by Cynthia Lore
Markar’s whole demeanor darkened at her words. “We should leave this planet. It is too dangerous.” he commanded, his voice rising to a growl.
“No!” Rae shouted in shock. “Please don’t make me leave, Markar. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me!”
Markar’s head tilted to the side in apparent confusion. “It doesn’t have to be.” he finally stated.
“What do you mean?” Rae asked.
“There are other habitable planets. Ones with less violence on them.” Markar stated calmly. “I could take you to one.”
Rae looked down in thought. “No. I couldn’t do that to you. You have a mission to complete.”
One eyebrow lifted as Markar let out a laugh, but with almost no humor in the sound. “Look around us. It is already complete! There is no higher intelligence left on this planet. What was once a flourishing society has been utterly annihilated.”
Rae frowned at his dark words. “You don’t know that!”
“But I do, Rae. I have been exploring other planets for longer than I can remember. I know a dying planet when I see one.”
His cynical explanation reminded her that his own planet was nearly inhospitable. Rae couldn’t see any signs indicating the planet they were on was dying, but she had never seen one before. Maybe there were signs she was missing?
“Okay. We can leave…” she said in dejection. Rae lifted her head suddenly to stare defiantly at Markar. There was only one way she was agreeing to this. “…only if you promise to take me to a better planet!”
The smile that curved across Markar’s lips could only be described as victorious, gloating even. In the darkness of the night it almost looked wicked in its triumph. “I would be glad to.” he finally stated. “I cannot transmit us to our ship from underneath this forest. We will have to find open ground tomorrow.”
Rae nodded in acceptance. She was exhausted and wouldn’t mind spending one more night on the strange planet; even if it’s forest was beginning to terrify her.
-
Markar woke her the next day, the morning sun’s rays barely passing through the thick foliage of the forest. Rae rubbed her tired eyes. Her sleep was anything but restful, strange dreams having woken her up countless times throughout the night.
The two quickly packed up their camp and Rae followed Markar’s unwavering path, hopefully leading out of the darkness to open land. Markar kept a quick pace, and Rae, in her tired state, could barely keep up with the man.
Eventually, hours later, more light could be seen filtering through the treetops. The sense of gloom Rae felt since the previous night began to lift as she watched everything slowly begin to brighten around her. The trees started to thin, and small slivers of the outside landscape could be seen peeking out from behind their trunks.
Rae’s heart began to beat faster at the thought of escaping the darkness, and she quickened her pace, overcoming Markar and hurrying towards the open land beyond. Her movement’s frightened hidden creatures in the underbrush, and small streaks of fleeing animals could be seen out of her peripheral vision. Rae took no notice of them; she was almost free.
Her heart hammering in her chest, Rae pushed herself harder, a feeling of desperation taking over. Markar called out, but she paid no attention, leaving him far behind her. Breaking out into glorious sunlight and open land Rae finally felt a sense of relief, but it was short lived.
Suddenly, a large shadow fell over her and all the surrounding land, even as a screeching roar rent through the air. Her heart now hammering out of fear, Rae looked behind her, and above her, only to see a monster. A monster straight out of a fairytale, but it was no beautiful creature of legend. Dark wings were spread wide blocking out the sky. Black body snaking closer to its prey, long jaws and sharp teeth opened wide to let out another shriek, the unnatural sound like metal grating against metal.
Rae came to an abrupt halt, her feat digging into the soft dirt, nearly falling in her haste to stop. Shoving her hands over her ears to keep out the awful screeching, Rae gasped in horror as she saw the monster fly over her to dive towards the ground devouring some poor animal in its massive jaws.
This was a dragon. A real-life, storybook dragon, and it wasn’t beautiful, it wasn’t magical, it was terrifying. Rae mumbled some soul wrenching denial at what she was seeing, but at her muffled words the monster whipped its long neck around and it’s reptilian gaze went unerringly straight to her.
Rae’s eyes widened in fear and her mind blanked as all her military training failed her. Animalistic instincts kicked in and she pivoted her body around and ran. With the dragon’s heated breath on the back of her neck, Rae ran for everything she was worth, quickly passing Markar once again to dive into the safety of the woods.
Flattening her body against the safe side of a large tree, her chest heaving with every labored breath, Rae froze, waiting for the creature’s next move. It wasn’t long before the monster let out another terrifying cry, this time so close to Rae that her heart nearly burst in fear.
The air around her seemed to sizzle, crackling, as waves of heat formed and began to float upwards. All this right before fire burst forth from the mouth of the dragon to surround Rae on all sides. Walls of flame crowded her in and Rae cowered even closer to the tree she was hiding behind, for without its protection she would die. The fire singed strands of her hair and heated her skin, but the tree was just large enough to keep her from burning alive.
Rae covered her head with her hands, peaking through her fingers to see fire dancing all around her, roaring with its heat. Drowning out any other sound with its powerful inferno.
And just as quickly as it had surrounded her, it was gone.
Rae lifted her head slowly, peaking around her, afraid to move. Just when her nerves had begun to calm, the tree behind her exploded. Screaming, Rae scrambled to her feat, falling over herself to get away from her former hiding place.
