Jackal’s Gambit

by C A Ardron

Lion listened to her tirade, recognising the lilting, musical sounds for the Unician tongue. The words were nice, pleasing to the ear, but Falcon's voice wasn't. Lion had the feeling he didn't want to know what manner of things she was calling Jackal.

  ‘So,’ Leopard said when Falcon had finally ran out of things to say. ‘What do we do now?’

  ‘You heard what they said,’ Falcon told her, still angry. ‘Jay's in the main chamber, with Trine and who knows how many Sarpiens.’

  ‘Calm down,’ Lion told her, keeping his voice level. ‘We've already arranged for the Sarpiens to be distracted, so let's get as close to the chamber as we can. By the sounds of it, Jay's in even more danger than we thought.’

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Jay kept looking at the steep steps which led up out of the chilly cavern. He'd been left completely unguarded. They were quite far away, but if he could reach them without being seen, then...

  His sudden flare of hope was deflated by Cobra re-entering the cavern. He jogged down the steps and joined Jackal and Harrier who were stood by the Power Converter.

  ‘It's done,’ he grinned at his general with a grin. ‘Though they're much more concerned with the aerial units you've sent up.’

  Jackal gave a contented smile. ‘Warriors in hoppers never expect that approach. It'll keep them from decimating our forces with their lasers. Have you got anyone watching?’

  ‘Mantis volunteered, though I suppose that wasn't a surprise to anyone here.’

  Jackal laughed with good-humour. ‘Good. I want to know when the Pharollin are fully engaged. We'll send our own hoppers out at that point and start shooting.’

  Cobra nodded and as Jay watched them converse, he thought Cobra smirked in a way that was even more evil than usual.

  ‘I did notice, however, something you may be interested in.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘One of the hoppers is a War Mark II.’

  ‘Right?’ Jackal didn't sound overly troubled.

  ‘With a blue phoenix on the front of it.’

  Jackal's features froze and for the first time he started to look worried.

  ‘Ohh,’ Harrier's face was pained. ‘What did you do to make him show up?’

  ‘Nothing, that I'm aware of,’ Jackal told him with an irritated frown. ‘Cobra, get the tunnels on lock-down again. This attack might be more serious than we thought.’

  Cobra nodded. ‘At once, General.’

  The Reptile warrior didn't leave again but took out his radio, contacting someone who was elsewhere.

  Jay looked back at the steps, becoming determined. Maybe he actually had a chance, if Jackal was worried, but not if he stayed here. At any moment, Trine or Cobra or someone could suggest strapping him onto that machine.

  Even wandering the tunnels aimlessly might give him more of a chance than sitting here obediently waiting for his end.

  Jay slowly started to edge towards the stone stairs, praying to the Light that no one saw him.

  He heard the scrape of a metal boot and held his breath, looking around. Fear stabbed his chest as Harrier half-turned, spotting him.

  Harrier remained where he was, staring into his eyes. He broke contact to glance at his general, who was studying the Power Converter, completely oblivious. Harrier gave Jay one more glance and then deliberately turned away.

  Jay gaped at the silver Sarpien but edged closer to the steps anyway. For whatever reason, Harrier didn't care that he was trying to escape, but he wasn't going to stop to ask why.

  He finally made it to the steps, and took one more look at the Sarpiens. Harrier was working very hard at not seeing him and Jackal was deep in conversation with Cobra.

  Jay quietly ascended the steps and let out an explosive breath when he was at the top and around the corner. He looked up the murky corridor quickly but he was alone. He tried to calm his breathing, he still needed to escape the tunnels, after all.

  He started to sneak up the corridor, hoping the way out would be obvious, when he was accosted from behind.

  The air around him shimmered magically and two, pale yellow armoured hands appeared. One grabbed him around the waist and the other covered his mouth to stop him crying out.

  ‘I'm a friend,’ a deep female voice whispered closely in his ear. ‘A Predgarian, I'm here to rescue you.’

  The warrior released him and he turned quickly, gaping at the intimidating Feline woman. He swallowed as he noticed the two sharp daggers at her belt.

  ‘All right.’

  The woman, her armour faintly spotted now that he took a closer look, offered him her hand. He took it hesitantly and she proceeded to lead him briskly up the corridor.

