Nyteria Rising (The Thirteenth Series Book 3)

by G. L. Twynham

  Val pushed Jason to one side. “I’m Val Saunders, prison Guard Twenty-three thirteen and who are you?”

  “I am someone who would very much like your presence.”

  “Nathan,” Val said.

  He laughed. “I’m pleased I made an impression on you. You stole something that was very important to me and I want it back.”

  “I think the Warden is more mine than yours.”

  His voice became tense. “Not the Warden, although I would like him back as well. You have powers that no one here seems to be able to match and annoyingly, you have given the Guards hope, taking away their fear. I need to quash that before it goes any further. Now that I have your, Sam, I think you may be interested in co-operating. It seems we can’t locate your signal, so unless you hand yourself and the Warden over to my soldiers, Sam will die along with the Collectors who were stupid enough to help you. So, bringer of hope, what do you say to that?”

  Val looked at Zac. He shook his head. She signalled to Jason to turn off the mike. “He thinks we’re still on the Prison. He knows nothing about this place. If we go back, it’ll give you time to sort this out.” Enoch was now also shaking his head. She knew as well as they did that if she went back with the Warden they would be lost. Sam would have looked at the bigger picture. He wouldn’t care if he died to make sure the prisoners had hope, but she loved him and that was making her weak. She signalled to turn the mike back on.

  “Well?” he sounded annoyed at having to ask twice.

  “I think I...” she started to speak then pulled one of the crystals away from the computer and it instantly shut down.

  “What are you doing?” Fran gasped.

  “I’ve just given us a few minutes grace. Now get another computer up and running with a different frequency. Zac, find out how close we can teleport. I’m going back to the surface.”

  CHAPTER 19

  Natural Resources

  “Well, if you’re going through with this, let’s get our troops ready,” Enoch said.

  “Do we have troops?” Val felt a little more confident at hearing that.

  Jason had a laptop in his hands. “I’ll get another link to the planet, but you’d better have a good plan, Val.”

  “I will find you the best place.” Zac tapped at his watch.

  “Come with me, let Jason and Zac do what they need to do.” Enoch led her out of the room and back towards the exit of his hilltop cave. “Don’t worry, we will do everything in our power to get Sam back, he’s our brother.” He lifted what Val could only describe as a primitive drum stick and hit it against the rocks. The sound wave that came from the stick vibrated through the air. Val couldn’t hear anything, but she felt it running through her body, like the vibrations of a speaker when you put your hand on it. He kept striking and to Val’s surprise people appeared and started heading towards them. “Sometimes you only need to feel the calling,” Enoch said.

  “That’s amazing.” She saw them all lining up together.

  Enoch stopped beating and raised his hands to get their full attention, “Family, as you know the surface is under attack. I know how you feel about them. I know you were rejected and sent to your endless deaths, but our brother Sam has been captured and his life will be taken.” There were gasps of shock from the group. “We may not be quick enough to save him, but we have to try.”

  A young man with a metal arm called up, “What will happen to us? We are seen as the weaker ones and I have heard there’s a virus that has taken away their power.”

  “I can answer that in part.” A young woman Val hadn’t met before joined her and Enoch. “Hello Val, I’m Hereswith, but you can call me Eswith.” She smiled and her face lit up. Val was momentarily taken aback by her natural beauty. She had an athletic build complimented by her flawless skin, pale from living under ground. “We have an answer,” she spoke to the crowd. “We can reverse the virus, but to free the Guards already infected will take at least half a cycle, twelve hours.” She told them. “However, because we haven’t been subjected to the virus here, we can protect you now, before you go to the surface.”

  A cheer went out amongst the gathering. Enoch brought them back to silence once more. “You need to understand that this will change everything. At this moment we’re invisible, but in doing this we will become visible to the Prison. We have the advantage, but after we’re done, things will never go back to the way they were.” His words hung heavy in the air.

  “May I speak?” Val heard a familiar voice. To her surprise she saw the Warden walking into the crowd.

  “We all have an equal right to speak here,” Enoch said respectfully.

  The group turned towards the Warden.

  “I have been overwhelmed by the information I received on arriving here. This virus comes directly from me, so I feel responsible for my men and now for you. Despite the way you have been treated by the Prison, you have welcomed me and I have found lost Guards and Hunters, people I had mourned. Yet now I can rejoice that you’re alive. It was never my intention for you to be in this place, although I see you have made a wonderful home. As Enoch rightly says, if you go to the surface to help save the Prison, you will no longer be hidden, but you have my word that when this ends, you will all be free. I have much to learn about you and your existence, but all I ask of you now is that you help us.” His voice filled with determination. “We will defeat Nyteria, and bring back freedom to the Prison!” he bellowed.

  The cheers were even louder now and the energy in the closed space was electric. “How long will it take to get them ready, Eswith?” Val asked.

  “An hour, maybe a little more.”

  “They have Sam now Enoch. How are we going to stall Nathan whilst we get them ready?”

  “We need a distraction.” Enoch said matter-of-factly.

  “I’ll be that distraction; they won’t hurt me,” Val said.