Bark shattered, pieces hitting her, scraping skin. Rae’s wide eyes looked back at her tree to see giant, sharp teeth gritting the sides of the trunk. With one mighty pull, the dragon began to uproot the tree, slowly pulling the tangled roots from the earth and lifting the entire thing towards the sky.
Rae was left exposed, other trees surrounding her, but too frozen in horror and awe to crawl towards another hiding place. She was left sprawled on the ground, watching an entire tree ascend upwards inside the jaws of the largest creature she had ever seen.
Bits of dirt fell from the roots, hitting Rae and speckling the ground around her as the tree was brought higher, blocking out the sunlight. With one strong jerk of its head, the dragon flung the entire thing about a hundred feet away. It’s momentum only stopped by the forest surrounding them. The sharp crack of bark against bark could be heard as the uprooted tree finally crashed into its final resting place, burnt and broken.
When the dragon finally turned its reptilian stare back to Rae, she screamed like a little girl, her cry high pitched and utterly terrified. Still shaking with fear, her trembling hand made its way towards the gun at her hip. Without her military training, without all the years of teaching her body to move in situations just like this, Rae would have been frozen in terror. Her mind was indeed frozen in panic, but her muscles began performing the movements they had been trained to complete.
Slowly removing the gun from the holster at her hip, Rae wrapped both hands around the thing, her body still shaking in fear. Squeezing the trigger, she watched as the laser beam released by the weapon hit the dragon in the chest, singeing already blackened scales. The creature didn’t even blink at the hit.
Instead, his massive jaws opened and his long neck whipped outward towards Rae. Teeth hurtling towards her as fast as any bullet, Rae watched in surprise as her own impending death moved towards her for a second time on the strange alien planet.
Pain sliced through her, but it was hardly noticeable over the shock. Adrenaline pouring through her system numbed her nerves, leaving her able to watch in th
e clearest detail what was happening around her.
The black scales of the beast were in reaching distance. Its yellow teeth were clearly visible, each nearly a foot long. And two of those giant daggers were now embedded deep within Rae’s thigh.
She had seen wounds like this before. Bullets cutting through the femoral artery caused soldiers to bleed out on the battlefield. Blood pulling under them faster than a tourniquet could be made. Soldiers dying from what seemed like an insignificant wound, not knowing that a major vein had been destroyed. Rae didn’t have a bullet to deal with, she had dragon’s teeth clamping down, quickly releasing more of her life’s blood.
With the sudden movement pain hit her hard, and this time Rae’s cry wasn’t high pitched and embarrassing, it was low and raw, drawn out by her agony.
Driven by Instincts
Markar watched helplessly as the beast sprinted towards Rae. It was impossibly fast for its size. Probably one of the reasons it had decimated the ecosystem of the entire planet. If there were any more of this horrible creature, nothing on the surface would have stood a chance.
All of the animals could sense the beast’s presence, but even fleeing was no option. If driven to open ground, they were easy prey for the flying creature. If driven into the forest, the flames the great predator produced would flush them out. The combination created the perfect killing machine, one with a seemingly endless appetite.
Markar could sense the creature from the moment they had arrived on the planet. He had assumed Rae had the same skill, but he had been proven horribly wrong. She had run straight into the monster’s trap, and as one of the largest meals still available on the dying planet, she was marked for death.
With that thought running through his mind, Markar began to sprint towards the battle site. He was too late to stop the flames that burst forth from the monster’s mouth, but when he saw the creature uproot a tree, fling it as if it were a twig, the sound of it crashing into the forest far beyond them, something broke within him.
All Morians were trained from birth to be more than capable to handle any situation that might arise from long years of space exploration. Both physically and mentally, they trained for years before being awarded the honor of their own ship and the Directive. Markar had thought himself more than capable of handling any situation, on any planet, but for this situation, for this planet, he felt worthless.
Gone was the assurance that he would be the one to prevail; gone was the assurance that he was the dominant creature. He felt like a small child, helpless as he watched the events unfold around him. He was frozen in fear. Fear for the death of his dear friend, Rae. Her life meaning more to him than his own.
But then, suddenly, he heard her cry out. High pitched and strange to his ears, a sound he had never heard before; an eerie wail he had thought not possible to produce. It carried over the creature, across the field, and entered straight into some dark recesses of his mind, triggering long buried, almost dead, instincts. Now, before his conscious mind even realized what he was doing, he was running- his course taking him straight towards the reptilian monster.
There was no time to think, no time to question. The paralyzing fear that he would lose Rae forever was gone, and replaced with pure all-driving instinct. Reaching the long, snake-like tail of the monster, Markar began to pull the demon away from its prey.
That’s when he heard Rae cry out for a second time. This time her cry was not foreign; it wasn’t strange. He recognized that sound. Icy tendrils of fear slithered down his spine. Time stood still as his heart stopped beating. Everything froze. For the first time in Markar’s long life he felt absolute, all consuming, terror. For the scream that he had heard come from Rae was not one of fright, it was of pain.
“No…” Markar murmured in denial as Rae cried out again from agony.