  Jay's breath caught at her quick pace, he was almost running to keep up with her. The tunnel was long, but he could see there was a junction coming up ahead of them. He glanced at the woman who was almost dragging him along, hoping he could trust her.

  When he turned the corner, his breath caught again, in terrified surprise as he almost ran into two armoured warriors. He pulled out of the Predgarian's grasp, trying to run.

  ‘Jay,’ a hoarse voice called after him. ‘It's all right, we're friends.’

  Jay looked back at the tall, silver warrior with matching wings which had spoken. She was like nothing he'd ever seen before. She was beautiful, with long silvery hair, her skin almost impossibly pale. There was nothing about her appearance which struck any sort of familiarity in him, but her voice...

  In his hesitation, Jay found his hand firmly gripped by the Feline woman and dragged towards the other two. He stared up at them, at the strange silver woman and the huge golden armoured man next to her.

  ‘Karen?’ The woman had sounded a bit like her, but it couldn't be.

  The winged woman didn't speak again, but smiled tightly. Her appearance might have been wildly different, but he recognised that smile. A surge of exultation washed over him, a swelling that couldn't be dampened one little bit by the gloomy tunnels around him.

  ‘Karen!’ He exclaimed in relief, not quite able to believe she was alive. He rushed to hug her and felt her tense at the physical contact briefly before she awkwardly embraced him and patted him on the head.

  He didn't care about any awkwardness. He'd take her sarcasm, her secrecy, her abruptness, every tiny thing that made Karen what she was, if it meant she was still alive and actually there with him.

  ‘Keep your kid quiet, will you?’ The Feline woman behind him asked, her voice dripping sarcasm as she took out some sort of communications device.

  Jay flushed with embarrassment and released his hold on Karen. The woman had referred to him as if he was Karen's son.

  ‘Hello, Jay,’ the big man greeted him in a friendly tone. ‘I'm Golden Lion, captain of the West Sector Predgarians, and the woman behind you is Leopard, one of my warriors. Are you all right? You haven't been harmed in any way?’

  Jay shook his head, maybe this huge man wasn't so scary after all. The warrior's voice seem to make all his fear melt away. ‘No, Sir, but it probably won't be long before Jackal realises I'm gone.’

  He turned back to Karen, his curiosity getting the better of him. ‘Why do you look like that?’

  She paused with her mouth open, seemingly at a loss but then shrugged. ‘Well I had to get you back somehow, didn't I?’

  ‘You...became a Predgarian to rescue me?’ Had she really come all this way, and become a medallion warrior - just for him?

  ‘She most certainly has,’ Lion told him. Though his helmet concealed his face, Jay was sure the man was smiling. ‘But we have to get out of here, this rescue isn't complete until we've managed to get out, after all.’

  ‘Yeah, about that,’ Leopard grunted. ‘We've got a problem.’ She'd pulled out a small scanner from the bottom of her radio and now held it up to show Lion.

  Despite the big man's friendly demeanour, he swore fervently.

  Karen was eying the scanner dubiously. ‘Are you sure?’

  Leopard scowled at her, ‘
of course I'm sure!’

  ‘So the escape route we were planning to use is in Trine's chamber,’ Lion stated.

  The three warriors stood in stony silence for a good second or two.

  ‘Falcon? Any thoughts?’

  Jay's eyes widened at that, because the captain addressed the question to Karen. He suddenly felt foolish, of course they wouldn't call her Karen, she had a medallion now.

  ‘I would've suggested trying to sneak our way back to our entry point,’ Falcon replied, her voice unbelievably calm, ‘but if anything we've heard about that machine is accurate, then we have to destroy it before we leave.’

  Jay almost burst with pride at that point. Karen acted like she'd been a warrior for ages. She fitted in with the other two Predgarians perfectly, as if she'd always been there. He started to have doubts then. Had she always been a Predgarian but hadn't told him? No, that couldn't be it, she would've used the medallion while they'd been running from Jackal.

  ‘I don't think that's plausible, Falcon,’ Lion told her. ‘We're here to rescue Jay, that's more the Dakkonin's line of work.’