  “I will come with you.” Val turned to see the Warden had joined them. “I can make this right for you, Enoch. You were a brave and loyal Guard. I am happy with the knowledge that you are the one who will come and save us.”

  Enoch bowed his head in respect. “It was a lifetime ago.”

  Val interrupted. “No pressure, but get vaccinating the Guards and whoever else we have. I just need to get Sam’s location from Jason.” She left them and headed back to her friends. Jason was diligently tapping on his keyboard and Fran was by his side. “Got any news for me?” she asked.

  “Yes, here’s the place they took him. If you look at the map you’ll see that it’s five corridors south of the teleportation room.” He pointed to the flashing cursor.

  “This is where we need to teleport.” Zac showed her on the map.

  “There is no we this time, buddy. I’m going with the Warden and they need your help here.”

  “This is not a clever move. You will need me.”

  “Zac, they need every last piece of information about the Prison. They need you. I’m just going to get captured, that’s not hard. Please stay here and help them.”

  Zac looked distressed. “You know what they will do to you if you go back.”

  “Yes, Sam showed me, but I’m prepared to take the risk. Are you prepared to let me?”

  He nodded, not in agreement, just in resignation that he wasn’t going to win.

  “Ok then, me and the Warden are going in.”

  Jason handed her a tiny ear piece. “Take care and put this in your ear; nothing like good old fashion technology.” She took it, he was right. Maybe the old stuff would work better in a place controlled by advanced technology.

  They embraced and Val left them. As she was leaving the room, she spotted Wendy waiting for her. “Hey, you ok? You look tired.” Val could see that the experience was starting to wear her down.

  She took both of Val’s hands. “I’ve had another vision.”

  “Stop! If it’s bad news I don’t want to know. I’ll run with fate.”

  “It wasn’t about the battle; i
t was about you and Sam.” She smiled.

  “What did you see?” Val was now very interested.

  “You were choosing a wedding dress. There were so many, all different colours and designs.” Now Val could see why her friend was grinning.

  “Well, let’s look at the positive side, if I was looking at dresses it means we’ll make it through.” She kissed Wendy on the cheek. “I’m not quite ready to walk down the aisle at eighteen, but it’s nice to know it may happen one day. Now I have to go and sacrifice myself for my future husband.”

  “Stay safe until I arrive,” Wendy said pulling Sam’s silver wand out.

  “You took that from Lailah’s body!” Val was impressed. “See you soon.”

  She left her friend and joined the Warden who was busy greeting his lost Guards and Hunters. For the first time she saw a human side to him. They were all showing him the utmost respect. “Warden, it’s time we left.” She broke up the reunion.

  “Yes, let us go.” He patted a young man on the arm and Boden walked with them down to the door. Val said her goodbyes once more and then they were out in the open, ready to teleport.

  “Take this.” The Warden handed her his bracelet.

  “You need it to keep your power up.” She pushed it back at him.

  “I’m an old man and what power I have has no use for me at this time. I have always underestimated you, Earth girl. You are power in its purest form. Let’s go and free our Prison.”

  Val put the bracelet on next to her own. Our Prison he’d said, it whizzed through her mind. The rest of her family were stuck on Earth, possibly being interrogated by MI5. Her mum and dad had lost everything, Jason his dad, and Fran her sister. What was it all for? She loved Sam, but this had to stop. “I have one request before we leave.”

  “Anything.”

  “When this is over and we have won, I want to go home with my parents and friends to a world that doesn’t know who Val Saunders the disappearing freak is. I want to live a normal life.”

  “I can make that happen.” They shook hands to seal the agreement and left the monochrome landscape of the Space.

  Their arrival was instantly detected, but that was the aim of the game for Val; Zac had given them the perfect location. She was struck by a soldier from behind and fell to her knees. The Warden was a tougher prospect and it took four to bring him down, however, they were both subdued in seconds. She knew better than to retaliate, she wanted them to believe she had been affected by the virus. If they knew she had her powers they would be able to take them away, and the aim of this exercise was to stay alive as long as possible in order to get the others back.

  The soldier relayed to his superior. “We have them; seems the female has made the right decision.”

  Val could hear the message going into his headset. “Nathan orders that they should be delivered to him without harm or he will personally punish those responsible.” The soldier passed the message on. Val and the Warden’s hands were bound behind their backs; they were then raised roughly to their feet and set marching. Val intentionally dragged her feet, slowing them down, to the annoyance of her captors. She was willing to try anything to gain the hour she needed for the people from the Space to be vaccinated. Every second counted.

  “Hello, can you hear me?” a voice whispered into her ear. She coughed. “Two coughs for yes.” She coughed twice quickly. The soldier pushed her again in disgust at her weak and feeble coughing fit. “I have you on a one-to one headset to keep the noise down. You’re moving into the coordinates where we lost Sam. Vaccinations are going well here and Zac is collecting all the Hunters together. Boden and Hadwyn are making the Guards ready. Stay strong, Val, we’re coming.” She coughed again. Glancing across at the Warden she nodded her head discreetly. He responded with the same action and they continued to march.

