The first of the two jumped and its claws raked her left shoulder, unprotected from the half-length bodice, but it could not grasp it. The solaryan princess was immediately on the wolf and it could not escape the deep cut on its neck with which she wounded it. She whirled around and in a moment the second wolf snapped down on her forearm, protected only by the leather bracer of her armor that reached up to her elbow.
The two rolled on the ground, fighting.
Alannah understood that the animal didn’t intend to let go, as it tightened its jaw. In great pain, she winced at the snarling wolf, showing its canines, and attacked it with anger and with her free arm slipped her dagger into its side, killing it instantly.
Without even taking a breath, with her golden blond hair untidy and sweaty in her face, she looked in the direction of the other wolves that raged on her downed steed. The poor thuni, now dead, would not distract them for long, so she hurried to take refuge at the top of the tree so she could not be reached by the herd.
She got to the highest point, sat down and leaned her back between two sturdy branches trying to catch her breath. After a few moments she heard barking from below and, after making sure that the damned things could not climb, closed her eyes holding her injured arm and tried to regain her calm.
*
The young solaryan soldier named Andal came out of the technical control center to run towards the throne room. King Karmora had given extreme priority to all news and findings concerning the mission of the guardian Kalberham.
He, as soon as he was announced, wanted to give the king the news in person.
He climbed the stairs and took the corridor to the front door, where the two guards did not move a muscle. Arriving near the entrance, one of the two spoke.
«Where are you going, recruit?»
«I have important news for your majesty, let me pass».
«We will report to the king, give us the message».
Andal looked annoyed at the guard, who hinted at a half-smile pleased with having dampened the boy's enthusiasm.
«Listen» he said, trying to keep quiet, «I come from the control center and the message in question has been cataloged as urgent!»
«I'm sure» the guard said, looking at his amused colleague, «but passage is forbidden to recruits and so you'll do well to give us the information now. You’ll see that we too will be able to report the message properly».
At that point the two men's eyes became menacing, and the one who had spoken took two steps towards the young man and asserted all his physical prowess. The boy took a step backwards, they were two big guards and he didn’t want to spend three or four days in the infirmary, perhaps with an official appeal, but the idea of surrendering to such arrogance made him furious.
He tried to think quickly and remembered his grandmother, always telling him that about obstacles you can face or get around, but never avoid.
«All right» he said, smiling and opening his hands in surrender. «You must report to the king that the ship has been attacked and the time warp is in danger, so it is advisable to provide support on Aghon 5 and all the nebulae of the H1 quadrant. In addition, the coordinates have changed for reasons of actual gravity from -10 to -10.42 and we need real indications to bring the ship to sub-space pressure ».
The guards looked at each other in amazement, the one who had remained in position nodded in surrender to the other.
«All right, come on boy» and stood back.
«T-h-a-n-k-s!» Andal said, as he pushed his way down between the two, trying to hold back a smile.
The door opened and the boy was amazed when he saw that the king was right there, talking to Hiylos and Princess Myah.
«Sire» he said, bending down on his knee and bowing his head.
«Tell me» answered the king.
«The ship of the guardian Kalberham is under Arkassian attack!»
«Is it damaged?» Myah asked.
«We have no other information, princess».
The two guards widened their eyes and stared at each other, then immediately turned their gaze to the young man, with hatred.
«Hiylos, get my ship ready» ordered Solyar's ruler.
«Sire, the best scientific officers are on a mission in the Kananbar mines. Taking off without them would be risky».
«We'll do without them, I will not leave my friend Kalberham alone» the king replied.
«I beg to insist, your majesty» Hiylos continued. «Entering a war zone without officers and helmsmen would put your safety at risk and I cannot allow it».
Andal, still bowed to the ground, knew that this could be a great opportunity for him. He took all his courage and with a more determined voice than ever he said «Sire, I would like to offer myself as volunteer for the mission. I have an alpha 2 classification in navigation and war tactics and I am a scientific petty officer».
«How long have you been here, boy?» asked the king.
The young man looked up, staring at his sovereign, firm and fearless.
«Four days, sire» he replied.
Karmora knew that look well. He had used it a long time ago to convince his father to take him, just fifteen, to hunt for marine plemoni, and it had worked.
«Well Hiylos, it looks like we have a science officer» and he smiled at the young man.
«Sir» said Hiylos, perplexed, «I do not think so...» but the sentence was not allowed to end, interrupted by the king, who turned to his daughter and said «Myah, you can come too if you want. Tell your sister that we will be away for a while».
«My sister, I haven’t seen her since early this morning, father» replied his daughter, turning her eyes to heaven.
«Hiylos». King Karmora turned to the servant, who had been afraid this time would come. «Where is the princess?»
«Sire...» Hiylos looked down, blushing. «I do not…».
«Hiylos! I'll ask you for the last time».
Now he was raging. In a more determined tone, he asked again «what happened to Alannah?!»
