Glimpses

by Vincent Trigili

  The infected ones were still searching for him, but I knew another way out of the basement. I slipped silently through the darkness to the back wall and pushed aside an old rotting curtain that at one point long in its past might have been beautiful, but like everything else here, it was just a rotted shadow of what it once was.

  I took one last glance over my shoulder at the sleeping soldier and silently wished him luck. I almost lost my nerve and stayed, but I knew the world was now depending on me.

  To the north was the Great Forest, and beyond that was the Old City where the Resistance was currently hiding. The city was too far for me to travel, but if I could make it to Roost, that would be enough.

  The infected were all around, frantically searching for that soldier who they thought still had the vial. In the long shadows of the early morning light, they were hunting by scent alone‌—‌his scent and not mine. All I had to do was stay out of sight and head for the woods.

  As I slowly moved away from the house, I heard a yell come from within it. He’s up, I mused to myself.

  Sure enough, he came running out of the house with his sword held high. “Burn!” he yelled and set the house on fire. He ran off heading south lighting everything on fire as he went, drawing the infected after him.

  “Thanks,” I called out silently after him and headed for the forest. They would be tracking him, and those fires he set would cover my escape. I just had to remain unseen and get to the cover of the forest.

  At a steady and quiet pace, I was able to make it to the forest by sunset. My legs were burning from the exertion, and every breath was a struggle, but I made it to the Great Forest and collapsed against a tree.

  As I took a moment to recover, I wondered what was in the vial. Was it a cure for the infected ones? Was it a new biological weapon? Was it a magic potion? All I knew for sure was it was the symbol of hope for the world. Everyone kept fighting knowing that this vial was on its way to the Resistance, and that gave what was left of the world a reason to live.

  After taking a brief moment to harvest some berries, roots, and leaves for dinner, I climbed up into the tree and tied myself in for a brief sleep.

  When I woke, the sun was long gone and the light from the full moon shone brightly, giving an eerie grey glow to everything. By its light, I caught some movement near the edge of the forest.

  I loosed myself from the tree and moved across the branches to get a closer look. Below me was one of the infected crawling around, sniffing the ground like a dog. Tracker! I thought to myself.

  I slowly and quietly drew my bow, and pulled back on the string. “Pyrpoló!” I commanded and an arrow of flame appeared. The tracker looked up just as I released my shot. “Welcome to my home. Now burn!”

  The arrow flew true and buried itself deep into its chest, causing him to quickly erupt into flames. He ran off screaming in pain, but I knew others would be close behind him.

  As I slipped down the tree, I wondered about that soldier. I wanted to believe he was still alive, but he ran right for the center of a pack of the infected. It was likely he was long gone.

  The time for stealth had passed. Now speed was critical. “Five days, just five days to Roost,” I said to myself. I reached down, touched my boots, and said, “Tachýtita,” to activate them. Five days, girl, you can do this!

  With that I was off running at a speed no normal person, infected or not, could ever hope to match. The infected had my scent now, and time was running out. If I did not make it, everything would be lost. I just had to make it to Roost, and then I could go back for the soldier, if there was anything to go back for.

  I pushed as hard as I could, barely slowing even to harvest more berries and sleep, but I made it. Once at Roost, I signaled for the messenger and waited.

  Two days later, a large bird appeared, circling overhead. I signaled for the messenger again and it dove right for me. I held my ground, and at the last moment it turned up its wings and beat them backwards, coming to a landing on the ground in front of me. I quickly put the vial in a pouch on its leg and said, “The Resistance.”

  Then it was off like a shot. I watched until it was clear out of sight when I heard a noise from behind me. I spun and saw three more trackers. “How did you find me so fast?”

  They did not answer, but I really did not expect them to. Once again, I drew my bow, this time falling back as I did. “Pyrpoló!” I said, shot each of them, and took off into the woods.

  I hoped the vial would make it, but it was out of my hands now. I activated my boots and set my sights on the wasteland. “I’m coming for you, soldier boy, just don’t die on me!”

