by C A Ardron
Chapter Thirty-Eight
‘Retreat,’ Jackal spoke into his radio. His tightly controlled voice only thinly covered his fury and he switched off the radio right away, in no mood to converse.
His blood pumping and mind still reeling from how close he’d been to Falcon, Jackal couldn’t take it anymore and stopped on the narrow Central Sector suburb street, punching the brick wall next to him.
His armour still active, Jackal took some deep breaths as he stared at the fist-sized hole in the wall.
He sucked in more air. This wasn’t the way to play it. He’d never got the better of Karen when he was angry – not once.
‘Red Dragon,’ he hissed out. ‘What were the chances?’ Jackal had known he couldn’t hang around once the general had shown up. Not even Black Emissaries stood to fight him if they didn’t have reinforcements.
Jackal shook his head, his anger becoming a bit more under his control as his mind re-evaluated. It turned out today wasn’t his after all, but at the very least he could make sure his Sarpiens knew what the odds had been.
‘Harrier,’ Jackal rapped into his radio. ‘Come to me.’
He continued to walk towards the edge of town. Deactivating, he waited for the bloody light to fade and tugged out the black hood from beneath his leather jacket, concealing his crimson mane.
Jackal was almost to Central Sector’s outer estates by the time the silver Avian caught up to him. The young warrior landed on the street further down and deactivated his armour before joining Jackal.
Harrier glanced about. ‘Did Cobra take Falcon?’
Jackal scowled. He didn’t respond until Harrier had taken a good step back. ‘No, I was ambushed by Red Dragon.’
Harrier mouthed the name. Slowly, he nodded, ‘what’s next then?’
‘There’s nothing we can do about Falcon for now,’ Jackal told him. ‘She’ll be back with her unit and will be recovering. Another chance will present itself, but for now we need to know more about Dragon. I want to know why he’s here and how long he intends to stay. Get our stealthers out.’
Harrier nodded. Activating, he took flight again, being lost to Jackal’s sight within moments.
Now content that word would spread amongst his Sarpiens as to why he failed to bring Silver Falcon back with him, Jackal tried to let it go. Deciding to keep as inconspicuous as he could with the Dakkonin general in the city, Jackal took the bus back to West Sector.
His fingers spasmed, remembering Falcon in his arms. He shook his head, she was always so stubborn. It would be far less painful for her to just come to him. His lips twitched, of course, she wouldn’t be worthy of bearing the sclithe mark if she’d give in so easily.
‘You fly with your Predgarians a little longer,’ he whispered. ‘Soon you’ll fly only for me.’
As the bus rattled its way back towards the west, Jackal summed up how the day had gone. The Predgarians had needed to drop everything to deal with his venture into Central, so had the Dakkonin. A slow smirk crept across his face. Let the red-marked Sarpiens sneak about his territory, they now looked like cowards compared to what he’d achieved today – and only a select few knew of his ambitions for Falcon during the battle.
Back in West Sector, Jackal didn’t take any chances and aimed for the nearest tunnel entrance. If the Red Dragon was going to try and track down any Sarpien today, Jackal knew it would be him.
Once in the tunnels he let out a breath and pulled the black hood from his head. Just entering the Elite quarters, Jackal found Harrier coming towards him from the other direction.
‘General,’ Harrier greeted and turned to walk with him. ‘The stealthers are out, as you commanded. Salamander whined a bit.’
Jackal snorted. ‘Nothing new there.’
‘Brown Fox has just informed me we lost one though. Iguana was killed during the fighting.’
Jackal grimaced. ‘Unfortunate, he was one of the better ones. Did Fox manage to retrieve the medallion?’
‘Yes, it’s already with Cobra.’
‘Good. Iguana is a good Reptile, we’ll have to make sure it gets a competent user in the future.’
‘Mongoose is unaccounted for too.’
‘I wouldn’t worry about him. He probably went back to South Sector when I called the retreat.’
‘Maybe,’ Harrier replied, dubious. ‘It’s just odd that he’s not answering his radio.’
Jackal slowed marginally when the Praying Mantis appeared at the corner ahead.
