by DN Farrell
"How do you want to do this then?" The man asked.
"Tell all your goons to take a running jump and then bring the girl downstairs. You send her across the hall and at the same time we send the trunk bearers and the swap is done."
"Show me the gold first." The bearded man demanded once more.
"Sure thing." Said Trellon, then indicating towards the trunk bearers, they removed the pole. Trellon then bent over and opened the trunk lid and then with his right hand, he took up a handful of gold coins, then stood back up and slowly dropped them back one by one into the trunk. Finally then he said to the kidnapper "Satisfied?"
"Not really, show me more proof." The man replied.
Trellon then bent down one more time and took out a coin and flung it hard over at the man. It skipped over onto the landing and one of his henchmen handed the coin over to the bearded man. The man examined the coin, then nodded over at Trellon. "Fair enough!" He exclaimed and nodding over at his immediate henchman, the various assistant kidnappers disappeared from immediate view.
The man and the princess then left the landing and re-emerged a few moments later in the great hall, about fifty feet from Trellon, the hall was dark and the man's face continued to be difficult to distinguish in its covers. The man pushed the princess forward and she started walking slowly towards Trellon. Trellon indicated the trunk bearers to deliver the gold. They closed the lid and put the pole back into position, then they walked across the hall, walking slowly past the princess and over to the bearded man. Once there, they dropped the trunk to the floor and as fast as their legs would carry them they ran out of the temple and back towards the king’s castle, their duty done.
The Princess Harahan finally arrived in front of Trellon. Trellon bowed slightly at the princess, who appeared to be terrified, then he reached over and took her by her right wrist and gently he pulled her in towards himself. Saron moved forward and stood in front of the princess, meanwhile the bearded man unlocked the trunk, checked out the gold and then nodded back at Trellon. His henchmen returned and they took up the trunk and receded into the shadows. Now Trellon, the Princess Harahan and Saron where the only ones left standing in the great hall.
Chapter Six – Double Cross
Trellon, the Princess and Saron quietly left the temple and one of the female nuns closed the door firmly behind them. Outside everything appeared calm and peaceful. Silently the three of them started to make their way down the side of the mountain. Without the encumbrance of the trunk bearers, the downward descent was quick and easy and in one and a half hours the trio arrived in the valley, which lay at the bottom of the mountain.
After another ten minutes of slow paced walking, they came to the forest and they began to walk through it, when there was a sudden sound. Saron turned around quickly, sword in hand ready to fight, when they suddenly heard a voice call out to them.
"Saron do not attack, its Captain Oran here!" Exclaimed a bearded man, who sat upon a horse in a clearing near where they stood. The bearded man was the only one on a horse as he was surrounded by standing soldiers, who were robed in the same red, blue and green robes, which the King wore and the man on the horse was dressed in a long navy blue robe, with a bright red turban on his head and an armoured breastplate, with the kings family insignia depicted on it.
Saron froze and looking back at Trellon, who now had his blaster at the ready. "Trellon, this is Captain Oran, the kings Royal Guard, these men are our friends." And with that Saron re-holstered his sword and Trellon also re-holstered his blaster. The Captain signalled his men to put down their weapons, as most of them had blaster rifles, but some had spears. Now the thirty or so men in the army platoon, seemed to be standing at ease.
Captain Oran dismounted from his horse, which was fully decked out in cloths which covered the entire body of the horse, in the family crest of the royal family, the dominant colours been blue, red and green. Once of the horse, the captain bowed towards the princess and came over to see how she was keeping.
"Your Highness, the king sends his love and regards. Are you keeping well, how have they treated you?" He said.
"I am well." Replied the princess. "They did not abuse me, but it was a terrifying experience, thank you for your concern captain."
"Your Highness." He said once again and bowed. Then standing back up he waved his right hand over towards one of his men, who promptly came forward with an old styled Litter, a carriage which had no horse or engine, instead four bearers would carry the incumbent party. Four men carried the carriage and bowed before the princess, who gave a faint bow back and then she stepped into the ivory colored carriage, which had gold plated handles and ornate golden plated designs, all over the side of it. The men lifted the carriage up and prepared to walk the princess back towards the Castle.
Trellon almost broke out into a laugh at the quaintness of it, but then stopped himself. Looking around, he could clearly see that the entire platoon of royal guards were dressed in funny looking outfits and with a hodgepodge of modern armaments mixed with ancient ones. They all had blasters on their belt buckles and half the men had blaster rifles as well, while the other half had spears, but each and every last one of them wore ceremonial looking swords. Furthermore the captains horse looked like it were ready to go on parade and in general the men's outfits looked all too perfect. Seen the captain mount his horse again and the men marching in tandem with the queen, in the Litter, it was obvious that the king's guard had to play up to cultural norms of royalty, in this old styled society.
