Unlikely Hero

by Sian B. Claven

  “One day. That’s how long we’ll be stuck here for. Not even a full day, mind you.” Jasy gazed around. “More like one night.”

  “You know where we are?” he asked, his eyebrows scrunching together.

  “Thalia. We’re not far from the Great Sity, their capital.” She offered him some meat. “And this isn’t an exact science, space-hiking means taking risks. I don’t trust you anymore than you trust me, but if you want my help, I need to know why you’re taking a princess to dark space.”

  “It’s none of your business.”

  He stood up, ignoring her offer of food and went back to the pod to check on Lizzie. She still wasn’t awake, but she breathed regularly, so she was simply asleep. He sat with her, staring at the wall of the escape pod until he thought he would be go insane.

  “M-Mark?”

  He didn’t know how long he had been sitting there, but Lizzie was stirring and trying to sit up. He put a gentle hand behind her back and helped her into a seated position.

  “Easy now,” he said, “don’t get up too fast.”

  “What happened?” she asked, just as disorientated as he had been when he woke up.

  “Captain genius Jasy stranded us on Thalia.” Bitterness dripped from his words. “But apparently she can get us out of here.”

  “She saved us,” Lizzie said, looking at him with those deep eyes.

  Oh, he hated the way she looked at him sometimes. Maybe eloping with her wouldn’t have been such a bad idea if he didn’t know why they had to leave. He looked away and coughed to cover up the awkward pause. Standing up, he offered her his hand.

  “I suppose. If you can call that saving …”

  It was a statement, not a question and, once Lizzie was standing, Mark put an arm around her waist and led her outside to where Jasy still sat by the fire, eating her portion of the meat.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked Lizzie as she sat down.

  “No, thank you. Jasy, I owe you my thanks. You knew who I was, but you still saved us.”

  Jasy looked at Lizzie, then at Mark. “There was no need to lie to me from the start. I would have helped regardless of who you were.”

  “Please understand, I couldn’t take the risk.” Lizzie said, as diplomatic as ever.

  Jasy shook her head, but didn’t respond. Mark remained quiet as well, and Lizzie settled into the silence, at peace with Jasy knowing who she was. Mark still didn’t trust her.

  “Why can’t we go to the Sity now?” he asked, wondering if Jasy had alternate motivations for keeping them out here.

  “Because we have to go through there.” She pointed to the forest. “That is one dangerous wilderness during the night.”

  Mark glanced at the dense vegetation near them and peered between the trees, but it was getting dark quickly now, and he struggled to see anything that could be moving in the forest. Reluctantly, he had to agree with her. Lizzie was safer here, where they crash landed, than anywhere else at the moment, but he would make sure they were up at first light and on their way to this city … no, how did she say it? Sity? Trust Thalians to be difficult.

  He ate some of the meat on offer and said, “Eat, we should get some rest.”

  Lizzie smiled and took some, biting into it very lady-like, causing Mark to smile. You could take the princess out of the palace, but there was no taking the palace out of the princess.

  *~*~*~*

  True to his word, Mark was up as the rays of sunshine were just about cresting over the horizon. Jasy had fallen asleep by the fire, which, surprisingly, was still going, and Lizzie went to sleep in the pod. Mark had tossed and turned all night, trying his best to rest. He couldn’t function properly if he was tired, and he had to have his wits about him today. Nobody trusted Thalians.

  Snake-like people, they were as slimy as their scales, so the saying went, although only one tenth of Thalian’s actually excreted slime. Mark was distracted and shook his head, moving in to stoke the fire. His effort woke Jasy and he saw she had a blade in her hand, which she was ready to use. Upon seeing who was there, she lowered the hand, but didn’t put the blade away.

  “Morning,” Mark said gruffly, stirring the fire some more. “Time to get going.”

  “Yeah, in a minute,” she said, standing up slowly. He could hear the clicks and clacks as she stretched and the gases between her joints were released, culminating in a satisfactory sigh from her. Mark was almost jealous; it looked good.