‘General,’ the Insecta’s voice echoed slightly in the passage. ‘Rhino’s waiting for you.’
‘Rhino is?’ Jackal asked. Why would Rhino be waiting for him?
Mantis made room for him and Jackal turned the corner. He ground to a halt, his eyes flashing as he noticed Osprey stood outside his room and sat with his back against Jackal’s door, was the hulking Rhino.
It took a moment for him to realise the bloodied man in Rhino’s arms was Mongoose.
‘Rhino?’
The big man’s head lifted, his expression forlorn. ‘General, I didn’t mean to – it was an accident.’
‘What was?’
‘I killed Mongoose. I’m very sorry, I…know I have to be punished. I won’t complain.’
Jackal glanced at Mantis as the lean assassin stuck his fist in his mouth, trying to cut off his laughter.
‘Rhino tell me exactly what happened,’ Jackal commanded.
‘Me and Golden Lion got into a fight. It was going well – it felt like it was going well. Mongoose appeared, he must’ve been stealthed because I didn’t see him before. Me being so big, I always make sure to know where all the little ones are.
Well, Mongoose appeared, I don’t know what he was doing but it made Lion move…I couldn’t stop my swing, my mallet’s too heavy for that.’
Jackal’s head shot round to glare at Harrier as he began a snorting kind of chuckle. The Avian cut off.
Jackal sighed. Mongoose had been his best stealther, to lose both him and Iguana on the same day was quite a setback.
‘If it was an accident, we’ll just drop it,’ he decided. ‘Dispose of Mongoose’s body and give his medallion to Cobra.’
‘Yes, General,’ Rhino replied, climbing to his feet.
Osprey took a step forwards as the big man strode away. The grey Avian turned to Jackal, a small frown plastered to his face. ‘That’s it?’ he asked. ‘How do you know he was telling you the truth?’
Mantis barked a short laugh as he passed by. ‘It’s Rhino, he’s not smart enough to lie.’
Harrier nodded his agreement. ‘Rhino doesn’t have a deceptive bone in his body. If he says it was an accident, then it was.’
Jackal didn’t give Rhino and his mishap another thought, he had other problems to deal with. ‘Harrier, Brown Fox can stealth, can’t she?’
Harrier paused a moment. ‘Yes,’ he replied.
‘Good, tell her to get to South Sector. She’ll be taking Mongoose’s place watching Caban.’
‘Oh, I forgot!’ Harrier exclaimed. ‘It finally happened. Caban got absorbed by the Komodo Dragon. He started causing trouble in Central not long before we attacked.’
‘Really? shame I missed it. I’m guessing he’s not a threat any longer since there’s so many Unicians in town.’
‘He’s out of the picture, but not because of the Unicians. A couple of Dakkonin took the time to deal with him during the fight.’
‘Hmm, fair enough. All in all I’d say it created quite the interesting day for Central Sector.’
Harrier flashed him a fierce grin. ‘That was the general idea, right?’
* * *
Lion picked up his half-written report, browsing over what he’d already covered. Hearing the gentle knock at the door, he looked up and smiled when Lynx entered.
Placing the report down, Lion gestured from his desk for the boy to sit down across from him.
‘So,’ the captain began, keeping his tone friendly, ‘Red Lynx.’
The new Feline nodded a little with a nervous smile. Lion had to keep this as light as he could, Lynx looked ready to bolt.
‘Not quite the way I envisioned you getting the medallion,’ he told the boy.
‘Am I in trouble?’
Lion shook his head, ‘of course not. It’s been a chaotic day, it was just circumstance. If anyone is going to receive a reprimand it will be Dove – but I doubt she will. She’s respected here and in Predgariah, and it seems to me there really was no other choice.’
Lynx swallowed and nodded.
‘However, you broke the rules today.’
The teenager’s eyes grew wide. ‘I did? How?’
‘You went off on your own, ignoring the fight to work with a Dakkonin.’
‘Oh…but Komodo Dragon was attacking, and Red Fox said he didn’t want to leave me alone cos I was new and…he’s helped Falcon before so he’s not a bad person, right?’
Lion raised his hands at him, trying to calm the boy down.
