Pieces

by Shannon Pemrick

  Damn you, Rylan. His gun gave him a serious advantage over me. I knew I shouldn’t be annoyed; this was what he was good at after all, but I didn’t particularly like being showed up. I decided to move to another location. We were too close to each other to effectively take out these soldiers.

  I stopped dead in the middle of my relocating when I caught the sound of someone walking nearby. Readying my bow, I pinpointed the source of the footprints and sought them out. I drew my bowstring back when I located the soldier on patrol and mustered up the spiritual energy needed to disable him. When a white-ish green light formed into the shape of an arrow, I let it fly. The man stopped dead in his tracks and then fell to the ground almost immediately. I stared with surprise. He had gone down quicker than the ones affected by Rylan’s sleep darts.

  Shaking myself of my state, I jumped down and checked to make sure he wasn’t actually dead. The book may say it couldn’t be lethal because it used spiritual energy, but I wanted to make sure. With me as inexperienced as I was, and our orders not kill anyone on this assignment if it wasn’t necessary, I needed to be sure. I pressed my fingers against the soldier’s throat and sighed with quiet relief when I felt his pulse. Content knowing he was alive, I went back to sneaking around and taking down all soldiers who crossed my path.

  I leaned against a wall and breathed with effort after taking out my sixth soldier. I’m spent. I wanted to help out more but I needed my energy in case of an emergency. And I couldn’t lie to myself, I was pretty sure I had already over done it.

  “Rylan, I’m out of ammo,” I called in.

  “It’s okay,” he replied. “We’re all in the clear now. Save your energy.”

  “So we’re free to head in?” Blaze called in.

  “Yes,” Rylan replied. “We’ll keep an eye out for stragglers and alert you to any danger out here.”

  “And be cautious inside,” I advised. “We don’t know how many soldiers will be in there.”

  “Don’t worry about that, Laz,” Ryoko said. “We have Raikidan with us. He’ll keep us safe.” She snickered. “Unless you’d rather him watch your back.”

  I went to retort out a reply but snickered instead when she yelped.

  “Focus, Ryoko,” Raikidan muttered.

  “Fine, fine, let’s get going,” she said grudgingly.

  I took a collective breath and headed for higher ground to be able to act as a good lookout. When I found it, I made myself comfortable and kept my eyes peeled. Everything was quiet, even the communicators. It was too quiet.

  I held my bow at the ready when I heard a noise and then relaxed when nothing appeared. I was getting paranoid now. Hurry up, guys. I knew it was best not to rush, as it could cause an issue, but this silence was too abnormal, and I was growing more paranoid by the moment.

  My blood ran cold when a siren blared and the compound lit up.

  “They were expecting this! They trapped a room,” Ryoko screamed.

  I swore under my breath and readied my bow. “Get out of there, now. No information is worth lives.”

  “We’ll keep things clear out here as best as we can,” Rylan added.

  “Right,” Ryoko replied.

  I kept my breath steady as I waited for the soldiers. It was only a matter of time before they’d swarm the building. Spiritual energy welled up inside me when one came into sight and I released the arrow. The solder crashed to the ground, and I didn’t waste any time aiming another spirit arrow at another soldier who came into view.

  I breathed heavily as my energy drained. I wouldn’t be able to do many more of these. Thank the gods, Rylan was on top of his game. I watched as several soldiers fell to the ground in succession, taken down by sleep darts.

  “You’re pathetic,” the malicious voice in my head insulted.

  Just then, Ryoko and the others sprinted out of the building. More soldiers than Rylan and I could handle swarmed in to intercept, but the others were ready and took them down. When the others took off for the planned exit, I left my perch and set a fast pace to catch up.

  I threw out a quick spiritual arrow at a soldier that crossed my path and stumbled right after. Not good. Righting myself, I continued on but my pace was far slower. I really shouldn’t have done that.

  “Idiot.”

  I gasped when I was jumped from behind, but before the soldier could engage me, someone plowed into him and knocked him out.

  My brow rose. “Raikidan?”

  He grabbed me by the wrist. “No time for questions. Let’s go.”

  “Don’t trust him.”

  He yanked me forward, but I struggled to keep up. “Raikidan, just go ahead of me. I expended too much energy. I can sneak out at a slower pace than you.”

  “No, we’re getting out of here together.” He turned around and scooped me up into his arms and then continued on so quickly that I was momentarily stunned.

  “Raikidan, I’m a liability to you,” I finally said. “It’s my fault for being in this state.”

  “I’m not going to tell you again.”

  I stared at him. Is this him being stubborn or something else?

  “Don’t trust him.”

  Raikidan put me down suddenly and took out a soldier running around the corner. I hadn’t even heard the guy. My lack of spiritual energy must be messing with my senses.

  “You’re pathetic.”

  I swung my bow behind me when movement caught the corner of my eye and I nailed a soldier in the face. The solidness of the bow knocked the soldier out, and Raikidan chuckled. “I’ll have to make sure I don’t piss you off when you’re carrying that.”