  RAGE

  FOLLOWING NOTHING MORE than a feeling that something was wrong, Spectra and I decided to discreetly follow Kymberly as she boarded a transport back to her home in the civilian section of the starbase. As we arrived, we saw a large Zalionan waiting for her.

  “I have a bad feeling about him,” sent Spectra.

  I quietly used my powers to wrap us in shadows, hiding us completely from view as we watched the exchange.

  “Get your stuff. You’re coming with me,” barked the male Zalionan.

  Kymberly cowered under his glare. “Father, please.”

  “Now!” he said.

  Kymberly turned to run, but he swung his great tail and knocked her down.

  “Enough!” called out Spectra, who broke our cover and walked towards the scene.

  “Stay out of this!” said Kymberly’s father.

  “You are not welcome here. Go and don’t come back,” said Spectra with venom dripping from her words.

  The massive Zalionan then did what was likely the stupidest thing he could have done. He reached for Spectra with his razor-sharp claws extended. Spectra reacted faster than I could even think. She slipped under his grasp and expertly kicked him hard in the knee. There was a loud crack of breaking bone, and he went down.

  Spectra spun off of her kick and turned back towards him as he attempted to regain his footing with the help of the wall. He quickly drew a blaster and fired, but Spectra was already in motion. She grabbed his wrist and twisted it back on him so that his weapon discharged into his own shoulder.

  While this was happening, I called for help on our comm and ran to get between Kymberly and the fight. I knew that the big Zalionan was no match for Spectra, but I was worried he might try to use Kymberly as a shield or hostage. I could hear her crying behind me, but I would not let her past in fear she would run to her father’s side. I knew the only way this could get worse was if he got ahold of her.

  “Do yourself a favor, and stay down,” I said.

  Kymberly’s father looked at me with pure malice. “You will pay for this.”

  “You just attacked my wife unprovoked. If you are not out of this kingdom by first standard hour, I will make sure you never see the light of day again,” I said.

  Shea arrived then with some of the Dark Knights, and Spectra said, “Make sure he is well enough to travel, and then get rid of this trash.”

  The Dark Knights were the security force of the Wizard Navy. They were Zalionan also, but instead of having green scales like Kymberly’s father, their scales were the purest black.

  “What happened?” asked Shea.

  “He was bullying Kymberly, and then, when Spectra interfered, he foolishly attacked her,” I said.

  One of the Dark Knights said, “Master Shea, no need to patch him up. He can travel like this,” as he roughly grabbed Kymberly’s father by the neck and dragged him off.

  Shea took a nearly hysterical Kymberly inside, while I tried to talk Spectra down from her anger.

  The next morning, Spectra and I met with Flame and Master Shadow to discuss what happened. “Master, I want him permanently exiled from the kingdom,” I said.

  “Dusty, you have that authority, but he is related to Emperor Zalith, so we better talk to Grandmaster Vydor before we do anything else,” responded Master Shadow.

  “Scum like him
are better filleted than exiled,” said Spectra.

  “Easy, Spectra,” said Master Shadow. “Look, I am not saying that I disagree with your opinion, just that we need to be careful.”

  “I was too careful already,” said Spectra.

  Master Shadow started to say more, but Flame put her hand on his shoulder and stopped him. “Spectra, let’s go for a walk and let the boys deal with the politics,” she said.

  “Fine, but I hope he escapes so I can take him down, slowly,” said Spectra as she left.

  Master Shadow sat down and exhaled. “How about I call Grandmaster Vydor now and we get this over with?”

  “The sooner the better, Master,” I said. I understood completely how Spectra felt, and almost agreed with the idea of filleting Kymberly’s father, but I kept telling myself I would be no better than him if I did that. The right thing to do was kick him out of the kingdom so he could not hurt Kymberly anymore.

  “I’ll contact him now,” he said and activated his communications ring.

  Moments later, Grandmaster Vydor appeared in the room and said, “Hello, Shadow, Dusty. I guess we have a problem here?”

