“That is for killing me. If I ever see you again, I will return the favor,” she said.
She held him in place until she disappeared in the distance heading towards the castle. CALEB AND OWEN HAD EXITED THEIR TUNNEL and found themselves in a tropical environment. Caleb looked around and found a giant footprint. He knew what it was. As a child he had loved studying dinosaurs and knew them by categorization. It was the infamous Tyrannosaurus Rex. He looked to Owen with a great big smile on his face. “Do you know what this is?!”
Owen nodded his head, “It’s a huge dinosaur. Let’s get out of here.”
Caleb laughed. “Sure we can leave this place but we will do it in style. Did you forget about my abilities?” Caleb let out a cry that sounded bigger than his own body could make. It shook the ground. A dozen raptors, a sauropod, and a tyrannosaurs answered the call. Caleb took control of them immediately. He was positive that dinosaurs, at least the meat eaters, where not animals he could train. Caleb laughed, “Now we have our own army.”
Owen knew the ins and outs of all the weapons and explosives that they had packed. He knew that each weapon was equipped with a tracking device and a tracker. “Hold up,” said Owen, “Let’s see who is here. I paid close attention to who grabbed what weapons and there are tracking devices on each one.” Owen removed a panel from his shotgun where there was a readout that read, “Sniper rifle 994 mi North, sun-blast grenades 996 mi North”. Owen smiled, “You will be happy to know that your cousin is here. She is a few miles away from Ignacio.”
Caleb sighed, “That is too long of a distance to travel with this crowd.” He looked around and found that the t-rex had come from a nest where there were eggs. Caleb walked over and took one of the eggs. “I promise to take good care of it and keep it very warm,” he said to the mother.
Owen rolled his eyes. “How are we going to get there? That is a lot of distance to travel.”
Caleb nodded, “Well, I think you are small enough to fly on my back. If not I can call a pterodactyl!”
Owen shook his head. “I would prefer your back.” Caleb put the egg into one of his bags that had thermal heating. Then he beckoned Owen to climb onto his back as he spread his wings and took flight. They had a long way to go.
10
Prayer ad Heeling
Kasey and Misia played the part of rescuers. They went below the Cathedral to where the military recruits had fallen and first helped those who could not swim to safety. They had found a shallow area where people could stand so they took them there. They gathered everyone who had not already moved on. One of the passersby had even called them fools for wasting the time to help the weaker of them.
Some of these people were scared. They had entered the Gauntlet with visions of glory but were not prepared to be challenged. Kasey tried to encourage them. “This is a contest and I am not a fool. But I also have no illusions. They are looking for a champion who has the ability to lead all of the armies of Soterion. I am that leader and I plan to prove it here. You can follow me and I will promise you a greater chance of living as long as you do as I command without question. I have a power on my side like none of you have ever seen.” She looked over her shoulder to her wings, “I think that is evident at this point. So decide now those of you who will follow me, those of you who will give up, and those of you who will move ahead on your own.” The group was all together a hundred people. There was much discussion and after a few minutes she said, “Those of you who plan to follow me go stand by Misia. Those of you who don’t just stay where you are. Tifus, the Gabad she had spoken to earlier was the first to line up beside Misia. There were thirty others who lined up with him. The others went forward or headed back to leave the Gauntlet. Kasey looked them over.
There were five Adam, four Nepsah, two Remmys, two Am Mayim who had helped them with those who were unable to swim, one Katken, one Akana, seven Gabad, five Daqad, one Yaarma and two of the new race of Showradam.
Kasey addressed them, “Welcome to my command. Now, any who can’t swim step forward.” A Daqad, a Katken, and an Adam stepped forward. They all looked ashamed of themselves. “Don’t be discouraged. There are two Am Maiym. One can take the Katken and the Daqad and the other can take the human… I mean Adam.”
“Let me explain to you your chain of command. I am your commander, Misia is my second, and Tifus here is my third. Any of us can give you orders as long as those orders do not conflict. If you get conflicting orders bring them to me.”
