The Witch; Stronghold; Underworld

by Ky Tyrand

  This time, she didn’t test or tug. Instead, she pulled with all her might.

  The resistance she was expecting wasn’t there, catching her by surprise and sending her toppling back down to the grass. But she kept pulling, retracting the strands faster and faster – ignoring Je’nna when she glanced over her shoulder and shook her head. It must have been a sight to see her sprawled on the ground. But Ki’ara didn’t care. She was getting her Niksuru back!

  The Princess smiled when the handle came into view, shooting across the canyon like a bullet.

  Je’nna started when she spotted it, rolling to the side only an instant before it shot past her.

  The little bar made a loud clap when it landed in Ki’ara’s hand. Even though they didn’t light up, the girl couldn’t help but grin once she had them both in her possession. Sir Grue’gan had told her that they’d belonged to her mother. That was enough for Ki’ara to keep them forever, even if the Blue Energy never returned.

  Now if she could just get her Mu’turi to cooperate, she would have somewhere to put them.

  As if it had read her mind, Ki’ara’s skin began to tingle.

  That’s it, I can feel it!

  The mysterious substance within her body slowly surface, lengthening her sleeves and leggings. But it wasn’t the perfect textile that normally appeared. It looked mottled and full of holes – like an outfit that had sat in the closet too long and been nibbled on by moths. After some examination she realized that the voids were circling several small abrasions where glass had pierced her skin. She suddenly felt several sharp stings as slivers and shards were pushed to the surface, dropping to the ground as the missing spots slowly filled in.

  Only the slightest bit of blood appeared as the Mu’turi pushed the impurities out and then squeezed the cuts firmly closed.

  Ki’ara placed the cylindrical Niksuru handles onto her wrists and beamed as her Mu’turi wrapped them securely in place. She caught herself nearly kissing them before remembering they’d been in the sweaty hands of some icky people. “Ewe,” she muttered, when it occurred to her that at least one of those hands was still unaccounted for.

  Satisfied that there wasn’t any permanent damage to her weapons, her Mu’turi, or herself, Ki’ara turned her attention back to Je’nna. “So, how did you find me, any…?”

  “Shhh,” was her reply.

  Ki’ara pulled a face as she watched Je’nna make adjustments to her gun.

  “Got ‘em,” said the pink-haired girl, pulling her earpiece out so they could both hear…

  “…Get to work on those tires. We need them patched and filled. In the meantime, see if you can round us up some horses. And find out what you can from the Innkeeper. I want to know where she was headed.”

  Je’nna looked up from her rifle. “Did you ask the Innkeeper about Sirona?” she whispered.

  Ki’ara nodded.

  “What did he say?”

  “That she’s in a cabin at the top of some canyon trail to the south of here.”

  Je’nna frowned and folded her gun, sliding it back into its compartment on the bike. “We better get moving.”

  24

  Another compartment opened at Je’nna touch, this one revealing a flat metal bar, not much more than a foot in length. A round, mechanical looking protrusion domed out from the face on one side of each end.

  “Here.” Je’nna handed it to Ki’ara. “Put this on.”

  Ki’ara took the strange device in both hands, holding it in front of her before looking up at the other girl.

  About to hop onto her bike, Je’nna sighed and turned back, mumbling something about how little they must teach in Princess School. “Like this,” she said, touching the raised parts at the ends.

  The circles began to move, rotating back and forth, changing shape ever so slightly. Something had been activated inside them, and now each end was coming to life.

  Ki’ara jumped when small metal straps began emerging from the sides. There were six of them in total – four extending from one end, and two from the sides of the other. Just like Grue’gan’s special storage compartment, these devices somehow housed a far greater amount of material than they should be able to. But the unnerving part was what the bands reminded her of: Her uncle’s special bonding devices.

  Tho’ran wore them on his person before using the magical straps to subdue unsuspecting captives. The girl scowled when she remembered the last time she saw him. He had intended to use the bonds on her.

  Ki’ara took her hands off the device and backed away. The memory of her uncle’s betrayal, and the thought of him trying to subdue her, was too much.

