by Ky Tyrand
“Well?” asked Petch.
“The bridge is the key,” agreed Ki’ara. “There’s something nasty living in that cave on the other side… If we can get Sylor close enough, that thing will finish him for us.”
“Something nasty, huh?” muttered Je’nna, as her eyebrows lowered. “So, at what point do I get to shoot him?”
“Let’s just get him over there and see what happens.”
Je’nna rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
“The important thing is that he doesn’t make it through this,” said Ki’ara with a sigh. “If we let the monster do it, we don’t risk ourselves. Does it really matter if you don’t get to shoot him?”
As her expression darkened, Je’nna stated, “Yes.”
Ki’ara nodded. She understood. And she wouldn’t take that away from her friend, whether she agreed or not. “Then shoot him.”
Their eyes were locked until Je’nna’s lips curled up. “Okay.”
32
“He can track us, somehow,” said Ki’ara, as she spun Petch around and removed the disk-shaped container that had been strapped to his back since Stronghold. “I think it’s the Blue Energy.”
Je’nna and Petch watched curiously as Ki’ara slid open the storage pack.
It was nearly identical to Sir Grue’gan’s, making it impossible for Ki’ara not to be reminded of her Guardian, and the reason she was down here. She wanted him to be well again. But she also knew that he would want her to deal with Sylor if an opportunity arose. Sylor was too much of a threat, otherwise.
Ki’ara slid her fingers into the dark mesh that formed a cylinder between the two silver pans, separating the film as she spread her hands apart.
The compartment was filled with all kinds of gear, but nothing that jumped out at her as being helpful at the moment. Everything was layered up and well organized, making Ki’ara wonder what all was stuffed in there. She knew that Je’nna didn’t load it – she didn’t have time. The Angel had packed this, probably keeping it stocked for a quick departure. Ki’ara wondered how many other interdimensional storage packs were still in the Wolf Room, hiding even more equipment and secrets?
But it wasn’t what was packed away that was of interest to her right now. It was what the device could hold.
The opening at the top of the pack still had plenty of space. She wouldn’t have to empty a thing.
“Your guns…” she said to Je’nna.
Je’nna watched her curiously, before reluctantly handing over her weapons.
Ki’ara lay the folded rifle along the top of the pack, before placing both pistols at one end and closing the storage compartment with all three guns inside.
Je’nna wasn’t sure how she felt about watching her prized weapons disappear into a pack that was only a fraction as thick as her rifle was long. But it was happening, and she didn’t put up a fight.
When the disks clicked together, Ki’ara placed the pack on Je’nna’s back and asked, “Do you understand?”
The pink-haired girl slowly nodded. The contents of the storage device were contained in a different dimension. If Sylor was tracking her and Ki’ara through the Blue Energy in their weapons, he would not be able to detect it while inside the pack.
“Don’t open it until he’s past the middle of the bridge.”
Once again, Je’nna nodded.
Ki’ara turned to Petch and pointed to a patch of jagged boulders near the base of the rockface. “Petch, you hide over there,” she ordered. “Stay down, no matter what. Got it?” Ki’ara knew that the boy wanted to help, but there wasn’t time to come up with a plan that included him. Not one that wouldn’t get him killed. She only hoped that he would listen and not do anything foolish.
The boy’s face twitched, but to Ki’ara’s surprise he obediently nodded. “Okay,” he said. “Good luck. Both of you.” With that, he scrambled off to find a place to hide.
“Well that was easier than I thought,” Ki’ara muttered to Je’nna.
“Oh, he’s not done,” Je’nna whispered back. “He’ll reappear when you need him most. Just watch.”
Ki’ara couldn’t help but smile as she turned her back to the pink-haired girl. “Hop on.”
“I can climb…”
“This will be quicker,” Ki’ara promised. “And we need to get you far enough away that your guns aren’t affected.”
Je’nna didn’t argue. Instead, she climbed onto Ki’ara’s back and held on as the Princess hopped them up and to the side, bounding from ledge to ledge until they found an ideal perch, far from the tunnel entrance from which they expected Sylor would emerge.
Though there was an unobstructed sightline to the natural bridge, the distance was far greater than Ki’ara had first thought.
“Can you hit him from here?” she asked.
Je’nna made a face like Ki’ara must be joking.
“Never mind,” said Ki’ara, supposing Je’nna probably wouldn’t admit it even if she was concerned. The Princess turned to leave, but Je’nna caught her by the arm.
“Ki’ara,” she said, “I have some things to tell you.”
The Princess nodded. “I know. We’ll talk about it after.” She’d been saying that a lot, but every moment seemed to be an emergency. There were more important things than envy, tattoos and striped hair.
Je’nna nodded. “Be careful.”
“We’ve got this,” Ki’ara assured her. “It ends today.”
“Agreed,” said Je’nna, tapping her forehead with her index finger. “Good luck.”
“You too,” said Ki’ara, before she turned and launched into the air. The Princess didn’t understand what Je’nna was indicating with the forehead tap, and immediately wished she had asked. Now it was going to bug her until she saw Je’nna next.