Tifus looked surprised. “Now, we need to move forward and to do so quickly. We will split up in two teams: The water team and the air team.” She had one Gabad carry the two Remmys, each Gabad carry two Daqad and then a Gabad per Adam. Kasey chose to carry the two Showradam. Thank the Shepherd for leaving me with Kalat strength. And Misia would carry the Akana and the Yaarma. Kasey ordered the two teams to travel at the same speed with status reports regularly. As they moved forward they came across several dead sharks in the water. The water team reported that the water got colder the further they went on. But eventually they reached land which led to stairs. Kasey sent the Nepsah in to scout. They came back to report a massive battle in the room above and that it didn’t look like any of the participants had moved past that room. The room was filled with Showradam who looked to the Nepsah to be formidable warriors. There were no fatalities but many wounded by the Showradam. Kasey drew her gun. She had always been a fan of revolvers but the limit was that she only had six bullets before she had to reload. The count of Showradam upstairs was two dozen. How do I get past this? Do we fight? It doesn’t seem to be working for those above.
“We will not fight,” she concluded. She took the invisibility device she had gotten from Omar off and looked at it. “I am going to send each person in one at a time. You will wear this and the Showradam will not see you. Nepsah, I need you to go in and go to the exit from that room. Once the person wearing this is in and safe bring it back to me so I can send the next person in.”
Kasey gave it first to Misia. She would need leadership on the other side to make sure nothing got out of control and to makes sure that no one tried to run off with her device. After a few minutes the Nepsah came back with the device. Then she sent Tifus. She kept sending people until all that was left was Kasey. The Nepsah came back and then they followed her in. Kasey surveyed the room and it was total chaos. No one was working together at all and the Showradam were ridiculously good fighters. They were taking on dozens of recruits at a time. She found herself curious as to how she might fair against one. But looking to these creatures that were over twice her height and four times her body mass she decided it would be wise to save her energy and strength for later. This was a first phase of who knew how many.
Her team was very excited to see her. “I knew I made the right choice,” said Tifus. “We went from behind to ahead.” Kasey corrected him, “I am willing to bet that every Nepsah that was signed up for the Gauntlet got through that.” She turned to the Am Mayim who she knew could see through invisibility. “Keep your eyes open.”
Kasey sent the Nepsah along with an Am Mayim wearing the invisibility devise ahead to scout. The Nepsah returned quickly with the Am Mayim close behind them. There were only 3 Nepsah. As the Nepsah caught their breath Kasey asked, “Where is your 4th?” The Am Mayim answered, “There are Am Mayim and Nepsah ahead. They are blowing darts with some kind of poison in it at all Nepsah who try to pass. But they didn’t see me. This thing you have given me… it must work against the Am Mayim true sight. We had to leave the one hit with the dart behind in order to escape. There are dozens of Nepsah lying on the ground. I don’t know if they are dead.”
Kasey nodded. She took the device from the Am Mayim and moved forward. Before she activated it she signaled for everyone there to wait. She went ahead and saw the wood floor littered with Nepsah. She flew over them to where the Am Mayim were positioned. Because they saw no one coming, the Nepsah were not visible. Kasey positioned herself to kick one of the Am Mayim
which would send him flying into the others. She was hoping that with the force she was able to kick with she could knock them all out or at least injure them to the point where they could not fight. She crouched down and then sprang up and forward slamming herself into the Am Maiym. All of them, including Kasey, went flying into the wooden wall and broke through the wood, splinters flying everywhere. Kasey had splinters in many uncomfortable places but she had managed to knock the two Am Mayim out and daze the three Nepsah enough to where she was able to take their blow darts before they could react. They disappeared as they flew off. As Kasey walked back to the others she picked up all of the Nepsah putting them gently in her bag. She checked vitals and it seemed they had been put to sleep.
Misia approached her. “What are you going to do with those?”
Kasey smiled, “They don’t know it yet, but they are on our team. At least, if they wake up in time to be of use.”