  “What?” Je’nna held it out to her. “You have to put it on.”

  Put it on? “I have to wear that thing?”

  “Yes. What’s wrong with you?” Je’nna caught Ki’ara by the shoulder and spun her around. “Like this…” she pressed it to Ki’ara’s back. Two straps immediately snaked around her waist, clicking together when the ends touched one another below her navel. The four top straps did the same, curling around her shoulders before the tips found each other like magnets. Ki’ara’s heart thumped uncontrollably as the straps cinched tightly around her body.

  But the mechanisms weren’t finished.

  Smaller tubes telescoped down her arms and legs, before bands clasped around her elbows and knees, her wrists and ankles. The straps sized themselves to fit perfectly, even atop the Niksuru on her wrists.

  “Relax,” said Je’nna. “It’s not going to bite you.”

  Ki’ara tried to calm her nerves, but it seemed impossible.

  “Now, let your Mu’turi merge with it.”

  That was not what Ki’ara was expecting to hear. She felt guilty when, for an instant, she wondered if this was some kind of trick to separate the Mu’turi from her. But then she reminded herself that Je’nna had just saved her life. Would I feel differently if I hadn’t just watched her run off?

  Ki’ara let out a breath. She was still rattled by the events at the Inn, and her fear of Syjak’s brother. Not even the Keeper had frightened her that much. Ki’ara didn’t know if it was because of the Dark Matter that he possessed, or just how badly the man wanted to hurt her. She settled on it being a combination of the two.

  Her Mu’turi seemed to naturally want to connect with the harness. At first Ki’ara resisted, trying to hold it all within her body. But when Je’nna nodded to her, she forced herself to relax and let it go.

  Mu’turi particles exited her pores, leaving Ki’ara feeling nauseous and empty as they left her for the device. They swept into the harness, surging through the intricate inner workings and devouring the details of the hi-tech mechanisms. And then, satisfied that every bit of information had been extracted, most – but not all – of the Mu’turi returned to her with its findings. The particles that remained behind kept her connected to the device in a way that made it feel almost as much a part of her as her Niksuru, or the Mu’turi itself.

  She looked up at Je’nna with a smile. The girl could now sense exactly how to work the harness, and realized that, not only was Je’nna wearing an identical device herself, but so had all of CST-1 when she met them in the simulation room. This was their special hi-tech armor.

  All Ki’ara had to do was think about it and little fiber plates began flipping out of the harness bands, wrapping themselves around her from every angle until her body was completely covered in a layer of thin armor. Her eyebrows were up as she examined what had materialized, and she even let out a chuckle. This was not bulky, one-size-fits-all, chain-mail – it was sleek and lightweight, ultrathin panels that joined together in just the right places, as if every component had been designed specifically for her body.

  And, just like the textiles Ki’ara could form with her Mu’turi, the armor didn’t bunch or stretch – it just reshaped itself to her every movement. The technology seemed to work in perfect synchronization with her Mu’turi. She was even able to change the color!

  Ki
’ara had never worn any kind of armor before, but she couldn’t imagine any being as comfortable as this. And it was so light that she barely felt that it was on her. The more she thought about it, the more Ki’ara wondered if it would be an effective form of defense, or just a neat gadget. All show and no action, so to speak.

  Once again Je’nna seemed to read her mind, giving her a wink before drawing one of her blasters and shooting Ki’ara in the chest.

  As disturbing as it was, Ki’ara had been shot by Je’nna’s pistols enough times to know that there was more power in this blast than any the girl had previously thrown her way. She could tell by how far it knocked her back. But Ki’ara barely felt a thing. The suit even seemed to cushion her from being jostled around by the sudden impact – absorbing the blow in a way that hard plates alone could not.

  When she looked back at Je’nna, the other girl grinned and tapped her own temple.

