Shimmering like water, the skin of the giant creature transformed from resembling tree bark to appearing amphibious. The creature opened a pair of large, watery yellow eyes, and it revealed a huge gaping mouth with long serrated teeth.
Slowly the tentacle around Robin’s ankle tugged him so close to one of the creature’s great eyes that Robin could see his reflection in it.
“What are you looking at?” he growled as he pulled his bow from the small of his back. He leveled the arrow and shot it through the creature’s eye.
Howling in pain and fury, the creature flailed, sending Robin wildly swinging. Eventually, he was able to get a hold on his plasma saber and cut himself free.
Robin flipped around and landed on his feet. Standing tall, he faced the creature, which now had a murderous rage in its remaining eye.
Before Robin could make another move, the creature exploded. Robin’s armor expanded to shield him from the flood of body fluids and parts.
Then he heard a familiar voice.
“You’re a hard person to track.”
Willa stood in the river in her armor, her arm raised. What looked like a small launcher smoked on her arm.
“I mean, you disappear for almost four months and can’t stay out of trouble.” She lowered her arm and put a hand on her hip. “It always has to be me who pulls your butt out the fire.”
Laughing, Robin shook his head. “And you’re still one for overkill,” he said, walking toward her into the water.
She met him halfway, and they embraced.
“It’s good to have you back, man,” she said, stepping back and grasping him by his upper arms. “Your mom was driving us nuts with her worrying.”
Robin laughed.
“Robin?”
Turning, he saw Freya standing at the edge of the river with Tekmet and Kylie.
“Who is this?” Freya asked.
Robin pushed Willa forward.
“This is one of my best friends, Willa Scarlet. Willa, this is my sister, Freya.”
Robin waved a hand between the two and then rested his arm across Freya’s shoulders.
Willa retracted her helmet and looked Freya’s armor up and down. “I don’t see any family resemblance. Though being a Dragon Knight must run in the family.”
Then Willa nodded toward the pair on the river bank. “And them?”
But before he could reply, he heard someone call his name.
“Robin!”
As Robin turned his head toward the voice, he saw his mother rushing toward him, followed by the rest of his friends. Before he could react, she waded into the river and jumped toward him. She would have knocked him into the water if it wasn’t for his armor.
“Don’t you ever scare me like that again! Do you understand me, young man?” she shouted as she shook him roughly.
Robin looked at her fondly for a second. Then he pointed to Freya in her armor on the riverbank.
“Mom, I believe you know Freya.”
“Freya?” his mother said. She slowly turning to look at his sister.
Freya looked from Robin to his mother.
“Oh, deactivate,” Robin said, and his armor began to withdraw. Water started to fill his boots.
“What’s a little water?” he joked. “I was going to change out of these boots anyway.”
Following his lead, Freya retracted her armor. Everyone stared.
“Okay, now I see a resemblance,” Willa said, nodding.
Stepping forward, his mother gently took Freya’s face in her hands. “The last time I saw you, you were just a few days old,” she said, tears in her eyes.
“I still look back on that day fondly,” Tekmet said, as he approached and she turned to him.
“Tekmet?” she murmured. “You raised her beautifully, my friend,” his mother said, embracing the Anubis. “Though I am so sorry about what happened.”
“All that matters is that she and I were able to stick together,” Tekmet said. “And this fine man you raised got us out.”
Before Robin could break in to share the credit, Much stepped forward. “Ah, excuse me!” he said.
Everyone looked at Much.
“Not to ruin the moment, but shouldn’t we get back to the ship and get the heck off this planet before we’re discovered? We’re supposed to meet the others in Tortuga.”
“Right!” Robin said. “Let’s move! Tekmet and Kylie can join us now that we have a ship.”
They moved through the forest with the best speed they could muster.
After a while, Robin turned to Tuck and said, “We’re going to need a way to get rid of some nanites. Kylie and Tekmet still have them in their bloodstreams.”