Tifus smirked, “Are you going to pick up all of the strays along the way?”
Kasey nodded and laughed, “I plan to. My army just tripled with these guys.” They continued walking down the hallway. They could hear foot steps behind them. Kasey entered a fighting stand as did Misia. She waved for the others to get behind her. Tifus directed the Nepsah to go invisible and circle around with the darts just in case. There was a Miyka, two Gabad and a Showradam that came up on them.
“Surrender and join us,” said Kasey. The arrogant Miyka laughed, “What house are you? I am the nephew of King Magus himself. Stand aside follow me if you wish but I will not be following you.”
Kasey shook her head and the man charged at her with his sword. Kasey waved her hand at the Nepsah telling them to hold off. She parried his attack but she could tell by his forms that he was well trained. The two Gabad and Showradam moved in on her.
Tifus signaled for the Nepsah to take down the two Gabad.
He is likely thinking the same thing I am about the Showradam; the darts won’t work on such a thick hide.
The Nepsah took down the two Gabad quickly. As a distraction Kasey let her wings ignite. The Miyka yelled, “Witch!” He swung at her head but she blocked and thrust her sword into his right leg. The Miyka screamed in anger.
He stood up staggering. The Showradam just waited. The Miyka pointed his sword at her, “What are you waiting for? Attack her.”
The Showradam shook his head, “She is a better leader and fighter.” The Miyka in his rage swung his sword at the Showradam who had not been expecting such an attack. As the sword came close to the Showradam’s hide Kasey struck the Miyka’s sword and broke it with the Kalat strength and the endurance of a real katana. She smacked the man hard in the face with the blunt side of the sword and advanced on him sticking her sword into the wood floor. “That was uncalled for. You are no leader, you are a fool.”
She ducked his every punch moving closer in on him until she saw her opening. He punched out at her leaving his side open. She sent a punch to his ribs with such force that he flew back and landed on the wood floor breaking part of the floor. He was alive but he would need serious medical attention and he was out of the Gauntlet which was her true intention.
Tifus mumbled to himself, “That woman is no Miyka.”
Misia smirked, “You think?” He gave her a smile, “Oh, she has my full devotion though. Don’t worry. I’m your man.”
Kasey laughed. “Come lets go, I hear more footsteps. I will not try to recruit from that crowd again.” Kasey went first invisible with the Nepsah scouts. The scouts pointed out several nasty booby traps. They had entered what seemed to be a maze that went upstairs and down stairs so much that it was hard to figure out what level they were on or even if they were above or underground. The Nepsah in the bag started to stir. Kasey opened the bag and waited for them to come to. She let her scouts tell them what had happened and it was pretty easy from there to get them to join in.
Kasey asked the others, “Does anyone have anything like string, paint, or something we can leave as a bread crumb to make sure that we are not going in circles?”
One of the Daqad stepped forward. “My wife gave it to me for good luck. Cant thing of a better use than to help us get through this.” He handed her a hand woven vest. There was much yarn “This will do. Thank you.”
She gave the vest to the Nepsah and Remmys to unravel and it turned into quite a bit of string. Then she sent the Nepsah searching the maze with a roll of yarn. Whenever they ran out they would have to come back and report what they saw. She was searching for different scenery, a sign that she was going the right way. As they waited they heard the sounds of battle inside the Gauntlet. Kasey smelled smoke.
The Nepsah came back and informed her that there was nothing going on in most of the possible directions but that there was fighting throughout the maze. Some recruits were fighting each other and some were being attached by opponents meant to face them through the maze. Kasey went the direction of the fire again invisible.
She prayed to herself, “Lord, show me the way out of here.” She then felt clarity. There is no way out. I have to make one.
Show hoped that this feeling was something from the Shepherd and not of her own making. When they got to the location of the fire they saw King Alagaar himself. There were two dead recruits lying on the ground. One was a Gabad and the other was a human. King Alagaar was in his full armor with his war hammer in hand. He was currently fighting two humans and a Showrad. How could he? He didn’t have to kill them.
