Alliance

by Timothy L. Cerepaka

  It is possible that I might be mistaking the traces of Grand Lizard skin with something else, but I doubt it. The Grand Lizard species exists native only on Xeeo, and even on Xeeo, is only found in the Dead Lands near the city of Xeeon. It is even illegal to transport endangered native Xeeonite animal species to Dela, yet now I cannot deny the obvious evidence of a Grand Lizard's involvement in this Knight's death.

  As I lean against the wall, a low hissing sound emits from behind me. Mobile Database records immediately match the hiss with that of a Grand Lizard, which makes me turn around to face the creature, but what I see does not make any sense.

  Standing two dozen yards away from me is a humanoid Grand Lizard. That is not an exaggeration. It is literally a humanoid creature that heavily resembles a Grand Lizard. Sensors indicate that it is no illusion cast by Jornan, because the creature has two pumping hearts and appears to be breathing.

  I run the appearance of this creature against the thousands of images in the mobile Database, but cannot find any match. I have never seen anything like it before. I cannot feel fear, but I do not like not knowing what this creature is. The Database, even the mobile Database, is supposed to provide me with complete information on every species on Dela and Xeeo, but it apparently does not know what this thing is.

  My sensors show me that the humanoid Grand Lizard has blood along the tips of its claws. The blood is dried, but I can still tell that it is human blood. It probably belongs to the dead Knight behind me, or perhaps it belongs to one of the other Knights, who I now assume are all dead, likely thanks to this creature.

  I jump backwards away from the unknown creature, because logic dictates that trying to fight a member of a hitherto unknown species is illogical and dangerous. Especially when it is clear that this creature likely killed the other Knights even with their metalligick armor to protect them.

  The creature, however, does not appear afraid of me. It advances with its head lowered, the hissing noise emitting from its throat like a snake. While I do not know the strength of its bloody claws, as the mobile Database files contain no information on them at all, they look large and sharp enough to cut through my metal skin and circuitry with no problem.

  But unfortunately, I cannot move away from it fast enough. With only one leg, I can jump back only a few inches at a time, while the unknown creature covers several times that ground with each step. It looks like I will have to fight if I wish to survive.

  I check my power level again. My energy reserves are at 19%, which reason tells me is not enough to fight against this monster. Yet I have no way to recharge, because there are no recharging stations in Dela. I do have a backup, but I doubt it will do me much good against this creature's might.

  The creature, on the other hand, does not appear at all worried about fighting me. It does not hesitate to draw closer and closer, hissing and spitting some kind of saliva that melts through the street as it approaches. My sensors conclude that this creature's saliva is a form of acid, which makes it even less likely that I will survive a fight against it.

  With only 19% power left, I cannot use my electrical barrier, because the barrier would rapidly deplete my energy reserves to zero. Nor can I use my lightning bolt fingers, because that, too, will drain my reserves fast. Systems indicate that electrical barrier and lightning bolt fingers are both inoperable, anyway, likely as a result of Jornan's lightning attack from earlier.

  Therefore, it seems unlikely that I will be able to defend myself at all. If I was still in Xeeo, I could simply transfer my memory data to the Database until a new body could be constructed for me, but right now I cannot do even that much, so I must defend and care for this body no matter the cost.

  I can only watch as the unknown creature approaches. While I cannot feel pain, and therefore cannot fear it, I cannot say that I look forward to being torn apart by this beast. If this creature destroys me, then it is unlikely anyone will be able to put me back together, even if by some stroke of luck a J bot mechanic stumbles upon my remains at some point.

  But before the creature's claws are within reach of me, a loud whistle sound nearby causes it to look around in surprise. I also try to find the source of the whistling, but my sensors are unable to pick up anything that could point me in its direction. All I sense is a sudden spike in skyras energy; not as powerful as Jornan's, but strong enough to catch my attention.