  “Grandmaster, that poor excuse for a living creature has been abusing her for years! All I am asking for is exile,” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

  “Woah, slow down. Who has been abusing who?” he asked.

  “Grandmaster, Dusty and Spectra witnessed Kymberly’s father attacking her in the street. Spectra put a stop to it, and Kymberly’s father was seriously wounded,” said Master Shadow.

  “He got off lucky, Grandmaster. Had Spectra known the extent of it, I am sure we would not have to worry about any of his injuries at this point,” I said.

  “I see. Kymberly, that is the white Zalionan spiritualist Spectra is tutoring, right?” asked Grandmaster Vydor.

  “Yes, Grandmaster,” I said.

  “The problem is that her father is Emperor Zalith’s cousin, Grandmaster,” said Shadow.

  “But Grandmaster, that should not matter!” I said.

  “Tell me everything you know,” said Grandmaster Vydor.

  I filled him in on how Kymberly dumped her whole story to Shea the night after the attack. Ever since her mom died, Kymberly’s dad had taken to drinking and beating her. “She is powerless before him. Shea says that Kymberly has been emotionally beaten down by that sorry excuse for a man.”

  Grandmaster Vydor looked to Shadow and said, “Where is Spectra?”

  “She is with Flame,” he said.

  He seemed to think for a long time and then said, “You know what? Let’s call his cousin and see what he has to say about it.”

  I knew Grandmaster Vydor was a longtime friend of Emperor Zalith, but it still surprised me how fast he was able to get a comm link up. Once introductions were made, Grandmaster Vydor said, “Zalith, it appears we have your cousin in our prison.”

  “Which one?” he asked.

  “Emperor, he is refusing to identify himself, but his daughter is a white Zalionan named Kymberly,” I said.

  “Kymberly could not tell you his name?” he asked.

  “We did not ask her. Our doctor felt it best we give her time to recover before we talk with her,” I said.

  “What happened?” he demanded.

  Master Shadow filled him in on everything we knew. “Currently, he is in the custody of the Dark Knights.”

  “What do you plan to do with him?” he asked.

  “Under our law, this kind of abuse can carry the death penalty,” said Grandmaster Vydor. “But I would be willing to transfer him to your prison system to be dealt with under your law, if you prefer.”

  “I say we lock him in a room with Spectra,” I sent to Master Shadow privately.

  “Trust me, it is tempting, but we both know that the right thing to do here is let the law take its course,” he sent back.

  “Yeah, but this time, doing the right thing seems wrong,” I sent back.

  “Are you sure of his guilt?” asked Zalith.

  “We have reliable witness testimony to his most recent attack on her, and her testimony against him. Our doctor has stated she can confirm Kymberly’s medical condition fits the story,” said Master Shadow.

  “Under our law, that is enough to warrant a mental probe to get the truth from him directly. I do not doubt his guilt will be clear then,” said Grandmaster Vydor.

  “Well, he is a citizen of my empire, so we will deal with him under our law. Please have the Dark Knights deliver him to our security forces as soon as possible,” said Emperor Zalith.

  “I can have him gated to you within the hour, if you can be ready to receive him,” said Grandmaster Vydor.

  “That works. Fill in my ambassador and he will take care of what needs to be done. If you do not mind, I would like to keep this as quiet as we can,” he said.

  “Understood,” said Grandmaster Vydor, and after some closing remarks, he closed the comm link.

  “So, what? He is going to go free?” I asked.

  “No. Zalionan justice is swift and far less merciful than ours. It would have been better for him if he faced our courts,” said Grandmaster Vydor.

  “But surely Emperor Zalith will defend his family,” I said.

  “He might want to, but his own law will limit his power to act. He cannot ignore his own law without risking his throne,” said Grandmaster Vydor.

  “I suggest we keep Spectra distracted until he is gone,” said Master Shadow.

  “Wise counsel. You two see to that, and I will see to the prisoner transfer,” said Grandmaster Vydor.