Tuck dodged some roots and came to walk directly beside Robin. He said, “I think I have an idea! But I’m going to need a camera. I have one back on the ship.”
A short time later, they arrived at the ship. It was hidden by overarching foliage, which made it invisible from the sky.
The ship was a medium-sized transport that looked oval from the front, with the cockpit in the middle and two sections jutting forward on either side. A ramp dropped from the midsection.
As they darted toward the ramp, Robin realized that the rear section and engines were attached by a square structure that jutted out at a sharp angle when it met the engineering section, which, like the forward section, curved back to form two large engine propulsion nozzles. A pair of large spoilers was attached atop and below the engine section, with missile tubes along the middle.
“Where’d you get this rust bucket?” Robin demanded as they darted up the gangway.
“Hey, she may be old, but she’s hearty!” Tuck answered, giving the skin of the ship a fond pat.
Inside Robin paused when he noticed the name of the ship on a plaque. “The Will of Odysseus?” he questioned.
“I thought it fit,” LJ said.
Tuck stepped away for a few moments and then returned with a holocamera. Moments later, he started taking it apart.
“Uh, should we be asking what you’re doing?” Freya wondered aloud.
“I am using the parts to create an improvised…EMP device,” he said, speaking around a wire in his mouth.
“An EMP device?” Tekmet asked. Robin noticed that the Anubis sounded nervous.
“Yes,” Tuck nodded as he worked. “It works like the Gremlin missile which are used to temporarily knock out a fighter or small ships systems,” he explained as he worked. “except on a more permanent basis. It renders the nanites inoperable. That is, if this works.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Freya asked nervously.
“We blow up,” Tuck answered simply.
Tekmet leaned closer to Robin. “Are you sure he knows what he’s doing?” the Anubis asked in an undertone.
“Mostly,” Robin admitted, half grimacing.
Tuck sent them a sharp look.
“Well, why don’t you have some faith in me?” His voice was indignant. “Start shutting down systems so they won’t be affected.”
Half an hour later, virtually every one of the ship’s system had been shut down. The crew gathered around Tuck and his contraption: a dismantled holocamera with wires attached to a switch.
“Moment of truth,” Tuck said, rubbing his hands. He picked up a flashlight and turned it on.
“You step closer,” he commanded, indicating Tekmet and Kylie.
“Ready?” he asked, hand on the switch.
“No, but go ahead,” Tekmet said. He reached for Kylie’s hand, turned his head away, and closed his eyes.
Tuck threw the switch. The light he held abruptly went dark. Staying dark even when he flicked it on and off several times.
For a few seconds, Tekmet remained as still as a statue. “Are we dead?” he asked.
“Far from it,” Tuck answered with a triumphant smile. “Now for that collar,” he said as he began to bring the ship’s systems back online.
Alarms blared immediately.
“What’s going
on?” Kylie asked, covering her ears.
LJ darted to a console. “We got incoming!” he shouted. “At least eight ships coming our way—fast! They’ll be all over us in five minutes!”
“Willa! LJ! Man the guns!” Robin barked, darting toward the cockpit.
“Make sure to keep the ship as steady as possible!” Tuck said, as he strapped himself in next to Tekmet, tools in hand. “I still need to release this collar. The process is very delicate!”
Taking the pilot’s seat, which slid forward, Robin took the controls. Soon he heard the engine hum to life.
“Top guns locked and loaded!” Willa said. A holo readout showed the laser turrets atop and below the ship move into position.
“Bottom guns manned and ready!” LJ reported.
“Weapons online! Engines at fifty percent!” Robin declared. “Now let’s get the heck out of here!”
With a roar, the ship lifted off, and the landing skids retracted.
Once they were above the tree line, Robin threw the throttle forward. The ship shot ahead.
“Whoa!” he cried, surprised and exhilarated by the acceleration. “Dang, this thing has a heck of kick!”