  However, I do not let that spike distract me. Instead, I take advantage of the creature's distraction to hop away again, although I hop away no faster than I did before. The creature, on the other hand, soon notices my attempts to flee and comes at me again, apparently having lost interest in finding out where the whistling noise is coming from.

  Then, without warning, someone jumps down from the roof of a nearby building and lands in the street in between me and the creature. The creature snarls and backs up, perhaps taken by surprise by the newcomer's sudden appearance, while I stop hopping long enough to look at the being as she rises to her full height.

  Initially, I mistake her for Jornan, because she is a female human wearing witch robes and has skyras rings along her fingers. But then, upon further inspection, I notice that she has only five skyras rings, rather than ten, and she is skinnier than Jornan. Her skin is much paler, too, and she has shorter hair, but I cannot see her face because she is not facing me. All I know is that she has an immense amount of skyras energy flowing through her body and rings, if my scanners are accurately reporting her energy levels, although it is still not quite as much as Jornan's.

  “Who are you?” I ask, though the witch does not turn to face me. “Identify yourself.”

  “Later,” says the witch, her voice short and to the point. “Right now, we have to deal with this unnatural beast.”

  The creature has gotten over its shock at her appearance by now. Still, it does not attack her right away, but instead steps back, its reptilian eyes scanning her like it is trying to size her up. That made the creature far more intelligent than a Grand Lizard, which again makes me wonder exactly what it is.

  The witch raises her right hand, which has three skyras rings on it, red, yellow, and blue, and says, “Foul creature, why don't ye crawl back into the pit from which ye came? Be gone!”

  Her red ring flares and a hot flame shoots from it like fire from the mouth of a Dead Lands fire spitter. The flame strikes the creature in the neck, causing it to yelp in pain, but that does nothing to put out the fire, which clings to its skin like a parasite. Smoke rises from the spot as the lizard creature bats at the fire in an attempt to put it out, but the fire appears incapable of being put out.

  Then the witch's yellow ring flashes and lightning shoots from it. The blast strikes the creature directly in the chest, sending it flying backwards through the air, the flame still affixed to its neck. The creature lands on the street hard and begins rolling around in pain, hissing and growling as the flames spread across its body like fire in a dry forest.

  Without warning, the witch whirls around to face me. She has a pointed face, with golden eyes that my mobile Database records say are common among Delanian humans. She strides toward me, saying as she does so, “Come on, ye walking scrap heap! We must flee, and quickly, before the creature's brothers discover it and come after us.”

  “The creature has brothers?” I say, hopping backwards as I speak. “And why should I trust you? I do not even know your name yet.”

  “Because I am a friend,” says the witch, holding out her hands toward me. “If ye need a name, then call me Palos. But we must go, because ye are clearly injured and in desperate need of medical attention.”

  “Actually, as a robot, I need a certified technician with experience in J bot design to repair me,” I say, as I run the name 'Palos' through the mobile Database, only to discover that the name matches none of the records. “Unless you happen to be one yourself or know how to find one on Dela, I am afraid I will have to turn down your offer of help.”

  “Stubborn machine,” Pal
os says. “I am your ally, though ye do not know it yet. For I, too, fight against Jornan, though for different reasons than ye.”

  “You are not in the Database,” I say, even though I doubt that sentence means much to her. “Are you a member of the Knights of Se-Dela? Or perhaps, based on your clothing and skyras rings, you belong to the Just Order of Witches and Wizards instead?”

  “I belong to an organization of which your 'Database' knows nothing,” says Palos, still holding her hands out toward me. “Come with me, I say, unless ye wish to suffer the same fate that befell this poor noble Knight and his comrades.”

  She gestures at the dead Knight lying on the ground nearby. Considering how she mentions his 'comrades,' I assume that my original theory is correct, that the other Knights have also been killed, likely by that strange humanoid lizard creature.