  Ki’ara understood what the gesture meant, and imagined a helmet being on her head, just like CST-1 wore. No sooner had she thought it than Ki’ara felt a buzzing vibration on her back, and the quiet sound of whispering motion. It came from the domed mechanism between her shoulder blades, from which straps and particles whipped over her head and around her face. There was suddenly a screen in front of her eyes, displaying all kinds of interesting information, including bearings, wind speed, elevation, and even a contour map showing their precise location.

  In complete awe of the technology, Ki’ara’s eyes darted from side to side, examining the screen and display that surrounded her field of vision. Words and numbers seemed to hover in front of her eyes, clear and surprisingly easy to read. Ki’ara would have thought she’d go cross-eyed trying to focus on something so close, but that wasn’t the case at all. Everything was crystal clear, even at a glance, and didn’t seem to strain her eyes in the slightest.

  Though some of the information was perhaps useful, a lot of it seemed trivial and more distracting than valuable.

  She could still see through it all, to the world outside her helmet, which almost didn’t seem real anymore.

  Je’nna was in the middle of the screen, with a green outline around her and the word HARDWARE displayed in white letters near her feet. Her gun was raised again, higher this time. Her contour switched from green to yellow, the gun in her hand flashed red.

  Ki’ara braced herself for another hit. It came with enough power to send her flying through the air, slamming into a bank of hard rock. She rebounded and dropped, landing face first in the dirt. Though she had felt the shot, and her impact against the wall, there was no pain to it. She didn’t even feel rattled. The armor was clearly absorbing forces in ways that were impossible for conventional materials.

  When Ki’ara picked herself up, Je’nna was still walking toward her. The blast must have sent her nearly fifteen paces. She couldn’t imagine what that shot would have done to her without the protection of the armor.

  Reaching out a hand, Je’nna pulled Ki’ara to her feet. “You okay?” she asked, unable to hide the sly grin that dimpled her cheeks.

  Though happy to see that Je’nna’s pistols were both holstered, Ki’ara admitted, “I barely felt a thing.”

  “You would if you got hit with enough crap,” said Je’nna. “But it will definitely minimize the blow.”

  Ki’ara brushed off the dirt. “I’ve never seen technology like this before.”

  “Hybrid Tech,” muttered Je’nna. “Like your weapons and my guns. Except these ones actually merge with your Mu’turi.”

  “How…?”

  Je’nna shrugged. “Some kind of Interdimensional Storage, like your Guardian’s shield, and Nanotech something-or-other. Stuff I don’t understand. But it’s saved my life more than once. And it will keep your skinny butt on the bike.”

  Ki’ara didn’t understand the last comment, but followed the other girl back to her craft. Je’nna touched it a certain way and the vehicle lifted off the ground like it was weightless. The little feet that had been supporting it folded back into the sides.

  “See,” said Je’nna, showing her how the bands around her knees and ankles could lock themselves to thin rails along the sides of the bike.

  There were no clips of visible anchors, but Ki’ara understood the concept. It was very similar to how she used her Mu’turi to hold the Niksuru to her wrists. All she had to do was think about it, and the bands latched themselves firmly into place.

  Je’nna launched the craft forward, navigating her way around bushes and rocks until she got back onto a smoother road. The urgency was back on, and Je’nna kept the bike moving at a pace that far exceeded the speed Ki’ara felt comfortable with.

  Despite feeling far more secure in her seat, Ki’ara kept a firm grip around Je’nna’s waist, while her own striped hair flapped behind her like a cape. She wondered how Je’nna had been able to fit her pink pig-tails under her helmet, while Ki’ara’s long mane pushed out the sides of hers. She figured there must be a trick to it, but she wasn’t about to try and re-adjust it at while moving this fast.

  Like everywhere in this jungle, even the best roads were winding and dangerous, snaking between mountains and cliffs, over bridges and through tunnels. And this particular road was far from the best. One terrifying stretch followed along the side of a cliff, with loose rock above and a bottomless drop below. The turns were sharp, and the obstacles often hidden until the bike was on top of them. Fallen rocks and twisted Tanglewood roots seemed to be the most common threat. And with a sheer drop lurking to the side, one wrong turn could easily lead to their demise.