«Your majesty, yesterday I left her in her room and this morning when I went to look for her, well ... she was not there!» He replied softly, twisting his tail.
«Damn!» The king shouted, then began to walk, ordering «to the ship!»
The three came out of the room, followed by the young Andal, who smiled smugly in the direction of the worst guard, who shortly before had wanted to stop him from entering.
The latter was black with rage for being mocked by a freshman and, without being noticed, put the ordinance laser spear between the feet of the boy, causing him to stumble on Princess Myah.
She caught him before he could reach on the ground.
«Careful freshman» she said, looking at his face, «you do not want to finish your first mission before you start it, I hope?»
«No, of course not, princess, I humbly apologize» and turned around, glaring at the guards who were laughing at him.
*
Alannah held the arm with her hand, trying to endure the pain.
She raised her glove to inspect the severity of the wound.
It didn’t look so good. She was not bleeding a lot, but she was afraid of the infection that the beast could have given her.
She had to go back to the palace immediately. The problem was that her new four-legged friends did not seem like they intended leaving the area near the tree.
If the unconscious one had not taken the transmitter with her, Hiylos would have tracked her immediately and, obviously, it was not her intention to let him do that. What's more, one of her daggers was stuck inside the wolf that had given her that beautiful wound, and recovering it would be a problem.
However, that was not the priority at the moment.
She had to escape her tormentors as soon as possible.
«Think Alannah ... think ...» she said to herself, looking around the branches that sheltered her.
Her gaze ended up on poor thuni, who had given his life so that she could be saved. Perhaps
this was the thing that most made her feel remorse at that moment.
She tried to study the situation.
The river was more than a couple of kilometers as the crow flies and wounded it was not worth trying to run against the wolves, which even under normal conditions were faster than her.
A pang of pain ran through her arm making her grimace.
Fire, she thought.
Perhaps the fire would keep them away from her.
She took smaller twigs and as soon as she had a considerable number, she tied them with pieces of the leather laces from her boots.
She unhooked the mini-ordinance laser in her belt and aimed it at the top of the rudimentary torch she'd been able to create, but other than a large amount of smoke, it seemed like the tactic wouldn’t work.
Unfortunately the branches were not dry. They weren’t easy to find on top of a perfectly healthy tree. She tried again, hoping the laser would not drain immediately, but smoke, much more smoke, was the only thing she could get.
She was about to lose hope, when a sound coming from the sky attracted her attention.
The imperial ship was about to land right there and with a slight smile and a sigh of relief, she whispered «Dad ...».
Two soldiers came down quickly, killing two of the five wolves who were hunting the princess, with their laser rifles, putting the other three to flight. After a few moments the king came down and, approaching the tree, looked up at his daughter.
«It looks like there's a bird in a cage».
Alannah got down with a little difficulty, because of her still bleeding wound and ran to her father and hugged him tightly.
«Daddy» she said, squeezing him, «thank goodness you arrived. You know, I was trying to get the flowers that my mother loved, to take them home and put them on her grave...»
«Do you have any more injuries?» He interrupted.
«No, those damn animals took me by surprise near the caves».
«When will you learn that your stunts always lead to disastrous consequences? Look around!» The king said to his daughter, pulling her from his chest and clasping her shoulders. «There's a thuni mauled and four dead wolves!»
«Dad» she replied in disbelief, «I'm sorry for thuni, but how can you be sorry for those buggers who tried to kill me?!»
A slap stung Alannah's left cheek, who, amazed, looked into her father's eyes, putting a hand on her face, in tears.
«Every life has value, princess!» The king shouted. «Every single creature in the universe has much more value than you can imagine».
He removed his hands from his daughter's shoulders.
«Do you want to do something for your mother? Try to look as much as possible to the extraordinary person she was, little ignorant one!»
«Dad ... I didn’t want to...» but the words stuck in her throat.
«See to her!» He ordered one of the soldiers who had come down, turning his backs and heading for the starship.
«Yes majesty» the latter answered, and escorted the wounded princess, at this point with wounded pride, toward the entrance.
7
Kalberham tried to control Olympia under the blows of the arkassian lasers.
Tadiero raised the crystal force field to slow down the beams of light being hurled at the hull, but they would not hold up for long and he knew it.
Patrik sat down next to Marco and fastened his seatbelt, looking at his friend in fear.
«I personally hold you responsible Jones, I want you to know that».
«Don’t be an idiot» he replied, intently leaning on the armrests of the seat, «I don’t even know who these people are!»
«Tadiero curse it! I need the flexion, right away!» Kalberham shouted.
«Not before thirty seconds, Captain» the copilot replied loudly, trying to overwhelm the deafening noise of the laser blows. «I need to align the energy phases, but the computer isn’t responding. We must do it by hand».
Kalberham stood up and tried to turn the big lever on the left wall but without success. He took out the cylinder stuck in the belt of his robe, stared at it until it took the shape of a crescent, then used it to force the lever a few inches.
«Done!».