“Told you so!” Tuck gloated.
“We see them, Robin! Eight fighters!” Willa reported.
As they rocketed over the trees, more alarms sounded.
“And it looks like they see us!” Robin snapped.
Keeping close to the trees to offer less of a target, Robin weaved left to dodge the pulsing laser salvos. Willa and LJ returned fire. Suddenly, the ship rotated on its side in a hard bank. With a small clap of thunderous noise, the thrusters went full power, and they shot forward.
a
As the fighters banked to follow from his rotating orb like station eyes locked on the holo targeting system. LJ pulled the trigger on the yoke in one hand, firing his cannons.
Lasers rocketed forward at high velocity, clipping a fighter wing. Sending it tumbling from the sky.
“Whoa!” Little John hooted. “And the score is one-zip!”
Then Willa’s cannon fired and hit its target. The fighter tumbled and crashed into another as it fell.
“Buy one, get one free!” Willa crowed as the fiery wrecks crashed to the ground.
a
From the pilot’s seat, Robin kept his eyes on the view portal. The ground below was a green blur that quickly became a dusty, rocky blur. As they approached a looming canyon at an alarming rate, he called, “Everyone hang on!”
With a whoosh and a roar of the engine, the ship rolled and dropped down into the canyon.
a
Tuck, who was holding his tool in his mouth so he could use both hands to work on Tekmet’s collar, groaned in frustration at the rocking and rolling ship.
“Robin what did I tell you about keeping the ship steady!” he shouted around the tool.
a
The ship weaved left and right through the canyon, avoiding rock formations as laser explosions erupted against the canyon walls.
As they quickly approached another pillar formation, Robin yelled, “Willa! Low bridge!”
a
Willa swiveled her seat completely around until she faced the way they were going, and she fired, exploding the base of the formation.
a
The pillar tilted forward and began to collapse. The ship dropped and dodged the falling rock. Looking at the screen that showed what was behind them, Robin saw that a second later, as the fighters came around the bend, one collided with the pillar as it fell on it. “We’ve still got three on our six!” LJ said as the ship weaved again. Robin’s eyes widened when he saw the narrow bend coming up fast.
a
“I think I have something for that!” Tuck said, As with a small clack, the collar around Tekmet’s neck released and issued a beep as the lights turned red and flashed. Tekmet carefully slipped free.
a
“Then you better do it fast!” Robin said, turning the ship onto its side to slip through the narrow gap.
a
Still holding the collar, which was now beeping and flashing red lights louder and faster, Tuck moved toward the airlock hatch, gripped the frame firmly, and opened the airlock. The roar of the wind was deafening. Tuck’s knuckles gripping the frame turn white as he dropped the collar through and into the open space.
a
The ship roared through the narrow gap with the fighters in close pursuit. Then, as the falling collar exploded, shock waves suddenly rocked the ship, and the narrow canyon walls crumbled as the Odysseus burst past.
Looking behind them once more, Robin saw that two of the remaining fighters were slammed and buried under falling rock.
The engine blasted again, and the Odysseus rocketed out of the canyon, one fighter in pursuit.
“Who’s got a bead on that fighter?” Robin called as he drove the ship up toward the atmosphere.
“I got him!” LJ responded.
As Robin and Much set the hyperspace settings for Tortuga, shots from the fighter passed by them.
“Any time now, LJ!” Robin warned as the missile-lock warning sounded.
“I said I’ve got him!” LJ barked, firing his cannon.
The fighter fired a few more shots, and Robin pulled hard on the yoke and throttle. The ship flipped backward over the fighter behind it. The holo targeting system activated as the fighter entered Robin’s sights.
He cued the forward weapons, which emerged from either side of the cockpit. Robin acquired a lock and fired. Blowing the fighter to pieces.
In moments, Willa, Tuck, and LJ joined the crew in the cockpit and took their positions. “I told you I had him,” LJ said, taking Much’s spot.