  To make matters worse, it was already getting dark. Though the sun was still shining brightly against the mountains on the horizon, the steep canyon surrounding their path was murky with shadows that got darker with every bend.

  Nevertheless, Je’nna maintained a relentless pace – one that Ki’ara’s heart tried to outmatch as they raced along. It was a rush, and Ki’ara was thankful that Je’nna had shown her how to secure herself with the harness. At least she didn’t feel like she was going to fall off at every turn or jump.

  Ki’ara could hear Je’nna clearly through a communication device built into the helmet, barking at her to “lean into the corners”.

  After a while she began to anticipate how Je’nna would take the turns, and leaned right along with her.

  “I thought you were afraid of heights,” Ki’ara commented, as they slid around a corner, sending rocks tumbling over the ledge.

  “I’m not afraid of anything,” snapped Je’nna, before adding in a softer tone, “I just don’t particularly like them.”

  Ki’ara saw this as a testament to how desperately Je’nna wanted to find her friends. Though Ki’ara was anxious to bring this Sirona person back to Sanctuary, the reality was that CST-1 had already gone after her, and not reported back. It was clear that Je’nna really cared for these people, and was terribly concerned about what became of them. Probably even Ashley, who, on the surface, Je’nna seemed to despise. But especially Darius. Whether Je’nna wanted to admit it or not, Ki’ara could tell that she had some pretty serious feelings for him.

  “So why did that guy have it in for you, anyway?” asked Je’nna.

  Ki’ara didn’t answer right away. When she finally did, her words were soft. “I may have killed his brother.”

  The bike wobbled. “You killed somebody?” Je’nna sounded stunned. “You?”

  “Yes.”

  “Like … dead?”

  Ki’ara let out a breath. What other kind of killed is there?

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, Je’nna, I’m sure,” snapped Ki’ara, wondering why it seemed so hard to believe.

  “Who’s his brother?” Je’nna pressed.

  It took Ki’ara a moment to reply. She hated reliving it. “A man named Syjak.”

  The Princess felt the bike swerve again.

  “Syjak!?!” Je’nna squealed, “You…? Killed Syjak.”

  “Is that so har
d to believe?”

  “Uh … yeah,” said Je’nna.

  Ki’ara scowled through her helmet. “Why is that?”

  “Because,” replied Je’nna. “Syjak is … dangerous. He’s rumored to be one of the best fighters in Avalon.”

  Another moment of silence before Ki’ara corrected her, “Not anymore.”

  “Huh,” said Je’nna. “I suppose not. So, what did he do?”

  “He tried to kill my father. And then he tried to kill my friend.”

  Je’nna nodded. “I see.”

  “I didn’t want to kill him, Je’nna,” Ki’ara stated.

  “I can respect that.”

  “Really?”

  “Sure. But these guys, Ki’ara … they want you dead. Especially him. We got lucky back at the Inn. But if you get in that situation again, you can’t hold back like last time. It’s you or them.”

  “I didn’t hold back…”

  The helmet in front of Ki’ara shook from side to side. “You could have killed them with your Blue Energy weapons. You could have cut them all down in a single throw, before Tattoo showed up. But you didn’t.”

  Ki’ara didn’t answer. She wasn’t sure what it would take to get her to kill someone again. Even someone as evil as Syjak. His brother seemed just as bad, if not worse. But could she kill him? I wasn’t even strong enough to kill the Keeper, for crying out loud. “You held back, too,” Ki’ara reminded Je’nna.

  “Whu…?”

  “You had your blasters out, and could have started shooting.”

  “It was a bluff, Ki’ara. If I had have started shooting, we probably would have both gotten killed.”

  Out of arguments, Ki’ara silently mouthed Je’nna’s words along with her, making the most sarcastic face that her helmet could possible hide. “I’m not a killer,” she said, after.

  “You’ve got a hard road ahead, Princess,” said Je’nna. “If you want to keep your head, you might have to start making the first cut.”

  Ki’ara didn’t know exactly what that meant. Nor did she want to think about it. So she changed the subject, instead. “What do you think we’ll find?”