  “Good morning.”

  Lizzie’s soft voice startled them both and Mark gave her a small smile. “Did you get enough rest?” he asked, ignoring the weird look Jasy gave him. He didn’t care if she got enough rest, as long as Lizzie did.

  “Yes, thank you, I was really comfortable.” Lizzie said, using a piece of string to tie her hair back. “Are we going now?”

  “Unless you want us to wait? Find you some food?” Mark fussed over her.

  He didn’t mean to do it, but she was like a little sister to him, and he felt this overwhelming desire to protect her with his life. That didn’t come from simply being part of the royal guard; it was who she was and what she stood for, and now, what she could prevent from happening to the civilized universe.

  “No, we can go,” Lizzie said, bringing him out of his thoughts once more. “Are you sure you’re okay? Did you sleep?”

  “I’m fine,” Mark brushed her off. “I’m used to roughing it.”

  “Well, good,” Jasy interjected, making both her companions look at her, “because it’s a whole day’s walk to the Thalian Sity, so off we go.” She waved her hands impatiently. “Grab what you need, and I’m not carrying anything for anybody.” She slung her backpack over her shoulders and trudged up the embankment leading to the jungle.

  “I don’t need you to carry my things,” Lizzie said to Mark as he reached for her bag. “I promise, I can do this.” She put her bag on her bag, pulled the hood over her head and followed Jasy.

  Mark admired her; she was being strong for someone he knew was terrified of what the future held. She was holding it together well, but he would be there if she fell; he always would be there to catch her.

  He picked up his supplies and glanced back at the pod, wondering if there was anything they were forgetting. Jasy’s shouts of ‘hurry up’ interrupted his thoughts, though, and he irritably turned to trail them, picking up his pace to catch up with Lizzie.

  Side by side, they followed Jasy into the dense forest.

  That was when the thought struck him. How does she know where she’s going?

  Mark eyed her out from behind.

  No, he didn’t trust her.

  *~*~*~*

  Crash Landing

  Jasy wasn’t lying when she said it would take them a whole day of walking to reach the capital of Thalia. Around dusk, they ambled into the huge Thalian Sity, where thousands of Thalians walked by them on their way to wherever they were going.

  Mark and Lizzie were awe-struck by the sheer number. You normally saw one or two or maybe, if you were lucky, a group of four on transport routes, but seldom so many in a small space. They preferred their own company and didn’t like leaving their planet.

  Jasy smiled as she glanced back at the two of them, and said, “Yeah, it was one hell of a sight for me as well the first time I landed here. Come on, we need to find a place to camp out for the night. Tomorrow we’ll find a transporter to get us out of here.”

  “You sound confident we’ll find one,” Mark said, leading Lizzie along behind her.

  “I am,” she said. “It’s trading season, when all the transporters come home to pick up goods to go sell. It’s when they make the most money, and it’s when space-hiking is at its peak.”

  “So you have been here before?” he enquired, sounding suspicious.

  Jasy rolled her eyes. “You’d be hard-pressed to find a main planet I haven’t been to, or at least orbited around on a space station or two.” She led them to camp grounds and, after speaking to the Thalian at the fro
nt desk, came out and said, “We can camp here tonight for half the fee if we set up right at the end, away from the Thalians.”

  “Why do they even let us camp if they don’t want us here?”

  Lizzie’s question was innocent; she didn’t know the Thalian way, and how they felt about humans. Most Thalians hated humans. Jasy knew one that didn’t and was hoping to see him tomorrow.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Jasy said. “It’s not in their culture to refuse or to harm guests in any way, so we’ll be safe here tonight. I have enough coin for the fee and for firewood and some food. You’ll be surprised how good it is.”

  Mark scoffed, but followed her into the camp grounds.

  It was nicer than Jasy remembered it. They had upgraded the hammocks that hung from the trees and the fire pits looked well maintained. She could make a big fire to burn all night and sleep soundly in her hammock without a care in the world. She remembered the last time she was here. How soundly she slept.

