Ki’ara felt something strange as he approached.
Her Niksuru flickered.
The giant tattooed man took another step, and her blade went dark. Ki’ara looked at the handle; shook it. She could no longer feel the Blue Energy. It was dead, just like the other one.
Ki’ara didn’t know what to do. She turned to run, but the soldiers were everywhere. There were too many of them. Too powerful. And she had nowhere to go.
Why did Je’nna leave me like this?
Despite her attempts to fight them off, the Guardsmen caught hold of her and turned her to face Syjak’s brother.
The towering man took one more step, within reach of Ki’ara.
For what seemed like no reason at all, the girl suddenly felt pain throughout her entire body – like someone was jabbing her with a thousand needles at once. Her hands and feet hurt the most. It was as if they were on fire.
Resisting the temptation to scream, Ki’ara glanced down to her bare arms … But they aren’t supposed to be bare!
Ki’ara’s combat suit was fading back. No longer did it reach her wrists to where her Mu’turi would normally hold her Niksuru firmly in place. Her sleeves were retracting as the burning pain made its way up her arms and legs. The dark skin of her disguise was light once more.
Held firmly as she was, the girl couldn’t see down to her feet. But she was able to touch them together. She could feel that her boots were gone.
Her knees and elbows were on fire.
Just like the Blue Energy in her Niksuru, Ki’ara could no longer feel the Mu’turi inside her body.
20
The tattooed man leaned in and grinned. Through the agony, Ki’ara recognized the snide sneer. It was the same one that his brother, Syjak, would wear.
The agony of trying to maintain any part of the Mu’turi she could cling to left her wanting to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to hurt the man in front of her. She wanted to hurt them all.
Ki’ara turned away as the giant man reached down to put his hand under her chin … but she never felt his touch. Is it because of the pain? The girl decided that she would rather feel agony than this man’s hands.
Commotion.
Strange tinkling noises, followed by floor shaking thuds.
Ki’ara opened her eyes when the tattooed man cried out.
What is going on?
Syjak’s brother was turned away from her, curled up.
More clinking sounds.
They were coming from the windows.
A series of holes appeared in the glass as Royal Guardsmen collapsed around her. Perwyn was the first, followed by three others.
Ki’ara didn’t know what was going on. Soldiers were going down. Some were ducking, others dropping. Their firm grasps were releasing.
The tattooed giant turned back to her. His sneer was now a vicious snarl as he lunged. The hand that had held her Niksuru was missing.
Ki’ara dove out the way, looking for a direction to run, or a weapon with which to fight.
There were still several men between her and the door – some lying motionless, but others crouched low with their blasters in hand. They were all afraid to stand – something Ki’ara could use to her advantage.
She kicked Syjak’s brother as hard as she could with her bare foot. His head spun to the side, but it didn’t stop him.
Ki’ara stepped up on a chair, and sprang onto the very table the soldiers had been seated around. She ran across it, leaping to the next tabletop as the tattooed man charged after her.
The girl was running out of tables, but kept going, doing her best not to tip them or step on anything sharp. Her pursuer knocked over the wooden platforms an instant after she jumped off them. If the man moved a tiny bit faster, he would send her to the ground.
Ki’ara landed on the last table and dove.
The huge soldier swatted it out from under her as she launched herself forward, throwing her bare arms up in front of herself.
With a crash, Ki’ara burst through a large window. Shards of razor sharp glass flew everywhere, slicing into the girl as she flew through the opening, and then again when she landed on the hard ground outside the Inn. The burning of her lost Mu’turi was replaced by the stinging of cut skin. But the girl had no time to think about it. She scrambled to her feet and ran.
21
Ki’ara didn’t look back, or think about the glass on the ground, until she was well away from the building. Hopping around the corner of another structure, she reached down to pull shards from her bleeding foot, while peeking around the corner to see if the Royal Guardsmen were giving chase.
She could hear them shouting – mostly the tattooed man, who was screaming for them to “catch the girl!”
There was fear, though. The men didn’t want to leave the cover of the Inn. But the alternative was to face the wrath of their furious leader. They charged out the door.
Ki’ara bolted.
She didn’t know where she was going, but knew she had to get away from here. Though the pain in her feet made it difficult, there was no way those men were going to catch her again.
The Princess ran as quickly as she could, surprised that nobody was about on the streets. There were plenty of small buildings in the village, but no people to speak of. Perhaps they were all inside, hiding. Nobody to help her.