‘Red Fox is a reliable warrior,’ he conceded, ‘but he’s Dakkonin. If he decided to fight the rogue then you should’ve parted ways and found other Predgarians.’
Lynx frowned. ‘Why? sorry, I just don’t understand. The Dakkonin are like us, right? They’re warriors of Light too.’
Lion sighed, his face breaking into a wry grin. ‘Lynx, I hope you keep that attitude as you grow older. The truth is, Predgarians and Dakkonin don’t get on very well. Actually, the Dakkonin don’t really get on with anyone. I’m glad your first experience with them was positive, but you need to be ready for the jibes and insults they’ll throw at you in the future.’
Lynx’s frown deepened, ‘but why?’
‘The Dakkonin look down on Predgarians, all the other Orders do. We refuse to use the more dangerous fighting styles and Power abilities. Our first concern is always the safety of the public, and it’s been proven in the past that those techniques are unnecessary for the type of threats we face.’
Lynx’s brows furrowed. ‘So, they don’t like us because we don’t use dangerous stuff? I don’t get it. Why would they look down on us for that?’
Lion sighed. ‘Because they think we’re not as good. A lot of people equate our unwillingness to utilise such tactics to inability. Some warriors, especially Dakkonin, believe we’re below their level, no matter what armour grade we’ve obtained.’
‘That’s just wrong,’ Lynx muttered. ‘I bet they don’t say that about Falcon.’
Lion’s lips twisted in that ironic smile again. ‘Probably not, Falcon demands respect by merely stepping into a room. I know it sounds unfair, but this is how things are. Now that you’re a Predgarian you’re going to have to learn your Order politics, and quickly.’
Lynx nodded, ‘I’ll try, Lion. Dove said I didn’t need to start it for a couple of months yet…but that was before today.’
‘I know. There’s just a couple of things you need to keep in mind. No one is expecting you to get everything right just because you have a medallion. Predgariah has accepted you as a Predgarian novice being trained in the field. That means you get to keep your medallion – but if you don’t continue to progress as you have been in your studies it may be taken away from you.’
‘Okay, I’ll…try my best.’
‘Try not to worry, I think you’ll do just fine. We’re altering your training to include your Order protocol and politics. Dove says you favour a varied mix of Feline and Avian?’
Lynx shrugged, ‘kinda, I guess. I really like a lot of the Feline stuff Tiger and Leopard have taught me, but it sometimes seems to me that some of the Avian stuff ends Feline combos better.’
Lion grinned and shook his head at the boy. ‘You’re sounding like a medallion warrior already. All right, if that’s the way you’re leaning I’ll take away your lessons with Wolf. Keep on with your Feline and I’ll tell Falcon to concentrate more on showing you ways to merge Feline and Avian. The rest of your classes will be taken jointly by myself, Dove and Tiger. That way there should always be at least one of us around to teach you.’
‘Right,’ Lynx said.
‘With that out the way, I’ll let you go rest up. Tell Falcon to come see me.’
Lynx grew hesitant and he bit his lip. ‘Falcon’s in trouble, isn’t she?’
Lion regarded him with serious eyes. ‘That’s nothing to worry yourself over.’
‘She was really scared,’ Lynx blurted. ‘When Tigermoth came and then Dove shouted at her – I’ve never felt anything like it from her before. I think Falcon thought she was going to die today.’
Lion nodded and offered a sympathetic smile. ‘Thank you for telling me that, I’ll keep it in mind when I speak to her. It’s not my intent to make her feel worse than she most likely already does, but Falcon broke the rules today – and unlike you, knew that when she did it. I can’t let it slide.’
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Try as she might, Falcon couldn’t get comfy on her bed. Tired and feeling utterly spent, her brain still wouldn’t let her rest.
She tried to calm her mind by reading some poetry, but it wasn’t helping. Sighing, Falcon let the book fall from her hands. It fell shut as it landed next to her on the bed.
Her eyes drifted as she lay back but sleep still didn’t come. All she could think about was Harrier’s steel claw raking deep into her wing. Strangely, Falcon had an uncomfortable feeling near her shoulder blade, but her armour was inactive, she didn’t have her wings at the moment.