The captain didn't bother addressing Trellon and Saron, rather he just turned around and started trotting forward, while all his men and the princess's carriage just followed. Not to be left behind Trellon and Saron, slowly started to walk along with them. It seemed obvious to Trellon that the king would send out his guards to guarantee the safety of the princess, but how did they know that the ransom had been paid and the princess was unharmed? This thought started to roll around Trellons mind and as it did so he became a little less trustful of the platoon of men whom he, Saron and the princess were now travelling with. Trellon put it down to his imagination, but he started to observe everything that they did a bit more closely, just in case.
The minutes rolled by peacefully enough. Trellon could hear the gentle trotting of the horse, as they walked through a narrow pathway, which crossed the woods. About twenty feet ahead of him, he could see the four men huffing and puffing, as they carried the princess's carriage using four poles, the poles resting upon their shoulders. Behind them another twenty four men walking in a line, four abreast and then at the end Saron and Trellon walked.
As they continued to move forward, Trellon noted that four of the men had slowly come around behind Trellon and Saron and they were now marching behind them. Something didn't feel right and as Trellon carefully looked over to his left, at the hulking figure of Saron, he could see that Saron was also aware of something out of order, as although Saron's head was facing forward, his eyes were looking over to his right hand side. Trellon quickly turned backwards, just in time to see one of the men, with blaster in hand, pointed at Saron and Trellon.
"Don't move, just keep on walking." He said.
With that the other men reached for their blasters, but Trellon wasn't going to give them this opportunity, so acting quickly he raised his right hand up into the air as if he were about to stroke his head, but instead he whipped out his dagger and flung it from an underhanded position, thus throwing it into the stomach of the man with the blaster pointed at him and Saron. Instantly the man groaned and bent over in pain.
Trellon reached forward and grabbing him, he pushed the man towards his three comrades, while grabbing onto his dagger and retrieving it at the same time, while Saron also took offensive action. Trellon couldn't quite see what Saron was up to, but as he looked around at Saron, he saw a spurt of blood in the air and then looking back he could see the third and fourth men had been slashed in the torso by Saron's sword. One man remained on
the ground, with the stabbed man rolling over him. He struggled to get up and as he did so Trellon whipped out his blaster and blasted him with a blaster stun round, immediately incapacitating the man on the ground.
Trellons blaster shot drew attention from the rest of the platoon, who turned back towards them. Suddenly Trellon and Saron found themselves standing in the middle of the forest, looking directly at twenty plus angry looking, treacherous royal guards.
"Stun them and kill the princess!" Exclaimed the captain.
There was a moment where everyone just starred at each other not sure what to do. Then the princess stuck her head out of the left hand window of her carriage and Trellon found himself automatically jumping to his left hand side, into the bushes, whereas Saron jumped to the right hand side.
A hail of blaster stun fire starting raging in both directions. But Trellon kept his focus on the princess. Running and zig-zagging as he went, through the bushes, he could see one of the men walking over towards the princess's carriage and taking his weapon out, so as to kill her. Risking his own life, Trellon jumped out of the bushes, grabbed the left hand door of the carriage, which was now resting on the forest floor, as the bearers had let the carriage down so as to facilitate the princess's murder. Trellon grabbed the Princess from behind the neck and yanked her back, just as a lethal blaster bolt hit the carriage, blown it to bits.
Meanwhile, Saron had hid behind a tree and started to provide cover fire, by using his automatic cross bow, which could automatically reload, as he quickly and efficiently fired of a dozen arrows, each and everyone of them finding their target and either killing or maiming a royal guard.
The cover provided by Saron, made it possible for Trellon to get a running start with the princess. But they were been followed by a dozen or more royal guards. Meanwhile Saron was slicing his way through the forest, dodging blaster fire and wounding several men as he went. Traveling on his own he could travel at high speed, and within less than a minute Trellon felt the burden of pulling the princess by the arm lighten, as he looked over to his left hand side, he could see that Saron had appeared and he had grabbed the princess's by the left armpit and was more or less carrying her along.
They were zig-zagging along, trying to avoid been caught by the royal guard, but the guard where coming closer. Saron quickly pointed towards a hill, which they went to climb. While Trellon and the princess climbed the hill, once more Saron hid behind a tree, then observing where the blaster fire was coming from, each time a royal guard let of a blaster round, he targeted that man and quickly took him down with his blaster rifle.
Once Trellon and the princess went over the top of the hill, the hugely built Saron ran up the hill at great speed, and once over the hill, he once again grabbed the princess by her left armpit and now this time, he brought them down towards a stream.
"Over there towards that cave." He said and with that all three ran down into the stream and into the mouth of a cave.
"Keep on going and do no stop!" Saron exclaimed, once again letting Trellon and the princess go on ahead of him, while he took up a hidden position, at the mouth of the cave, and picked off several more royal guards, as they came charging towards him. Finally he too turned and fled down into the caves. Once again catching up with Trellon and the princess, and running down deeper and deeper into the cave. Finally they slowed down and Saron indicated for them to take rest.