  Falcon looked at him. ‘We're here, and the Dakkonin aren't. Are you really going to leave something that dangerous and hope the Dakkonin get round to it before it's used?’

  ‘Well, since you put it that way,’ Lion replied in a strained voice, ‘no I'm not.’

  ‘What's the plan?’ Leopard drawled.

  Lion took out his radio but Falcon instantly put a hand out, making him lower it.

  ‘We can't chance the Sarpiens picking up any transmissions,’ she told him. ‘If we're close to our escape route though, we should be able to reach Dove with telepathy.’

  Lion nodded. ‘You do it, you're the strongest out of the three of us in that area.’

  Falcon nodded back but turned to Jay before doing anything else. ‘Can you tell us anything about this machine of Cobra's?’

  Jay shuddered just thinking about it. ‘It's huge. They call it the Power Converter. They strapped a boy down on it and the beams started to glow with electricity. It all went into a big ball and shot down.’

  ‘They killed the kid?’ Leopard's fists clenched angrily.

  Jay shook his head. ‘I don't think so, I mean, he wasn't there afterwards. They turned him into a stone.’ He swallowed hard. ‘They said...they were going to do the same to me and...give me to Trine for dinner.’

  The three warriors looked at each other.

  ‘Tell Dove,’ Lion said to Falcon, his voice grim, ‘and when the time comes, I need her and Tiger to join the fight. We're probably going to need their power to destroy it.’

  Falcon nodded but didn't say anything. ‘Done,’ she told them after a couple of minutes. ‘They'll be ready.’

  ‘I didn't hear anything,’ Jay objected.

  ‘Telepathy's done in the mind, kid,’ Leopard said from behind, making him jump. ‘You weren't supposed to hear anything.’

  Lion rolled his shoulders in preparation. ‘Right then, let's go say hello to the Red Jackal.’

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Jackal finally turned around when Jay had managed to find the courage to crawl out of the cavern. It had taken him long enough, he'd been starting to run out of things to talk to Cobra about. He allowed himself a tight grin, Cobra must think he was overly worried about the attack to suddenly get so chatty with him.

  He grew serious again after a moment, he imagined that if the Pharollin were up above acting all belligerent there was some manner of rescue party sneaking about the tunnels. With a bit of luck they'd find Jay before someone else.

  Jackal's concern right now were the Pharollin themselves. With all his scheming and putting the necessary elements in place, he couldn't have foreseen that Blue Phoenix himself would lead the attack. Especially since he'd expected the Predgarians to ally with the Dakkonin.

  As he looked around the boulder-strewn cavern, Jackal thought about the best way to divert the attack. Leading them off probably wasn't an option. No, he had to take out some of their hoppers. He stopped his line of thought, realising Harrier was staring at him. He stared back and the Avian became very interested in the cavern ceiling.

  ‘Hello again, Jackal.’

  Jackal spun on the spot, not recognising the voice for any of his Sarpiens. He gaped, but didn't forget to locate where he'd placed his helmet a few feet away on rock.

  The large man, covered from head to toe in gleaming gold armour, stood confidently, awaiting his reply.

  ‘Well, I'll be,’ Jackal murmured. The Predgarian captain was brave, if not stupid. He let the surprise drop from his face as two more Predgarians appeared, at least, he assumed they were Predgarians. He'd never paid much attention to the individual warriors in Lion's unit. One was obviously a Feline, he instantly marked her out as one to watch for. Her armour revealed she was a colourless, a warrior more compatible with her medallion than was ordinary. Like the Praying Mantis, this meant she would be formidable.

  Jackal's eyes narrowed as he studied the other, taller warrior. The Predgarians had a silver bird of prey? Since when?

  ‘Well, if it isn't the Golden Lion,’ Jackal drawled as Harrier and Cobra backed him on either side. ‘I'd be very interested in knowing just what exactly you're doing here, and how you come to be here at all.’

  Jackal eyed Lion's golden broad sword, noting that with the captain's strength behind it, it could probably shear him in two.

  ‘Did you think I'd let you get away with kidnapping a boy right in front of my eyes, Jackal?’

  ‘Where is the boy?’ Cobra murmured.

  Harrier shrugged. ‘Can I have the silver, Jackal?’