Jackal had come so close to winning today. If the Dakkonin general hadn’t been there…Falcon squeezed her eyes tight. It had been the same earlier, with Green Python. If Silver Locust hadn’t been there, would she even be alive now?
Falcon blew out a small breath. So, Locust and Hawk were related, brother and sister. She shook her head, Locust wanted her to look after Hawk? She could barely look after herself!
Falcon looked at her door when a gentle knock sounded. Glancing down to make sure her gloves and jacket were hiding her snake, she called out, ‘yes?’
The door opened, revealing the Red Lynx.
‘Um, Falcon? Lion wants to see you in the office.’
Finally, she was wondering how long it was going to be. She knew Dove would’ve told him what she’d done earlier in the day.
‘Don’t chew your lip,’ Falcon admonished, ‘it gives away that you’re worried.’
Lynx stopped his chewing, but his eyes still showed concern.
With a great sigh Falcon rose from her bed, Light, she ached all over.
‘Um, Lion’s changed my training.’
‘Stands to reason,’ Falcon commented, adjusting her gloves and jacket sleeves. ‘He won’t want you offending the warriors in the other units by mistake.’
‘He wants you to start teaching me how to merge Feline and Avian.’
Falcon shot him a small glance and smiled. ‘Of course,’ she replied, ushering him out so she could leave her room. ‘Mixed Avian and Feline is one of the fastest styles going. It’ll suit you well.’
Falcon left him, heading for the stairs. She smiled again, but it wasn’t for Lynx this time. If Lion wanted to change around the boy’s training, then it meant he had no plans to chuck her out the building or take her medallion away. That meant the worst she had coming was a suspension.
She rolled her shoulders. Still, this was probably going to be an unpleasant experience.
Falcon paused upon reaching the office door and took a deep breath. Would she be able to get a single word in? She raised her hand and gave a solid knock, refusing to show any timidity.
Not waiting for Lion to call out, Falcon opened the door and entered. Her eyes fell upon the large, muscular man right away. He’d not even made a pretence at working, he was sat in his chair waiting for her, his face expectant.
‘Sit down, Falcon,’ he told her as she closed the door.
Falcon resisted the offer, she wasn’t here for a friendly conversation, they both knew that. ‘I’d rather stand.�
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Lion gazed up into her eyes. She noticed his hands were palm down on his desk. Was that so he didn’t strangle her?
‘Would you like to explain your actions before I suspend you?’
Falcon bit back the cringe she was feeling. Somehow, his calm tone was making this ten times worse.
‘Didn’t Dove explain-’
‘She did,’ Lion cut her off, ‘but I think I’d like to hear it from you.’
Falcon swallowed. She glanced once at her captain’s stern eyes before dropping her gaze. This wasn’t going to be as short and to the point as she’d been hoping, so slowly came forwards and took the seat facing him.
‘I was…’ Light, could she actually admit she was scared to the captain? ‘I was…’ her eyes began to brim with tears, realising she couldn’t say it even if she wanted to.
Falcon tried to move past it. ‘When I heard what happened, and that it was Green Python, I thought it must mean he knew who I was – that I was walking dead.’
Lion nodded, ‘I can see that. It would make sense.’
Falcon nodded, not daring a glance up at him, she kept her eyes firmly on the desk between them.
‘I didn’t think he was going to be alone. I was sure – positive – that there would be a Black Emissary there.’
‘But there wasn’t.’
Falcon did glance at him then and gave a hard gulp, seeing his eyes were as stony as before.
‘I…called it wrong,’ she muttered. ‘Python didn’t want anything, just wanted me dead. After everything it was…’
‘Falcon,’ Lion spoke. ‘Your actions endangered your partner.’
Her shoulders hunched. ‘I know,’ she replied, her voice faint.
‘Answer me a question, Falcon. If you expected an Emissary to be there, why did you want to go alone?’
‘I…’ she looked up at him and tried to meet his eyes. ‘Well, I…I didn’t want any of you to…’
‘You think so little of us?’
‘What?’
‘You think so little of us as a unit that rather than take us along you’d go by yourself?’