  She didn’t tell Mark or Lizzie that the other reason they got a discounted fee was because Jasy used to work here. She had helped the owner, Rython, rebuild the entrance hall and paint it so it was more appealing to other Thalians. That was what Jasy liked to do. Find a hole in the wall, work there and turn it around, even just a little, and then leave. It was her modus operandi, but they didn’t need to know that.

  Lizzie rocked in her hammock, exhausted from their journey, while Jasy got the fire going.

  Mark simply walked around; no, he paced impatiently.

  Jasy didn’t have time for his impatience and barked, “Just sit down.”

  Mark glared at her, but listened, coming to warm up by the fire while Lizzie dozed in her hammock.

  “So what’s your story?” Mark eventually asked her, as though it were something he had been pondering on their entire trip.

  “I don’t have one,” Jasy answered.

  “Everyone has a story,” Mark said, picking up a stick and poking at the fire. “You’re a space-hiker and that’s all I know about you.”

  “That’s all there is to me. I’ve been doing this since I was fifteen and I’ll probably be doing it for the rest of my life.”

  There was no resentment or bitterness in Jasy’s voice; instead there was a hint of pride. She loved the life she had chosen for herself and, unlike most who space-hiked, she was not ashamed of what she did or how well she did it.

  “And the fifteen years before you decided to hike across the galaxy?”

  Mark’s question struck a nerve and Jasy could feel herself closing off. She didn’t like people at the best of times, that was why she was alone to begin with, but mostly she hated when they wanted to know things. They wanted to know your history, where you came from, who raised you, what you did, why you left, because then they could draw their own conclusions and make their own assumptions about your life. People didn’t know Jasy. People wouldn’t understand her.

  “I forget,” she said with a smile, a dangerous one, and she hoped it conveyed the message that she wasn’t in the mood to talk about her past. It didn’t.

  “Everyone has a history, Jasy, and you hiding yours just makes me trust you that much less. What did you do that was so bad that you can’t share it?”

  “What did I do?” she growled the words. “Why does it have to be what I did? Why can’t it be what was done to me?”

  She was getting irrational and angry over something non-sequential, but she didn’t care. This was why she hated talking about the past - conclusions and assumptions.

  “Because people don’t spend their lives space hiking across the galaxy when something was done to them. You’re running from something, or someone, and I want to know what it is.”

  “Well, sorry to disappoint you, Captain of the Guard,” and she spat the last words out like they were venom on her lips, “but I don’t have to answer to you.”

  “We are on an important mission …” Mark argued, but she cut him off.

  “No. No! You are on some wayward mission of your own that you deem is important. I’m just the idiot that was trying to help you, but since you know so much, you can find your own damn way across the galaxy.”

  Standing up, Jasy ignored his protests as she went to lie in her own hammock. Mark mumbled something about being untrustworthy and she sat up again, irritated that he mumbled.

  “Okay, what’s your story?” she demanded.

  “Excuse me?” Mark asked.

  “What’s your story? Why did you kidnap a princess or help her escape or whatever, and why are you trying to get her to black space?”

  “I can’t tell you that,” Mark said.

  “Gee,” Jasy said, “guess that makes you untrustworthy.”

  She fell back into her hammock and looked up at the trees. She rocked gently, choosing to ignore him now as he tried to justify himself.

  She wouldn’t leave them here. The idea of disappointing Sally was the thing that made her want to continue to help them, but that didn’t mean she would make it easy for Mark to be an asshole. She wasn’t one to take anything lying down.

  *~*~*~*

  Jasy woke the next morning and stretched, almost falling from her hammock. For a few groggy minutes she forgot where she was and then she saw Lizzie asleep in the hammock near her.

  Mark was awake, packing their supplies up and checking their bags. The previous day’s argument came back to her thoughts and she scowled, not wanting to deal with Mark first thing. She turned over, away from him, and closed her eyes, hoping for a few more minutes of sleep.