  I grinned. “I doubt that will stop you.”

  Raikidan scooped me up again. “You’re right. Now let’s go.”

  I sighed. I didn’t like that he was carrying me, and I really was slowing him down. But it was obvious he wasn’t going to listen to me, so I kept quiet; knowing full well I’d attract unwanted attention if I didn’t.

  I bit my lip when Raikidan stopped running and kept close to the wall of a building. Just beyond was the hole in the fence to get out of here, but I could hear soldiers as well. They had found our way out and as I listened, it became apparent they were also aware of our presence. My heart began to pound as they approached. We needed to think of something fast.

  I took a deep breath when I knew what I had to do. It was risky and stupid, but if it got us out of here then I needed to do it. Getting Raikidan’s attention I indicated I need him to put me down. He was reluctant but relented when I continued to insist.

  Peering around the corner, I took a head count before readying my bow and I filled my body with spiritual energy. But Raikidan stopped me. He shook his head to indicate he didn’t approve of my choice and I shook my head back to show him this had to be done. He scowled with disapproval, but we didn’t have time to argue like this. I built my energy up again, and when it was ready, I moved from our hiding spot and shot an arrow at one of the three soldiers.

  My target fell to the ground, shocking his comrades, allowing me to take another one out. I nearly fell to my knees as my energy drained from me, but I refused to give into my fatigue. There was one more soldier needing to be dealt with. He turned around and aimed his gun when he spotted me. But before confrontation happened, his body twitched, and a mostly hidden dart was seen sticking out of his shoulder before he fell. Sleep dart?

  I gasped when someone landed on the ground behind me and readied my heavy bow to swing it, but relaxed when I realized it was Rylan. “You shouldn’t do that.”

  “You shouldn’t push yourself so much,” he countered. “But we can argue later. I waited until you two got here so I knew everyone was out. We need to get moving before we’re caught.”

  I nodded and went to head for the exit but stumbled. Raikidan caught me and h
elped me walk to the fence and I didn’t fight him this time. Once all three of us were through, Raikidan picked me up again and Rylan motioned for us to follow him. My eyes grew heavy as we ran but I fought the urge to sleep. I couldn’t do that until we were safe.

  “Laz, are you okay?” Ryoko asked when we caught up with them.

  “She over did it,” Raikidan said for me. “Like always.”

  “Not always,” I argued.

  “Are you going to be okay?” Ryoko asked, not allowing an argument to transpire.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I said. “I just used up too much energy. It’ll come back soon. But we have more important things to worry about right now. We need to split up into pairs and shake these guys. Ryoko and Rylan will go one way, Blaze and Argus another, and Raikidan and I will go our own way.”

  Argus nodded. “Sounds like a good idea.”

  “Good, let’s get too it then,” I said.

  The other nodded and broke off into their pairs and disappeared into the city. Raikidan chose a direction and set a quick pace through several back alleys. The sirens of the compound blared in the distance, pushing us further and further. My energy came back to me slowly. When I felt I had enough to be able to at least run for a little while on my own, I grabbed Raikidan’s attention and had him hide us in an alley.

  “What gives?” he asked. “We can’t afford to stop.”

  “I need to run on my own now,” I said.

  “You don’t have the energy and we don’t have the time to argue about this.”

  “I have enough energy to run now. Besides, you can’t carry me the whole time. It’ll raise too much suspicion if someone sees us.”

  He sighed. “All right. I won’t take the time to argue this, but if you stumble even once, I’m carrying you, you got that?”

  I chuckled and started moving down the alley. “Sure.”

  “Laz,” Seda messaged telepathically. “Head for the park.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “There will be a psychic waiting for you. He will cloak you so you can seek shelter there and lower your threat level.”

  “What does he look like?”

  “Trust me, you’ll know when you see him. He’s not exactly the most… subtle person.”

  I chuckled and Raikidan looked at me. “What’s so funny?”

  “Something Seda just told me,” I admitted. “We’ll see how interesting things get in a moment.”

  His brow rose. “Huh?”

  I smirked. “We’re heading for the park. Follow me.”

  “You’re not making any sense.”

  I chuckled some more and lead him to the park. When we made it to the end of an alley directly in front of the park, I crouched down low and peeked out to look around. It was unusually quiet, but since I could still hear the compound warning sirens in the distance, I was sure people were staying off the streets so they wouldn’t get into trouble.

  I wondered if it would be a good idea to head across the street but then thought better of it. For all I knew people were looking out the windows of these buildings. I couldn’t take any chances.

  I ducked backed into the alley when the sound of people talking somewhere down the street caught my ear, but then chose to peer out again when I realized they were laughing. A man and a woman rounded a street corner, the man’s arm hanging over the woman’s shoulder, and I couldn’t stop my brow from rising.

  They were a bit of an odd couple. The woman, who was borderline young enough looking to be called a girl, was dressed in designer clothes and accessories many of the rich citizens in Quadrant Four indulged in wearing, where the man could only be described as a punk. Dark clothes with spikes, chains, dyed and spiked hair, he exuded the definition of stereotype. The only thing off about his look was the blindfold over his eyes. It can’t be. They were the only two on street, so it was possible he was the psychic who was supposed to help us, but I found it hard to believe. I ducked back into the alley as they headed our way and waited for them to pass.