  Val knew they had arrived at the centre of operations. The air was dense with fear and obedience. Every person in the area was on edge. Nathan seemed to inspire gut-wrenching terror in everyone. She’d been scared of Excariot, but this was a deeper feeling. She had felt it on Nyteria. It was like life had no value to him, and everyone knew it.

  Nathan appeared - his skin a vibrant blue. Now Val could see him in the light of the Prison she was almost mesmerised by his colour. It glowed, palpitating as he walked. His jaw was squared, his hair blue to match his skin perfectly. He walked towards her and she felt her insides start to shake. “Welcome to my Prison, I’m pleased you came.” He greeted his newest acquisitions. “You have taken the Warden from me twice and that’s two times too many. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?” His voice was firm but not yet raised. Val was forced by two soldiers to kneel down in front of him. She kept her eyes on the clean white floor. “Take the Warden back to where the Guards can see him and make sure everyone knows he is back in our power. We need to make an example of this girl, something they won’t forget in a hurry.”

  Val felt them pulling the Warden away from her. She calculated they had been at least half an hour so far. As long as his example of her didn’t last less than the half hour they needed, she might just make it through this.

  “Come with me.” Nathan pulled her to her feet. His grip was firm, but not tight enough to hurt her. She rose and followed him through a large group of his soldiers and out onto a balcony. She recognised where she was now. The Warden had brought her out here before. It overlooked a large part of the Prison that stretched out in front of her and she could see row after row of standing Guards. They were eerily still and had clearly been brought out to see the spectacle.

  Val wondered if he would torture her in front of them. That would have a lasting effect on everyone who witnessed it. He moved her out to the edge. Val looked down and realised just how high up they were. She still hated heights, and shivered uneasily. The crowd started to move backwards and spread out a little. Something was coming out from below the balcony, but she couldn’t yet see what it was. She knew it was bad judging from the muffled gasps coming from below.

  Slowly a procession came into view. There were eight people wearing dark green cloaks. Their heads covered. Val saw that they were tied together by something that looked like a neon cable. It sparked and buzzed between each one. The soldiers proceeded to line them up in clear view of the balcony. “Reveal my power!” Nathan called to his soldiers. They pulled back the hoods. There stood five men, two women and Sam. Val wanted to call out his name, but he was going to see her soon enough. They looked like they hadn’t been hurt, but this wasn’t a good situation. The Guards were fidgeting in agitation. “Have you never seen the faces of your gods?” Nathan asked the crowd. “The ones that took you from your homes and made you their slaves?” No one spoke. “Do you not want retribution for the homes that they destroyed? To stop you longing to see your loved ones again?” His voice echoed around them all.

  “Val, that’s your name isn’t it, not number thirteen?” He pulled her closer to the edge so that everyone could see her. As soon as he saw her, Sam started to struggle, but the weapon of a soldier colliding with his head soon ended that. Blood ran down the side of his face. “See these people, Val. They took you from your home, from your mother and sent you to the future.” Val was shocked. How did he know that? “They made you a weapon of destruction with no thought for your family or your planet. Is that a lie?” he asked her.

  Val could see the Guards looking at her, waiting for her to speak. Sam’s eyes met hers. “No.” She hung her head. It wasn’t a lie and that hurt.

  “Did they take away your life and treat you like a reject, something imperfect, something that they were stuck with?” Then he pointed at the Judges. “And then you caught one of their most wanted criminals for them: Excariot. Is that not the truth?”

  She couldn’t understand where all this information was coming from. “Yes.” Answering him was so painful. He was right and what he was saying was the truth and it grated in her throat.

  “Is it true that you just created the la
rgest portal in the history of the Prison, bringing several hundred aliens to their knees? May I also add to that you escaped me twice, and took the Warden to freedom and still returned to save them after everything they have taken from you?”

  Tears had started to form in her eyes. “Yes,” she cried. This was crazy. He was turning her against her own people. Listening to what he was saying she wasn’t sure what to think anymore.

  “This girl, this human, or reject as you have chosen to call her, is a true god.” He looked out at them all, waiting for their full attention. “I will take her to be mine!”

  “NO!” A cry came from Sam and he was brutally silenced again.

  “When you see her at my side you will see her as a symbol of my dominance over you, and you will remember everything that has been taken from you by these creatures of power.” He pointed at the Judges. “They will be sent to the Interspace for you to see that they have no power over you anymore.”

  Val’s head was spinning so much she felt she might pass out. Before she had a chance to look back at Sam, Nathan pulled her away from the balcony. She could only pray now that the others were on their way, because if they didn’t succeed, she was going to be Mr Blue’s girlfriend far too soon.

  CHAPTER 20

  The Union

  “Can you hear me?” A soft voice echoed in Val’s ear. She gave two sharp coughs. “We’re on our way. We have over a hundred and fifty Guards ready plus enough airborn Vaccine to treat most of the affected Guards within twelve hours.”

  Nathan had sat Val down on a bench to await his next orders. Soldiers were stationed round the perimeter of the room. “Not the right people.” She said clearly. “What?” The soldier turned and walked towards her.

  “I said, there are a lot of you guys on this planet, thousands I’d guess. Am I right?” she asked him.