The only sounds Ki’ara heard were the shouts of the soldiers behind her, and the tromping of their heavy boots as they made up ground on her. She’d never tried to run so fast in bare feet before, least of all with shards of glass jabbing her soles. Her forearms were bleeding, and somewhere on her head. Perhaps her ear. She couldn’t tell. It all hurt so badly.
But at least the burning she’d felt inside was easing.
Bursts from high powered blasters exploded beside her, throwing her the other way.
Ki’ara ran for cover as more shots rang out. She could feel them zipping past her as she dove behind the corner of a house. Without a second thought, she sprinted along the side of the building, looking for someplace to hide. There were a few bushes, but nowhere that would fool anyone. And that was if they didn’t see her ducking in.
The girl could tell that the soldiers weren’t far behind. She kept going, but didn’t know her way around. All she could do was try and get away – put some distance between herself and those terrible men. But when she rounded a corner, Ki’ara found herself staring down the barrel of Tattoo’s blaster.
22
It was a big gun, but the soldier held it comfortably with one hand – now his only hand – while pinching the other wrist in his armpit.
The man’s lip curled up into that evil sneer.
Ki’ara stopped, expecting him to shoot her right then and there. He couldn’t miss at this range.
But, from what this evil man had described, he had much worse in mind for her. No surprise that he hadn’t pulled the trigger.
The Princess glanced around for anything that could possibly get her out of this mess. There was nothing. She’d failed, and now Sir Grue’gan would die for it. Her shoulders slumped when she heard the heavy boots behind her. She was surrounded.
I have to fight.
Adrenaline shot through her blood as the girl realized she was worse than dead if she just stood there. Ki’ara lunged at the man.
She thought he might pull the trigger, but never got the chance.
Something slammed into him from out of nowhere, sending him skidding across the street.
It took Ki’ara a moment to process what she was seeing: A person, wearing the same combat gear and helmet as CST-1, had just crashed into Tattoo on some kind of bike, except … there were no wheels under it. The black vehicle hovered about a foot off the ground, and seemed to have slid sideways across the air before knocking into the man with enough force throw him nearly ten paces.
“Get on!” the rider’s muffled voice shouted through a helmet while pointing a thumb to the back.
Ki’ara bolted for the bike, throwing herself onto the narrow seat as gunfire started up again. She realized that her dead Niksuru was still clutched in her fist, and for once she didn’t have anywhere for it. She felt the bike moving, but there were no handles.
Gun blasts were suddenly exploding all around them.
“Hang on to me!” shouted the pilot.
Ki’ara threw her arms around the rider. Her fingers were wrapped around her lone Niksuru as she held her own wrist with the other hand.
The girl had never felt such a pull in her life as when the Hoverbike lurched forward, making her feel like she was going to slide right off the back and be left behind. Firming her grip on the armored torso of the rider, Ki’ara pulled herself tight and clung for dear life as explosions burst around them. She could feel heat and pressure as the blasts pushed them from side to side, sending the bike teetering this way and that. More than once Ki’ara was certain that the bike would spill, but somehow the pilot always seemed to maintain balance.
“Hang on!” the hollow voice shouted through the helmet, as if Ki’ara wasn’t already.
A gulp was the only response the Princess could muster, as wind rushed past her, making it difficult to breathe.
Squinting through watering eyes, Ki’ara dared look over the pilot’s shoulder, nearly choking when she realized they were racing straight toward the ledge of a canyon.
23
The craft was nearly silent as it skimmed over the uneven terrain, toward a drop that would surely kill them both. Ki’ara was familiar enough with the fissures that snaked through the land to know that the canyon walls would be vertical, and the bottom deep.
She could see the other side – a steep cliff that looked even higher than the one they were about to go over. But they weren’t heading for any ramp, or even a rise in the ground. Ki’ara couldn’t imagine how the pilot thought it possible to survive this. At best they would plow into the rock face on the other side.
Was this a suicide run?
Ki’ara wanted to protest, but couldn’t speak. Instead, she squeezed the body in front of her and closed her eyes.
As she said goodbye to her life, Ki’ara heard a sudden hiss, felt a jolt that propelled them upward. When she opened her eyes, she was flying over the bottomless crevice.
Ki’ara had never felt anything like this before. She was flying through the air with a life ending drop below her. It was terrifying and thrilling and magical all at once. She actually laughed out loud when they reached the apex, the only sound she’d been able to make.