  Before I can respond to her, a familiar hissing noise behind my back forces me to look in that direction. Another humanoid lizard creature is walking toward me, though I do not know where it comes from. While its partner continues to hiss and burn to death, this one simply keeps walking forward, as if it is not afraid of either of us.

  “There are more of these creatures?” I say, though less out of shock and more out of curiosity. “How odd. The Database has no information on this species at all, but there are apparently at least two members of this species here. This doesn't make any sense at all.”

  Palos grabs my shoulder and pushes me back behind her. I hobble around on one leg for a moment before losing my balance and falling on my behind with a clatter, though I look up in time to see Palos striding toward the humanoid lizard creature without any trace of fear in her step. That impresses me, because I know that most organic beings would be terrified of fighting these kinds of creatures.

  “That's because, machine, these creatures are not natural at all,” says Palos without looking at me as her yellow ring flashes with power. “These are native neither to Dela nor Xeeo; therefore, they must be destroyed.”

  I do not understand what she means by any of that, but I decide to ask her later when the situation is not as tense. Instead, I try to stand back up again while also watching Palos and the lizard creature approaching each other rapidly.

  The lizard humanoid looks like it is going to pounce, but then Palos throws a lightning bolt at it. The lizard humanoid, however, jumps to the side, neatly avoiding her attack, and then rushes at Palos far faster than before. In fact, it dashes so quickly that even my optics have difficulty keeping up with it, to the point where it looks like little more than a green blur now.

  Palos does not seem afraid of it. Her red ring glows and she throws up a wall of fire between herself and the lizard humanoid. The lizard humanoid veers to the right just before it runs directly into the wall of fire, which is apparently too wide for it to run around because through the gaps in the wall I see the creature head back the way it came. The lizard humanoid stops about two dozen feet away from the wall of fire and then turns around to face us, but with the fire crackling between us and the creature, it seems unlikely to attack us again. It takes a defensive gesture, crouching low to the ground, although with my knowledge of the lizard humanoid as limited as it is, it may very well have been planning to attack us again for all I know.

  “Run, foul creature,” says Palos, though I doubt the lizard humanoid can hear her above the roar of the flames, much less understand her words. “Run and do not look back, unless ye want to die a terrible death.”

  Her words are quite silly to me, but having just seen her kill another one of those lizard humanoids earlier, I am in no mood to offer my opinion on the subject.

  Instead, I run a quick check of my power level. By now, it is at 17%, which is surprising, considering how little energy I have consumed. I will definitely need to find a recharge station quickly. Perhaps this Palos woman knows where I can find one in Dela, or maybe the organization she works with has one.

  Before I can ask her about that, however, my systems pick up a spike of skyras energy nearby. In fact, according to my scanners, the spike is coming from directly above us, forcing me to look upwards to see what is causing that spike.

  A huge ball of water is falling toward us at an alarming speed. I yell at Palos, but she notices it before I finish drawing her attention to it, and thrusts her yellow ring in its direction.

  A lightning bolt—bigger than the last few—lances out of Palos's yellow ring and strikes the water sphere dead on. The result: The water sphere explodes with a loud crackling noise, spreading water everywhere and forcing me to cover my head with my arms. The water splashes over me, but I do not feel it, although my sensors inform me that none of the water has soaked into my interior, thankfully enough.

  As for Palos, she is dripping wet, and her wall of fire has apparently been extinguished, because I no longer see it standing between us and the lizard humanoid. Instead, there is a wall of steam, but through the steam, I can already see the lizard humanoid dashing toward us again.

  Palos notices the lizard humanoid, too, and shoots another lightning bolt at it, but the lizard humanoid dodges by jumping over it. It lands on the ground with ease and continues charging at Palos, now too close for her to attack.

  Then I notice her gray ring on her left hand flash and in an instant, Palos is gone. The lizard humanoid stops before it runs into the spot where she stood moments ago. It looks around in puzzlement, a feeling I would have shared with it if I could feel, because I am just as ignorant of what happened to Palos as it is.