She wondered if it was a warning to close her helmet, which Ki’ara did as she soared through the air.
This incredible cavern put her in a constant state of disbelief. Never in her life had she heard of such a magnificent place. And it had been right under her toes since the day she was born.
Ki’ara spotted Petch waving up at her from a location he’d found behind some boulders. She didn’t return the gesture for fear of giving the boy away if Sylor already had eyes on her. The man had a creepy way of being one step ahead of her, and Ki’ara wouldn’t be surprised if he was already watching from the shadows.
She hoped not, for if he was, the plan would already be a bust.
Another high-speed landing brought her right back to where they’d just departed from. Ki’ara could have landed closer to the bridge, but something came to mind during her first landing, when she’d stirred up all the dust. The ground was soft in places, and anyone crossing it would be sure to leave at least some tracks.
Petch had gotten himself onto a rocky shelf, and he appeared to have done it without leaving any signs on the ground. But Sylor was smart, and Ki’ara didn’t want to give him too many reasons to start questioning things. So, rather than jumping ahead, she ran across the rocky plateau, leaving a subtle trail of prints here and there on her way down to the bridge.
She stopped at the end, trying to shake the image of a giant lizard awaiting her on the other side. Her mother’s hesitation was enough to cause concern.
With a deep breath, Ki’ara put one foot in front of the other and made her way onto the bridge. Distracted by what she was certain lay ahead, her footsteps were short and slow.
Before she made it to the highpoint of the arch, Ki’ara began to feel a tingling under her skin. It wasn’t the pain of Sylor being so close that nothing worked – yet. But this was a clear warning that he was nearby.
She had to act fast.
Picking up the pace, Ki’ara reached the apex at a run.
The Angel would have had her Niksuru lit up by now. Ki’ara had something else in mind.
She could hear noises up ahead – a combination of snorting and growling. There was movement in the shadows inside the cave entrance.
>
The sensation under her skin was beginning to make her crazy. Ki’ara wasn’t sure if she had become more sensitive to Dark Matter, or if the tingles she felt were just shivers and goosebumps. There was no question that she was anxious. Sylor’s presence did that to her. So did running toward mystery monsters.
“Get out of there, Ki’ara,” – Je’nna’s unexpected voice crackled through her helmet’s communicator, making her jump – “He’s coming.”
Ki’ara already knew. Her skin was crawling.
She couldn’t wait. If Sylor blocked her Blue Energy from working, the monster in the cave ahead wouldn’t hesitate to gobble her up. Ki’ara snatched the small cylindrical bars from her wrists and fanned them both open with a snap. She lit them up – all six points on each.
Only then did she see the reflection of two large eyes in the shadows before her.
“Whatever you’re doing – do it fast!”
Ki’ara wondered how Je’nna knew Sylor was so close. Surely she couldn’t sense him from so far away. It occurred to her that Je’nna’s energy detectors were probably picking him up. No doubt a big black dot on her screen, swallowing all the light around it.
The Princess let both of her Niksuru fly, one right after the other, once again reminding herself of Sir Grue’gan as she broke his number one rule. Special circumstance, Ki’ara told herself, as she slid to a stop and directed both of her weapons straight into the cave entrance.
The big eyes inside blinked multiple layers of lids as the disks of light streaked toward them. Suddenly the eyes were gone, chased aside by Blue Energy, which then disappeared into the monster’s lair.
Before they even landed, Ki’ara released her control over the powerful weapons and scrambled back the other way.
She was about to throw herself into the biggest jump she could muster, when Je’nna’s voice once again rattled the speakers near her ears.
“He’s here!”
33
Ki’ara was out of time.
She had intended to throw her weapons into the cave and leap back across the chasm to hide behind the boulders near Petch. That was no longer an option. Even if she could jump without Sylor spotting her, Ki’ara was convinced that with her luck the Grav-Regulator would crap-out part way, leaving her to drop into the chasm and get skewered by glowing crystals.
For an instant she considered turning around and running into the monster’s den and hope to not get eaten.
Instead, she kept charging toward the end of the bridge and the mouth of the very tunnel that Sylor was about to emerge from.
The girl scanned the area for anywhere she could possibly hide. A boulder. A hole. Anything.
There…
Ki’ara noticed something to the side of the bridge – not far from where it connected to the cliff’s edge. Just like the other side, there were several outcroppings near the top of the crevasse wall. And, though they were completely exposed, the intensity of light from below created dark shadows above them.
It was her only chance.
“Ki’ara!”
The Princess leapt to the nearest ledge, landing a little awkwardly atop some rubble that she hadn’t noticed in the very shadows she planned to disappear into.
Great. Less room to hide.
Ki’ara pressed herself as tight as she could to the rocks and froze in place, trying not to make a sound. Her breaths were deep, her heart pounding. If she moved in the slightest, the girl was sure to shift a piece of loose debris from beneath her, no doubt sending it toppling over the ledge to make a racket on the way down.
With no other options, Ki’ara forced herself to remain silent and still, refusing to do anything that might ruin their chances.
She had no clue whether Sylor had already spotted her, and no idea what would happen next.
The man followed the path with ease.