Things suddenly changed as the bike began to descend before she did, leaving the girl feeling weightless as her butt lifted off the seat. Any doubts about the vehicle not being able to make the jump were forgotten when Ki’ara found herself clinging for dear life. The body ahead of her felt as if it was held firmly in place, which was her only hope for not ending up in the bottom of the canyon. She pulled herself tight as the ledge on the far side rose up.
Ki’ara swore they were too low. But then solid ground was suddenly underneath them.
The bike landed softly on a cushion of air – unlike Ki’ara, who came down hard on the seat and banging her cheek against the back of the pilot’s helmet.
But after the vehicle skimmed sideways to a stop, they were miraculously still alive. Ki’ara let out a breath and tried to slow the thumping in her chest.
“You can let go, now.”
Ki’ara sat up when she realized she was still hugging the pilot. “Sorry,” she whispered, climbing off the back of the bike. Her legs wouldn’t stop shaking, so she plunked herself down on the grass.
The rider got off and flicked a switch on the bike. The craft lowered to the ground, resting on little outriggers that appeared from the sides. Ki’ara hadn’t noticed that the vehicle had been making a faint humming noise until it went completely silent.
She knew this tech came from Sanctuary, and was anxious to see who the mysterious pilot was. Ki’ara hadn’t noticed how small the person was until now. The same size as … “Je’nna?” Ki’ara wasn’t sure why that surprised her. Who else would it be? The Hoverbike explained how she got to the Inn so quickly. “I thought…”
“You thought wrong.”
“But … you ran. Why did you run?”
Je’nna shook her head. “Couldn’t you feel it?”
Ki’ara looked down at her forearms and bare feet. “I didn’t feel anything until…”
“Tattoo had Dark Matter,” said Je’nna, while sliding her weapons out of special compartments on the sides of the vehicle.
Ki’ara stared at her blankly, wondering if she was supposed to know what that meant.
“Gods, you really don’t know anything about anything, do you Princess?”
Ki’ara shrugged. Not exactly information that came up in her day-to-day life. Ever.
“You know that the Blue Energy in your weapons is what the New Gods use to power their ships?”
The Princess nodded. That much she knew.
“Well they use Dark Matter to damper it. Enough of it will block the Blue Energy completely,” explained Je’nna. “It rendered our weapons useless, but wouldn’t have affected those dirtbags’ rechargeables. Without my guns, I didn’t think I could have stopped them all before one of them landed a lucky shot.”
“You shot them through the windows,” muttered Ki’ara, piecing together the events that had saved her.
Je’nna crouched down behind the butt of her rifle, and put an eye to the scope. “My guns are powered by Blue Energy, but don’t actually shoot it. All I had to do was get far enough away for the effects to wear off. After cutting the tires on their rovers, of course. I’m sorry I couldn’t have warned you somehow.”
“Are you kidding me?” said Ki’ara. “I’m just glad you came back for me!”
Je’nna looked up from her gun, ove
r her shoulder. “Why wouldn’t I come back for you?”
“I don’t know.” Ki’ara realized she’d said too much. “I just… I have trust issues.”
Je’nna’s eye went back to the gun scope. “Good to know,” she mumbled. The girl seemed irritated. Or offended.
Ki’ara sat and picked pieces of glass from her feet and forearms, while trying to catch her breath. She was about to ask Je’nna why her Mu’turi was affected, but the other girl answered before she could get the words out.
“It doesn’t just neutralize the Blue Energy; it also affects the gland you use to control it – your 3rd eye – which messes you up all over. Not ideal if you’re relying on your Mu’turi for clothing.”
Ki’ara couldn’t argue with that.
“It should return soon,” Je’nna assured her. She fiddled with something on her scope before putting a hand to her ear.
Ki’ara couldn’t figure out what Je’nna was doing. It wasn’t like she would be able to shoot the soldiers from here. Blocked by trees and other buildings, the Inn wasn’t even in sight. And if she’d cut the Rovers’ tires, the girl couldn’t be expecting them to drive into view, could she?
While she waited, Ki’ara tested the Blue Energy in her lone Niksuru. Used to sensing immense power within the device, it was strange and unnerving to not have the cylinder buzzing in her hand. When she concentrated, she could feel the faintest spark of energy inside, which was a relief. The Blue Energy was still in there, just blocked.
However, she was still missing the second device. It was out there, somewhere.
Ki’ara took a chance – reached out to it. Following the strands of energy that bonded the weapon to her, across the canyon and into the village, she traced it all the way back until she could practically feel the Niksuru in her hand. Afraid to do anything that might warn whoever held it, Kia’ra got to her feet and sunk into the most stable position she could muster.