  “Jasy? Jasy, wake up.”

  Jasy startled suddenly, sure she hadn’t fallen asleep again, but Lizzie stood beside her, a gentle hand reaching out to settle her. Jasy quickly stood up and brushed Lizzie aside.

  “Ready to go?” she asked, shouldering her pack.

  She didn’t wait for an answer; she moved towards the exit.

  Quick footsteps sounded behind her and they didn’t say a word as Jasy led them into a strange-looking market place.

  “This is where we get our ride. Stay here. Do not do anything,” she commanded before disappearing into the crowd.

  Mark frowned at her as she left, but Lizzie put a reassuring hand on his arm. “We wait …”

  *~*~*~*

  Terms & Conditions

  Mark hated waiting, he was impatient and agitated and wanted to get off Thalia as soon as physically possible, and now their only hope had just sauntered off into the crowd to ‘find them a ride’ after threatening him the night before with leaving them behind.

  Mark looked around and wondered if he should find them a way off-planet himself. He wouldn’t actually know where to start. How would he be able to tell the captains apart from each other and make sure they boarded the right ship? How would he know if they were to be trusted?

  His stomach growled and he looked at Lizzie. “Let’s get something to eat at this cafe here.”

  “Okay,” she said, drawing her hood further over her face, worried that someone might recognize her.

  Mark felt a pang in his gut as he realised how scared she was. He gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, we’ll make it off this planet soon enough. Come, let’s eat and sit down for a while. This heat is going to kill us.”

  Both moved to their left and entered a cafe. The person standing at the front waved them through and Mark realised they could sit wherever they liked; they weren’t going to be seated like they would be on Antonian.

  They found a table outside in the shade so they could see if Jasy came back. They sat and waited for the waitress to come over. She was a short Thalian with copper scales. The scales around her eyes seemed more orange and she spoke with the characterized lisp of the Thalian English.

  “What do you wants?” she asked, the ‘s’ hissing out.

  Mark said, “Water, please, and something to eat.”

  She left without giving them choices and they were left to their own devices.

  “Do you th
ink we’ll make it to dark space?” Lizzie asked.

  “Of course we will, I’ll make sure of it,” Mark answered confidently. “Don’t you worry; Jasy will find us a ship to travel on.”

  Lizzie nodded.

  Just then a Thalian with bright red scales leaned over the railing that separated the cafe from the street. “Well, aren’t you a pretty little thing.” His tongue flicked out and he smiled at Lizzie. “What is someone as beautiful as you doing in a dump like this?”

  “Leave her,” Mark said with an edge to his voice.

  “Listen, boyfriend, you’re clearly out of your depth.” the Talian said with a chuckle, “but I can make all her dreams come true. What do you say, sugar?”

  The way he hissed his ‘s’s’ made Lizzie shivered slightly and the Thalian clearly took that as encouragement to continue. Mark stood up, drawing himself to his full height and crossing his arms.

  “I said to leave her be,” he demanded. “Why don’t you go harass a prostitute or something?”

  “I thought I was,” the Thalian joked and several Thalians standing nearby laughed with him.

  Lizzie’s face coloured while Mark’s flushed. “Remove yourself from our presence or …”

  “Or what, boy?” The Thalian was done playing games and pulled out a blade. “You want to take me on?”

  “Mark, please,” Lizzie pleaded, “let it go.”

  “You have to draw a weapon to fight me. Typical Thalian, too scared to face a man bare-fisted.”

  The colouring of the Talian’s scales seemed to deepen, as if Mark had said something embarrassing, and before Mark knew what was happening, the Thalian was over the railing and had Mark against a wall, the blade to his throat.

  “I should remove your tongue for your insolence, boy,” he hissed. “Then gut you and make your little girlfriend eat your innards.”

  *~*~*~*

  “Romus, no!” Jasy called from the street, hurrying to climb over the railing.