«Flexion in five seconds, get ready!» Tadiero shouted.
Kalberham resumed his place and a strong light invaded the bridge for a moment, bringing calm.
Everyone looked at each other trying to catch their breath.
«They'll have our wake soon and we'll have them in the ribs» said Selidar, who in the meantime had taken his place next to the pilots.
«They know we're headed to Kentaura and this will be their weakness» Kalberham replied, without taking his eyes off the controls.
«We set the route nearby, to Ridela, the sand planet. From there we will enter the neutral zone».
«Good» the labrador said again. Then he turned to the two boys.
«Now it will be good to think of our friends and inform the human».
«Yeah...» Kalberham nodded, looking at the two poor boys, clinging to the armrests of the chairs with the expressions of someone who has just witnessed the most frightening scene imaginable in a horror movie.
He stood up and unhooked the crescent from the lever, which resumed the shape of a cylinder. He sat down next to the two terrestrials, followed by the dog that had been Patrik's faithful friend for years. He untied their seat belts with a simple gesture of his hand and crossed his tapered fingers in front of his chin with a thoughtful expression.
«I guess you have a million questions, Patrik» he said to the young man who looked at him without answering.
«I will try to make it as simple as possible so you can understand better. As you will have inevitably understood at this point» he continued, hinting a half smile, «the planet Earth you come from is not the only one to host life».
«Yeaahh...» Marco said sarcastically, listening to the explanation of the alien, «... I kind of got that idea!»
Kalberham ignored him completely.
«What you don’t know is that in the Milky Way, as you call the galaxy that hosts us, there are twenty-one inhabited planets. Billions of lives with an immortal soul, bound by the same destiny: to die and be reborn within this group of planets, continuing the life cycle that has been assigned to us. What regulates the flow of these souls is called "Eta Carinae Flower", because of the typical circular shape of the flower, in which there are twenty-one arms, that we call "petals".
Many years ago Armintala, the first guardian of history, discovered the Flower after a tremendous explosion that affected the planet of Eta Carinae. The Flower functions as a communicating vessel among all the planets that are part of it; every soul that dies is reborn on the same planet or on one of the other twenty petals of the Flower, which are the only planets in which there is life».
Kalberham recounted all this, almost rapt by the beauty and complexity of the vital circle of the galaxy, which inevitably made all peoples different but equal. Aliens but similar, united by the same path.
Suddenly, however, his face darkened.
«However, the system is not perfect!» And saying this he stood up, as if to emphasize that the most important part of the story was about to begin.
Patrik listened carefully, intent on understanding what part he played in all this.
«Every fourteen terrestrial years, the moons of Salman, which play a fundamental part in the gravitational system of Eta Carinae, align themselves, creating a magnetic field so powerful as to let the Flower out of the natural alignment. Without such alignment the Flower goes out of phase and in the galaxy it’s chaos. Only the Guardians, wag warriors, can intervene and bring the Flower back into position, as it has always been...».
He paused, looked at Patrik and continued, as if rapt by a terrible awareness.
«This has always been so, up to what according to your time schedule corresponds to about a couple of centuries ago. Since then the Guardians' alignment is increasingly difficu
lt and not always as precise as it should be, bringing back the initial phase is almost impossible».
«You are a Guardian!» Patrik said suddenly.
Kalberham smiled.
Now that the limiter had been removed, the Code was growing more and more inside the young terrestrial.
«Yes, Patrik» he replied, «I'm a Guardian, but it's not kind of you to try and read my mind».
Patrik blushed dramatically. He still could not control his power. Ever since he had woken up he felt different.
«What happened two centuries ago?» He asked, trying to change the subject.
A map of the galaxy appeared on the screen.
«Look Patrik, three coalitions have formed within these twenty-one planets. That is Solaryan, which includes the planets of Solyar, Vortix, Portirya, Velado and Kayleia. The solaryan Guardians have a white robe like mine. The Arkassian, which includes the planets of Arkass, Premi, Melai, Dikali and Orena 3. The arkassian Guardians have a black robe. And finally, the Falaian grouping Falaia, Hailaia, Markan, Contrea, Prisma and Acqua. The Falaians had red robes».
«They had?!».
«For thousands of years the Code has always chosen candidates, and those who became Guardians dressed in the colors of their coalition. The Red Guardians, the Falaians, tried to force the balance by hoping to bring more prosperity and progress to the planets from which they came. The result was disastrous. The balance has not been the same since then and so they were banned forever and sent to their certain deaths. Since then, when the Code chooses a Guardian of the six falaian planets, each of them is free to choose whether to join the solaryans or the arkassians».
«I still don’t understand what I have to do with all this?» He asked.
«Yeah ... and above all, why did your alien friends want to get us out a few minutes ago?» Marco added in a contemptuous tone.
Kalberham looked at him very annoyed. «You are a very annoying terrestrial, you know ?!»
Patrik Jones and the Code of the Universe Page 5