  Just as the pair walked in front of the entrance to the alley, the psychic looked our way and smiled. “I’m cloaking you. You have thirty seconds to get across the street. The soldiers aren’t too far away.”

  He really was the psychic Seda had told me about. This surprised me.

  “What are you smiling at?” the psychic’s companion asked.

  He looked at her and continued to smile. “Just an alley cat stalking a rat.”

  “A rat?” she shrieked.

  “Don’t worry. I’m confident the cat will take care of it.”

  The woman sighed with relief.

  “Twenty two seconds, Eira. Better get your cute little ass moving.”

  I snorted and then grabbed Raikidan by the hand before dashing across the street.

  “Are those sirens still blaring?” the woman asked the psychic.

  “Looks like it,” the psychic replied. “You aren’t scared are you?”

  “I just don’t want to get into trouble for walking down the street or anything,” she admitted.

  He bent closer to her. “I’ll keep you safe, but if you really want to get off the street, we can go back to my place.”

  “No rodents?” she asked.

  “No rodents.” He chuckled. “Can’t be so sure on snakes, though.”

  I rolled my eyes. He really wasn’t subtle.

  “Eira, where are we going?” Raikidan asked, pulling my attention away from the psychic and his companion.

  “Farther into the park,” I said.

  “Why?” he asked. “How is it going to help us get out of this mess?”

  “Well, I thought it would be a good way for us to play up my amnesia alibi,” I said.

  “How so?”

  I held up my bow. “By using this as a prop. We are supposed to be from a village, after all, and I’d rather have the job of hunter than tailor or stay-at-home wife.”

  He nodded. “Not a bad idea. When did you come up with it?”

  “Just now.”

  “Seriously?”

  I found a secluded spot by a tree to sit down by. “Well, Seda is the one who told us to come this way, without any other plan, so I wasn’t sure what to do. But having to carry this heavy thing around and seeing that psychic blend in by… well, not blending in, I thought about how we could use both to our advantage. This is what I came up with.”

  Raikidan sat down next to me. “Is that bow really that heavy?”

  “Lie,” the malevolent voice in my head hissed.

  “When I’m at full strength no, but I’m so low on energy right now that it is. I also converted most of what energy I do have to endurance, and not strength, so that attributes to the heaviness. And even if I was at full strength, because of its size, it is difficult to carry the way I have to in order to move around. As useful as honing this technique is, I don’t think I’ll be using it again.”

  “Do you think you could make something smaller?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “If I could unlock the secret on how this was made, then maybe, but I don’t think I’ll find that easily. Finding out how to use this one was tough enough.”

  He nodded and then looked elsewhere when soldiers entered the park and began shouting and running about. It was time to put on our act.

  “Are you sure I’m doing this right?” I asked Raikidan.

  He chuckled. “Of course I’m sure. You’re picking it back up real quick. Your skill level is already half of what it used to be.”

  “Was I really that good?”

  He grinned. “One of the best.”

  I smiled and then looked away when two soldiers approached. They had weapons drawn but their posture wasn’t aggressive so I chose not to act defensively. Instead I was going to
mess with Raikidan.

  “I told you we should have gone home,” I said as I looked at him.

  He gave me an unamused look before looking back at the soldiers. “We can explain why we’re here.”

  One of the soldiers, a ranking officer, stared us down. “You have a lot to explain. First, what are you doing here with such a weapon?”

  “Trying to get her to remember how to use it,” Raikidan explained. “It’s part of her recovery process. We have no arrows, so we’re no of any danger to anyone.”

  “Recovery process?”

  The subordinate soldier leaned closer to the officer and kept his voice low. “She’s the amnesia woman who works for the shop owner, Zane, and the club owner, Azriel.”

  The officer nodded. “Very well. Either of you two care to explain why you’re still here? Can you not hear the warning sirens?”

  “You outrank him. Teach him a lesson for his attitude.”

  Raikidan nodded. “We don’t live close by and since we walked here, I thought it was best if we stayed put. We didn’t want to cause any of you more trouble than needed.”

  The officer watched us suspiciously and I worried he wouldn’t buy our story. Raikidan was being diplomatic, which surprised me, and he made our story sound convincing to me, but with the odds stacked against us it may not be enough to clear us.

  “Don’t you dare start groveling!”

  I looked at the officer with my best innocent look I could muster and surprisingly it helped because he nodded. “Get these two some passes and send them home.”

  He walked away without another word, leaving the other soldier to deal with us. He was far friendlier. “Please follow me. I have to get you some passes to give you passage through the city.”

  “Can’t we just go home?” I asked.

  “If you didn’t have that bow with you, yes,” he admitted. “But since you’ve already spoken to us about its presence we’ll need to write something up in case. We don’t want another squad on patrol giving you trouble.”