  Once Grandmaster Vydor left, Shadow and I went looking for Spectra and Flame. We found them in the gym. Spectra was training with her staff against some of the Dark Knights.

  “Maybe we should just let her do that for a while,” sent Shadow privately.

  The speed and power with which Spectra wielded the staff kept the Dark Knights on the defensive. She moved far faster than I could follow and occasionally got a solid hit on one of the Knights. I realized then that she did not seem to be pulling her blows, and neither did they.

  “It’s a ritual called Kar Fa Lan,” sent Flame. “The Dark Knights use it to purge themselves of extreme emotion so that they can maintain their cool in combat. It is rare for a non-Knight to take part, as most would crumble under the rigor of the ceremony.”

  It seemed to be working, or Spectra was just getting tired. Either way, as I watched, she started to slow down, and her blows slowly became less ferocious.

  “This is amazing,” sent Master Shadow.

  “What?” asked Flame.

  “All around the arena, I can see the power flowing. Anger, hate, rage… it is all bleeding off,” sent Master Shadow.

  I could not see what he was talking about, but I did not really care. I was still having trouble containing my own emotions. I could picture in my mind a million different ways to make him pay for what he did to Kymberly.

  “Let it go, Dusty. It will eat you up and spit you out, destroying you in the process,” sent Master Shadow, who had turned towards me.

  I continued to watch Spectra fight and pound back the Knights. “One little curse on him, just to make sure. There is no harm in that, right?”

  “Yes, there is,” sent Master Shadow. “Great harm for you.”

  “Bah!” I said and turned to leave. Before I could take a step, a Dark Knight moved to intercept me.

  “Master, I am sorry, but none may leave until the ritual is complete,” he said.

  “Out of my way,” I said and tried to push past him, but he was at least half again my size and probably did not even notice my attempt.

  “Dusty, let’s spar while we wait,” said Master Shadow as he drew his staff from the air.

  “I don’t feel much like sparring,” I said.

  “Well, you are not going anywhere until you do,” he said.

  Behind me, the Dark Knight also drew his staff and dropped into a defensive crouch.

&n
bsp; I yelled, “Enough!” and cast spirit bolts at the Dark Knight, meaning to blast him down, but Master Shadow moved too fast and unwove them before they could hit.

  Flame squared off with her own staff and came at me fast. Intellect had left me and I was reacting purely on instinct and anger. I drew my staff, and with the added strength of telekinesis, I swung hard to counter her. The blow sent her flying back, but now there were several Dark Knights moving in.

  Again, I attempted my spells, but Shadow stayed one step ahead of me, constantly unweaving my spells, while the Dark Knights formed an impassable wall, preventing me from escaping. I swung hard and fast into every opening I could find, but they masterfully turned every blow away.

  My rage continued to grow, and soon all I could see was Kymberly’s father. Gone were the Knights, and each of them was replaced with an image of him. I pressed on with my attack, holding nothing back. But the harder I fought, the less successful I was in making headway into their defenses. I was putting all my might into my swings, and they were turning them away like I was a small child.

  Ultimately, my strength failed me and I collapsed. No one moved for a while afterward, but eventually, I felt Spectra’s familiar paw rest gently on my shoulder. I looked up into her big green eyes, and she smiled back.

  “Feel better?” she asked.

  “Yeah, a little.” The rage was gone. I was still upset and unhappy with the situation, but for some reason, I felt more in control. “That was a bit scary.”

  “How so?” asked a deep voice I did not recognize.

  “Because that was not me. I don’t do things like that,” I said.

  “What happened then?” asked the voice.

  I probably should have looked for it, but instead, Spectra reached out and pulled me close. “It was like a fire built up inside of me. All I could think about was how to hurt him.”

  “You are a warrior, Master Dusty, if a somewhat reluctant one. All warriors have that inner animal that tries to break out. Yours got out for a bit there. It happens to all of us at some point. Sometimes, the best way to deal with it is to just let it rage for a while,” said the voice.