  Jackal snorted. ‘Whatever you want.’ He drew his sabre. ‘You shouldn't have come here, Lion,’ he told the captain ominously before grinning fiercely. ‘Did you know that gold warriors are never killed by us? We always take them alive so we can break them and offer them as tribute to the Black Emissaries.’

  He made his grin purposefully malicious, knowing he'd frozen Lion's blood.

  The silver Avian sauntered in front of her captain, a look of extreme boredom on her face. ‘Talks a lot, doesn't he?’

  Jackal found it was his blood freezing now. He knew that voice, but it couldn't be!

  ‘Anyone would think he was afraid of something.’

  Jackal glared at her coldly, she'd completely ruined the mood. He hated it when she did that!

  Harrier rushed forwards without warning, his sword unsheathed and swinging through the air in readiness for the Talon-Slash.

  The Predgarian's casual stance evaporated in a second, and that long, sharp steel claw, the same one she'd always used when she was Sarpien, slid out. She leapt up, parrying Harrier's sword with it whilst simultaneously landing a Wind-Kick against his chest.

  Harrier tumbled back, yelping painfully as he landed on an out-jutting stone. As Lion's newest Predgarian landed lightly, perfectly poised for the next attack, everyone else unfroze.

  Jackal swerved out of reach as Lion stabbed for him with his shining blade. He spun towards the rock, picked up his heavy helmet and stuck it on his head firmly before lifting his sabre in answer to the captain's next challenge.

  As he parried Lion's broad sweeps, he had to admit that the man deserved that medallion. Despite his bulk he was as fast as any other Feline he'd faced, and the strength behind that broad sword was immense.

  Jackal really wanted to get a look at the wider battlefield though, so he abandoned his usual Canine and spun into a Lightning-Kick, knocking Lion back briefly and somersaulting backwards onto a broad stone which formed a type of small ledge.

  His eyes narrowed as he watched the silver Avian punch Harrier in the chest. He needed to get rid of Lion and get into that fight.

  There was an ominous hiss which echoed through the chamber. Jackal didn't need to look around to know what had happened. The noise had attracted Trine and he'd come out of his lair to see what was happening.

  The giant reptile's dee
p scarlet eyes began to glow and Jackal smiled evilly. He was about to get his chance to go speak with his old friend.

  ***

  Close in proximity to Lion as she was, Falcon knew he'd frozen at Jackal's words. She cursed herself for not mentioning this to him before now. She hadn't thought about it at all. Even the toughest warriors quailed at the thought of coercion, but the revelation that if he failed here they would take him to the dreaded Black Emissaries had stopped the brave captain cold.

  Falcon had hoped to get through this without alerting Jackal to who she was, but she had to break the hold he had on Lion, so stepped forwards. There was only thing she could think of, and that was to make light of the knowledge, to act as if Jackal's threat was empty, just a diversion. With a bit of luck, Lion might even believe her.

  She saw that familiar expression appear on Jackal's face. Falcon knew then that he'd recognised her voice. That look spoke volumes, he was cross that she'd spoilt his fun, “ruining the mood”, he'd always called it. Jackal always did have a passion for theatrics.

  While Jackal was still chewing on his disappointment, Harrier became impatient. His face was hot with anger and petty jealousy as he charged at her. A young Sarpien out to prove he deserved his armour, was how Falcon saw it. She allowed her disdain to show, letting the young man see her boredom at his supposed threat before leaping into a Wind-Kick and parrying his thrust with her claw.

  Falcon hadn't planned it but the Sarpien's impact on the sharp rock behind him was a bonus.

  Her lazy taunt and smooth reflection of Harrier's attack thankfully unfroze Lion. He swung his great sword, singling Jackal out. Now they had to follow the plan, fight through to the pool in the centre. At that point they could call in their back-up and attack the Power Converter.

  Falcon glanced up at it as she re-engaged with Harrier. It really was a monstrosity. Cobra was rushing to meet Leopard and Falcon swore to herself. She doubted Leopard could tackle the old Sarpien by herself.

  She ducked as Harrier made a pass at her. She parried his sword with her claw again and deftly punched him in the face. She threw a hard smile at him and turned into a Spinning-Claw, bowling him over.