  Then Palos reappears behind the lizard humanoid and grabs the back of its neck with her right hand. Her red ring flashes and the lizard humanoid bursts into flame before it can even scream. In fact, it does not just burst into flame, but it also burns into ash. Sensors indicate that Palos had superheated the lizard humanoid to over 300 degrees, which is an unusual amount of heat for a Delanian witch to generate. That tells me that Palos is far more dangerous than I originally believed, which means I must keep an eye on her in case she turns out to be hostile to me.

  Dropping the ash to the ground, Palos then looks up and says, “I see you, Jornan! Are you going to come down and fight or are you going to—”

  Jornan appears behind Palos as silently and abruptly as Palos appeared behind that lizard humanoid. She grabs at Palos, but Palos disappears again and reappears beside me. She raises her ringed fingers above her head, which the mobile Database tells me is a common battle stance for Delanian witches and wizards to take.

  Jornan, on the other hand, merely crosses her arms, scowling at us both. She looks the same as she did before, but I notice a cut above her right eye. Perhaps it is a blow Sir Alart landed on her, which is the most likely explanation for it, because it had not been there the last time I saw her.

  “Palos of Targia,” says Jornan in a mocking tone. “I believe that we've met before, haven't we?”

  “I am surprised ye remembered, ye scoundrel,” says Palos. I sense her skyras levels rapidly rising, as are Jornan's. “That was ten years ago, at the Tournament of Magic. 'Twas when I uncovered your dastardly scheme to steal the Tournament's Trophy for your own nefarious ends.”

  “And I would have gotten away with it, too, if you hadn't gotten in my way,” says Jornan. “But no matter. What's past is past, and there's no changing it. I would ask why you are here or how you even know I was here, but I have more urgent matters to attend to, so I think I'll just skip to the part where I murder you in cold blood and destroy your little robot friend while I'm at it.”

  Jornan hurls a lightning bolt at Palos and me. Palos responds by throwing her own lightning bolt at Jornan, even though I am about to tell Palos that that would not be a wise move at all. But I am too late and so can only watch as the two lightning bolts meet halfway between us and Jornan.

  When they do, the lightning bolts explode. As soon as they explode, however, Palos bends over and grabs my arm, and then, before I know it, we are gone, although not before I hear Jornan cursing in Dela
nian above the sound of the exploding lightning bolts.

  ***

  Chapter 3

  What I am experiencing now must be Delanian teleportation. I have never experienced it before. On Xeeon, I have used teleportation pads to go from one end of the city to the other, but this is completely unlike that.

  Xeeonite teleportation is gradual, with the environment melting around you like metal left out in the Dead Lands’ sun for too long. It is one of the few areas where Delanians have us beat, because teleportation is a highly complex science, one which Xeeonite scientists struggle to understand.

  Delanian teleportation, however, is quick. One instant, I am watching the explosion caused by the lightning bolts striking each other and listening to Jornan's angry curses; the next, I am sitting in a dark room that I do not recognize, with Palos standing next to me, her wet hair clinging to her head like a starfish on a rock.

  Without waiting for Palos to explain where we are, I immediately begin a scan of the area. The room is square, at 140 square feet, with a few inches to spare in either direction. The ceiling is five feet above our heads, while a closed metal door is the only entrance or exit in this room. Temperature is 70 degrees, although it is slightly warmer near the vents on the ceiling, where air is blowing through, though it does not feel like Xeeonite interior heating. That suggests that this room is in a colder area, though where it might be exactly, I do not know.

  But despite knowing all of this information about our destination immediately, I still do not know the name of this room or its exact location. If the Database existed in Dela, I would be able to pinpoint this place's location with exactitude.

  Palos lets go of my arm and staggers to the side. Sensors indicate she is far more tired than I first thought. Still, there is nothing I can do to help her, because my inoperable leg has left me unable to do as much, especially with my extremely low power level.