They were now deep inside the cave system and the only light they had, came from a flare which Saron had taken out and had held in his left hand, as they had wandered down into the cave system.
All three just sat there in the dark, dank cave and they caught their breath. But Trellon was concerned about the royal guard. Half of them where probably dead or injured, but a good dozen or so where probably still alive and coming after them.
"Saron, we can't just sit here like this, they will come and get us!" Exclaimed Trellon.
Saron just sat there smiling at Trellon. "They will not follow." He said.
"What do you mean they will not follow, we have the princess and if we survive the king will know that the royal guard are traitors!" Trellon exclaimed once again.
"Ha ha ha !" Saron laughed and his great big laugh just echoed throughout the cave. "They will not follow us down here, this is the Murcu's layer." He said.
"What or who are the Murcu?" Trellon asked.
"They are under world dwellers commander." Said the princess, who although bedraggled looking, appeared to be of sound mind, considering the strain which she was under. "And thank you for saving my life." She continued and Trellon simply nodded.
"Are the Murcu dangerous?" Trellon asked.
"Nobody in their right mind will come down here." She said.
"Great!" Trellon exclaimed. "So we can't go back to the mouth of the cave, or the royal guard will get us and soon they will get more conspirators to give them back up, and if we stay here we will probably get ripped apart by some sort of underworld bogeymen!"
"That's right Commander." Saron said while simply shrugging. What were they to do, for now other than to stay here and take their chances within the caves of Murcu.
Chapter Seven – Diplomacy
"Captain you have an urgent incoming call from the chief minister of Artemis 11." Said Lieutenant Pylor, the Communications Officer.
"Tell me his name again Lieutenant?"
"Regis, sir."
"Ok put him through." Retorted the captain.
The Holo Tube blinked on and an irate chief minster came shouting across the Holo Tube; for a second the captain felt as if he would suddenly materialize in front of him, he was so vivid in his angry display. His aged features gesticulated and his silly looking wizard’s style conical hat flipped back and forth as he spoke.
"Captain Jobi, we are outraged by the Federations diabolical behaviour! You will pay a terrible price for your actions, here today on Artemis 11." He yelled while pointing aggressively towards the screen with the bony forefinger of his right hand.
"Whoa, hold on there a minute chief minister, what is the problem?" Queried the captain, who was taken aback by the serious turnabout in Artemisian relations.
"Don't you know captain? Don't you know what your own men are doing?"
"What do you mean, what happened down there today chief minister?"
"Your brave Commander Trellon murdered the Princess Harahan in cold blood sir!" Regis exclaimed, his face red with anger.
"Whoa now chief minister." Replied Captain Jobi, who was now fidgeting in his chair, wondering what on earth had gone wrong down there. "I know Commander Trellon for many years and there is no way that he would take it on to himself to assassinate anyone!"
"Aha captain, but this is exactly it, he did not take it onto himself to assassinate anyone, you have ordered him to do so, he is simply carrying out the orders of the Federation, in an effort to undermine the king and set the Kolatian Quadrant on fire with your violence, which you are so famous for."
"Now see here chief minister, on what evidence are you basing all of these accusations?"
"I will send over video footage now captain. Just watch and see."
There was a few second pause, then on the Holo Tube, for everyone on the bridge of the Byrant to see, was video footage from the treeline perspective in a forest, where surveillance camera's had been positioned. They showed the royal guard of Artemis 11, with its captain in front on horseback, then rows of men and a carriage. The camera zoomed in to show the face of the princess, then zooming out again; several rows of men past along a narrow pathway in the forest and in the second row from the back row was Commander Trellon, walking beside a great big bear chested men.
Next thing the scene shifted and Trellon was blasting a man, who was lying helpless on the ground, then there was a rush of activity, as Trellon ran into the bushes. Then suddenly the camera switched to the princess's carriage, and from left of the screen, a man's hand could be seen, blaster in hand, blasting the princess and the princess fal
ling backwards out of the carriage. The clip then replayed itself twice more, before the chief minister came back onto the Holo Screen.
"See captain, the evidence is undeniable. The royal guard waited at the edge of the forest for the princess to come, once the ransom was paid. They then proceeded to attempt to escort the princess back to the safety of the castle. But your young Commander blasted an innocent man, then came running at the princess and blasted her to death!"
"Okay, okay," Captain Jobi said slowly and sombrely, "where is the commander now Regis?"
"We don't know captain, he ran down into some caves, which are notoriously dangerous and nobody will go down into them. Probably they are already dead, eaten by the Murcu."
"Who are they and who are the Murcu?" Questioned the captain.
"They are your Commander Trellon and the big bear chested man, Saron the champion of our king, he has joined forces with Trellon and the Murcu, they are fiersesome underworld creatures." Retorted the chief minister.