Every second began to feel like a thousand years. Everything around him was still, the whole planet waiting to see what would happen, but Markar was not frozen in fear. The fear was gone.
Terror moved him faster than he had ever moved before. All those years at the Academy training to defend his own life in just such a scenario had never accounted for another person. He couldn’t rely on his training; he had to rely on instinct.
Jumping onto the demon’s back, Markar pulled his sword from its sheath. The scales and ridges covering the creature made it hard to keep his footing as the great monster began to writhe underneath him, but Markar hardly noticed. His mind was strangely blank. He was calm. His purpose clear.
With both hands, he lifted the sword high into the air, the sun glinting off of the polished metal. The blade danced in the light as Markar plunged it back down into the creature’s hide with all of his strength.
The blade didn’t go in easily.
The sound of the weapon piercing the thick skin was like that of metal scraping against stone. Markar pressed down, his muscles straining against the reluctant sheathing of the sword. The blade began to glow as the weapon strained under the pressure, cracking, bending, reforging itself as it was pushed beyond its limits. The metal was white hot, almost unbearable to hold. The technology imbedded into the weapon to insure its indestructibility was working against its master. Markar ignored the pain and wrenched the blade out of the monster’s body, only to plunge it into the hard surface once again.
The heat burned his hands, feeling similar to the heat of his own body, as his muscles strained to force the blade back into the thick, stone-like skin of the demon. Markar began to wonder if he would break before the blade did.
At that thought, he looked up to see far beyond him, Rae lying on the ground. She clutched her leg. Red liquid pooled below her: horrible, crimson bedding, blanketing the earth underneath her. Her eyes were open. Markar could see her life within them. The slight fluttering of her lashes giving him hope. Her eyes refocused onto him.
He withdrew the blade one more time. The monster writhed below him. It’s long neck whipping around, trying to knock Markar from his back.
His sword clutched tightly in his right hand, Markar reached out with his left to block the glancing blow of the beast’s long neck. Finding purchase in the strange ropelike hair on the great reptile’s head, Markar held the swinging pendulum still.
His right hand lifted, the light no longer danced through the air, the dull blade was caked with burnt blood, but the sword was still razor sharp. Cutting through the thick scales of the neck was like cutting through stone, but Markar had hope to keep him moving through the pain. The sword was burning, melting, reforming in his very hand as he forced it to slice through the mineral exoskeleton of a monster.
The beast screeched in pain. Its scream turning into a gurgling moan as Markar’s weapon sawed steadily through its vocal cords. He vaguely wondered if it was the first time in the monster’s life it had felt any pain. It had killed so much… an entire world.
-
Rae could feel herself getting weaker. She knew she needed to stop the bleeding. She needed to make a tourniquet, but she was just so tired. The pain seemed to be fading, and she just wanted to rest now.
She could hear the alien screeches of the dragon. It had finally left her. Did it decide it didn’t like the taste of human flesh?
It sounded far away.
Rae’s vision was blurring. She was so tired. If she could just rest, maybe close her eyes for a while. Lifting her eyelids was so hard to do.
Sunlight glanced over her face, awakening her. Rae opened her eyes… slowly… to see Markar’s bright luminescent yellow shining down on her. His eyes were glowing. Like twin suns, they brightened everything around him.
He was fighting the dragon. His movements were so fast. He was quicker than the killing machine he was now killing. It was shocking to see such a human looking man performing such inhuman feats.
He looked invincible holding the severed head of the dragon in his hand, like some barbarian hero. Rae smiled at the thought.
The next time she opened her eyes Markar was
leaning over her. He didn’t look invincible now. He looked worried. Rae licked her dry lips, trying to speak, but it seemed to take too much effort.
“What’s wrong Markar?” Her voice came out like a whisper. She had meant to say that louder. There were tears in his eyes, and the large man was shaking. “Are you okay?” Rae asked. Her throat was so dry.
“STOP!” he yelled. “Stop talking! I need to get you to the ship… I need to get you to medical.” His voice trembled, just like his body was.
“Its okay. I know I’m dying” Rae felt calm. She wasn’t trembling. She felt at peace. She had been ready for this day for a long time. You had to be in her line of work.
“You can’t die! No, Rae! No!” At that Markar lifted her. The sudden movement brought the pain back and Rae cried out. The sound was quieter than she expected. Her voice seemed to be muted. Her head lolled back, unsupported. She didn’t have the strength to lift it, let alone hold on as Markar ran.
“You promised to stay with me.” he stated.
He sounded so alone, so lost. Rae wanted to apologize. It was all her fault. She was the one who insisted on coming to the God-forsaken planet! But she was just so tired. She couldn’t find the energy to speak.
Rae closed her eyes and instantly fell asleep.
Awakened
Rae opened her eyes to find Markar glaring at her.
“What?” She asked defensively. Her voice cracked from disuse. Rae stretched her jaw, the muscles stiff and sore. She blinked, glancing upwards at the bright lights from the ship. They seemed too bright to her. Her eyes jerked back up to the ceiling.
She was in the ship!
She wasn’t dead!
Rae turned and smiled at a still glaring Markar. His mouth began to twitch at one corned as if he wanted to smile as well, but was resisting.