Kasey came out of invisibility and approached the King. She pulled her katana from its scabbard and approached him letting her wings ignite for dramatic flair. Those who were already fighting him looked tired. They moved out of her way.
Kasey dove for the ground and used all of her supernatural strength to use her sword to open his armor like a can opener. She dove and swung the sword from the ground up and sliced his armor away from boot to shoulder. Then she flew away just as his hammer came down. The crowd that had been following her watched in amazement. She stuck her sword in the ground and then dove after him. He swung his hammer as she suspected. Instead of dodging the hammer she put her hands out and caught it. She jerked the hammer from him as if jerking a toy from a child. Then she bent the handle around the head of the hammer as the King screamed in outrage.
“How dare you!” he said. As he ran up and punched her in the rib with one of his spiked gauntlets. She already had one cracked rib but those spikes dug in and caught her off guard. You want to take cheap shots huh?
Kasey ripped his armor open with her hands where she had torn a gash straight down. And as he tried to punch her again she flew away. Then she drew her 38. She put one round in each one of his legs, one in each shoulder and then she rushed in on him as he fell down. She pressed the hot muzzle against his head and then she brought her knee around and slammed it into his head so hard that it knocked him out. I’m no killer, but that doesn’t make what you have done any less disgusting.
Here team stood there with their mouths open. She walked toward them and only Misia seemed to not be surprised.
Tifus cleared his throat, “You… you just took out the warrior King.”
Kasey sighed, “Not without some damage.” She looked down at her side. There were several gashes in her armor and in her skin. One of the Adams stepped forward with the thread they had made from the Daqad vest and a needle. He also had a flask of alcohol. Kasey gritted her teeth as she removed her armor. I’m really going to look like Swiss cheese when all of this is said and done.
The Adam dabbed her side with a cloth full of alcohol. She could handle the pain without flinching but it did really sting. He sewed up her side and applied some sticky substance and informed her that it would keep it from trying to open back up.
Kasey looked around. There was a wall on fire but only brick wall behind it. She looked at her team. “I think it’s time for us to get out of here.” If the place is on fire it’s my job to get my team to safety. Too bad they didn’t give u
s any rules. I guess I just have to do what feels right.
Tifus crossed his arms. “What about the contest? Don’t you want to be champion?” Kasey shook her head. “As the leader of this group your safety comes before my ambitions. Besides, I see no way out of this place. I think it’s all a trick. I am betting that there is no way out and we have to know to make our own way. So we leave. I would much rather err on the side of caution than risk one of your lives. Besides, I just wounded and knocked out one of the judges. My chances for championship may be over.”
Tifus shrugged, “Ok, we will see I guess.”
“Misia, I want you to help me bust the roof on this place,” she commanded.
Misia nodded and the others looked confused. They have no clue that we were once Kalat and still have the strength of one. Kasey and Misia both shot up into the air and punched into the ceiling as hard as they could. They went through several layers of wood and brick but they did come out on the other end. They were flying above Lake City with onlookers who thought they could make out who they were saw them explode from the roof with wood and mortar. The Gabad followed transporting people to the roof. Once all were up Kasey led them down the side of the building to the ground where people cheered.
Others were breaking out of the building as the fire blazed and began to consume the building. And then something dawned on Kasey. King Alagaar is still in there!
Kasey looked at Misia, “Stay here. I will be right back.” She darted up into the air and into the building. As she went through the top her senses were hit with a thick smoke. She fought to breathe as she dove down further. The fire was everywhere and it was hot and bright. She darted through the flames over the maze and went to where King Alagaar still lay unconscious. With a broken beam on top of him and aflame. Kasey threw the beam to the side and grabbed the King who had been burned by the flames but still had not woken. She checked and his heart was still beating though very faint. With him in her arms she darted up out of the building and went straight for her group where King Erestar and his guard were waiting.
Bridgeworlds: Deep Flux Page 16