“I know,” Robin said as LJ’s chair slid into position. “You were just taking too long.” LJ chuckled and shook his head just as the ship made the jump to hyperspace.
Once they were safely away, the planet receding through the rearview screen, Robin and the others joined his mother, Freya, Tekmet, and Kylie in the main room. Freya was tucking Kylie into a small sleeping alcove.
“So, how does it feel to be decollared?” Robin asked the Anubis.
“It feels great!” Tekmet answered, rubbing his neck.
Chuckling, Robin looked at Freya. He said, “Well, this is not quite how I originally planned your rescue, but—”
Freya flung her arms around him. “Thank you,” she whispered into his ear. “Thank you for coming to get me.”
Robin returned her embrace. “What are brothers for?”
Smiling, she shook her head and patted his arm.
A moment later, Robin froze as the crystals on his bracelet began to pulse. Looking at the other knights, he saw that their bracelets were pulsing too.
“What’s happening?” Willa asked, looking at her wrist.
“There’s one way to find out,” Robin said.
The six knights stood in a circle, grasping each other’s forearms. Faster and faster, the crystals pulsed. Behind him, Robin saw that Chikako and Tekmet were watching the bracelets from over the knights’ shoulders.
Beams of light shot up from the crystals and tilted until they connected. Light seemed to explode and reform around them into what seemed like a series of multisided dots. Some appeared to flash around others. A red line zigzagged between them.
“What is it?” Freya asked.
Eyeing the moving dots of light, Robin said, “It’s a star map.”
“To where?” Tekmet asked.
Robin’s focus drifted to the far end of the light grid.
“I don’t know,” he answered, eyeing the large gaps at the far ends of the map. “Let’s find out.”
Dragon Knight Chronicles Book 3
The Hunted
In the pilot’s seat of the Odysseus, Robin eyed the rainbow of colors of the nebula through the view port. He made a few adjustments on the control panel. In the copilot’s seat, Little John kept an eye on the sensor readouts.
“You’d thin
k your father would have hidden your brother in a place that was easier to get to,” LJ said, as he focused in on one readout.
“I would have been more surprised if he hadn’t done so,” Robin answered.
He adjusted their course and said, “If it’s hard for us to get to my brother, imagine how hard it will be for the Black Dragon.”
Then he asked, “How are the radiation levels?”
“All in the green,” LJ answered. “From these readings, I’d say we’re in the safest part of the nebula.”
Silence fell. After a few moments, Little John looked at Robin. Then he looked back at the closed double doors behind them.
“So…” LJ said, slowly turning back to the view portal, “how are things with Freya?”
Adjusting the throttle, Robin glanced at him.
“As well as can be,” he answered, “considering we’ve spent more time together in the past few days than we have since we were born.”
Nodding, LJ looked back at the portal. “She still giving you the cold shoulder?”
Sighing, Robin shrugged. “We barely know each other,” he answered. “And I’m not sure she’s forgiven me quite yet.”
“Well, there’s one sure way of fixing that.”
Robin looked at Little John, who grinned slightly.
“I know if she were my sister, I would make every excuse I could to be near her.”
Before Robin could reply, the door hissed open. It was Freya.
“Something wrong?” he asked her.
She bit her lip and nervously wrung her hands.
“Whatever it is, you can tell me,” Robin assured her.
For a little while, she just looked from one to the other. Finally she shrugged and said, “I’m bored.”
Robin stared. Then he laughed. “For the first time in years you can do whatever you want, and you’re bored?”
Her face hardened. “Look, if you don’t—”
“Wait,” Robin said. He glanced at LJ. “How about a lesson?”
She moaned. “Please, no. I’m still recovering from the last one.”
“I was actually thinking of your first flying lesson.” Robin waved her closer to the console.
She stood rooted to the spot.
“Really?’ she asked, as if to convince herself. Then she moved to his side.
Blood Calls Page 12