Though his new tech never seemed to pick up the boy’s tracks, it had no trouble registering the heat left by the girl’s small feet.
As he stepped out from the mouth of the cave, Sylor was once again astounded by how vast and inconceivable this hidden underground world was. A place like this held riches, there was no doubt. But that would have to wait. Finding what he came here for was far more important.
The tracks led out onto a rocky plateau, to a place in the black sand where they got all jumbled up. It was as if the children were dancing around in circles or some such nonsense. But he could see where the footprints continued on, straight down to a natural arched stone formation that bridged a deep crevasse.
He trotted down to the base of the bridge, astonished by the glowing crystals at the bottom, blasting up brilliant orange and blue light. Never in his life had he seen anything like this. The man couldn’t help but wonder what the value of even a small piece of the luminous crystals might be. He intended to find out. Later.
In the meantime, the bright light was causing some grief with his tech. The scanners were having trouble reading the tracks, no longer picking up every print.
No matter. He didn’t need a trail to find them. Not when such a powerful energy signature lay just ahead.
As soon as he had learned how easy their weapons were to track, Sylor had made it a point to never take them. So long as he had Dark Matter, the energy inside them was no threat to the man. And he’d come to learn that those little Witches were far too slippery to leave without a means to track. Letting them keep their weapons was the smartest thing he’d done.
Allowing the tech in his headpiece to automatically tint the lens in his visor, Sylor’s eyes relaxed as he made his way down to the bridge. Focused on the cave entrance on the far side, he didn’t waste any time crossing the arched span. Though his peripherals were glancing at the tracks that sporadically registered on his scanners, he really didn’t pay much attention to them. At least, not until he noticed something odd about one of the small prints…
It was facing the wrong way.
Ki’ara watched silently as the man crossed directly beside her as he stepped out onto the bridge. He only needed to turn his head and he would spot her immediately.
The Princess had tried to camouflage herself against the stone outcropping, but she could tell by the sharp pain throughout her body that her Mu’turi was not about to do what she wanted.
So, instead of camouflage, she held her breath.
By some miracle, Sylor passed right by without so much as a glance in her direction.
She could tell that he was focused, determined to get his tentacles on her. And he was heading straight for the giant lizard’s den.
Please get eaten. Please get eaten.
He was already three-quarters of the way across – well beyond what the Angel’s memory had considered a safe distance – but there was still no sign of the other monster.
The Princess wondered if her Niksuru had frightened it off. Perhaps she had ruined her own trap.
And, to make matters worse, Sylor had stopped.
He was turning.
Something had caught is attention.
My tracks…
Sylor looked up from the bridge deck, and his eyes went straight to Ki’ara.
34
There was no point in trying to hide. Not when Sylor was within striking distance of the cave-lizard.
She couldn’t let him leave the bridge.
Ki’ara scrambled to her feet and jumped for the ledge above her. Hampered by the Dark Matter, her G.R. offered just enough of a boost for her hands to catch hold of the rocky lip.
She pulled herself up and rolled onto the flat ledge, wishing she had have thought to borrow a weapon from Je’nna.
Her fingers closed around two separate rocks; one was large, the other jagged.
With rocks in hand, Ki’ara popped to her feet. She turned and bounded to the bridge, cutting the corner by leaping across the death-drop with a jump that her fading G.R. did little to encourage.
And then she was standing face-to-face with the most terrifying man she e
ver had the misfortune of sharing a universe with.
Je’nna’s scope zoomed in on the dark armor, searching for her best target. Everywhere that would instantly kill the man was well protected. And, even though her rifle was capable of blasting through just about anything, there was something odd and powerful about Sylor’s special suit that made her wonder. The plates were made of a material Je’nna was completely unfamiliar with, and she had never seen anything like the sinewy black strands that held them all together – strong enough that her blade couldn’t cut them.
She didn’t want to waste this opportunity with a misplaced shot. Once Sylor was alerted to the plan, it would change everything. But Je’nna needed to pick a target soon.
The man was sauntering toward Ki’ara, who had bravely climbed onto the bridge with him. “Idiot Princess,” Je’nna muttered to herself. “Look at me, I’m going to face-off against an energy-sucking creepo who wants to pull my teeth out.” Je’nna was satisfied with her sarcastic impression, but felt a little guilty when a soft reply came through her communicator…
“I can hear you,” whispered Ki’ara.
Oops. Je’nna winced. She knew that Ki’ara had moved into position in hopes of keeping Sylor on the bridge, trusting that either Je’nna or this mystery monster would stop him before it was too late. It was a bold move. And, knowing what that psycho wanted to do to her, Je’nna wasn’t certain that she herself would be so brave if roles were reversed. She’d learned a long time ago that putting that much faith in another person rarely ended well.
“I know,” Je’nna lied, while zooming in on the tendon-like strands on the side of the man’s neck. “Any chance you can get him to open his helmet?”
“Hello, Little Princess,” hissed Sylor’s voice from beneath his black mask. “I’m thankful you weren’t crushed by all those rocks.”
“I’m sure you are,” agreed Ki’ara, opening her helmet in hopes that Sylor would do the same.