by Kim Fedyk
She stood frozen in place hands slightly raised in front of her. The man was so close now she could see the outlines of his face beneath the hood. What would happen when he reached her? Would he take her prisoner? Would he kill her? Would it be painful? An image came to mind of a 10 year old little girl running through an orphanage with the bodies of her friends and teachers broken, bleeding and mangled lying all around her. She shuddered, she had seen death, had heard their screams. She knew what someone’s face looked like when they knew they were dying. She didn’t want to experience that, she didn’t want to die here, alone in the middle of the desert. She felt tears come to her eyes and she quickly shut them. If she was going to die, she didn’t want to see it.
Suddenly, she felt a fierce gust of wind. She opened her eyes and saw something gray and massive shoot past her and crash into the man.
Of course! Arleth thought with relief, the Greken! In her terror she had completely forgotten about the creature. The creature that was now her life-line. Another realization dawned on her; the hooded man was not after her, he was after the king! She was just in the assassin’s way, but that didn’t mean he still wouldn’t kill her. A hardened killer wouldn’t care about the life of a teenage girl, especially one who got in his way. But, Arleth began to relax a bit anyways. With the Greken fighting the man she felt a bit safer. As dangerous as this man looked Arleth didn’t think he could fight that beast with only a dagger. At least she hoped so anyways. Arleth stared at the fight unfolding in front of her.
The fight that would probably decide whether she lived or died.
The force of the Greken colliding into the man had caused his hood to fall off and Arleth could now see the man’s face clearly. He was ordinary enough looking except for a long scar running diagonally down his right cheek almost from the inside of his right eye to his right ear lobe. She watched as the man ducked and narrowly avoided a powerful swing from the Greken’s axe. Deftly, the man sprung up to the Greken’s side and plunged his dagger into the beast’s thigh. The dagger was thrust three quarters of the way in, but the Greken hardly seemed to notice. Arleth watched in amazement as a few of the creature’s tentacles grabbed onto the ones beside it with teeth-like pincers and formed into a thick arm the size of a small tree trunk. It flung itself at the man’s head, cracking into his skull with a sickening crash. The man stuttered backwards from the force of the impact. His hand was still grasping the dagger, which had been ripped out of the creature’s leg by the powerful blow. A thin line of blood dripped down his head and ran down his cheek. The Greken roared, swinging its serpentine head in the direction of the man and glaring at him with its yellow eyes. The creature took a step forward and lifted his axe above his head. With a hiss of anticipation, the creature brought the axe flying down, aiming for the top of the man’s head.
Arleth closed her eyes, she didn’t want to see the axe connect. The Greken was too powerful for the man; he would be split in two. With her eyes tightly shut, Arleth winced expecting to hear the man’s scream at any second. But the moments passed and the scream didn’t come. Hesitantly she opened her eyes and stared at the combatants in surprise. Somehow the man was not dead. Instead he had met the axe blow with his dagger and was holding it off above his head. The Greken was much more powerful though and it didn’t look like the man could keep it up for much longer. His face was strained from the effort and he was slowly bending under the Greken’s force. With a hiss of fury the Greken took one of its hands off the axe and swiped at the man with its claws. The man, not being able to move out of the way, was hit square in the chest. The claws ripped through his shirt and exposed his bare chest. The Greken raised his arm once more and again struck at the man’s chest. Ribbons of red appeared as the claws shredded through his skin. The man grunted in pain and clenched his teeth together. The Greken smiled and raised his arm to his mouth. With a long forked tongue, the creature licked the man’s blood off of his outstretched claw. It hissed in satisfaction and glared at the man in triumph.
The man yelled at the creature and with a burst of strength he shifted to one side, narrowly missing the Greken’s axe as it came crashing down beside him. For a moment the creature’s axe was stuck in the sand and in that instant the man launched himself lightening fast at the creature. He raised his dagger and with a fierce, two-handed blow sliced through the Greken’s wrist. There was a spray of blood and the axe crashed to the ground with the Greken’s severed hand falling on top of it. Arleth grimaced in disgust and put a hand to her mouth. The Greken screeched in pain and rammed its head into the man, pushing him backwards a few steps. But the man quickly regained the advantage, rushing at the Greken and ducking to avoid the tentacles lashing out at him. With a fluid motion he raced behind the Greken, slashing through any tentacles he couldn’t avoid. The man rammed his dagger into the base of the creature’s back and watched as the Greken’s legs collapsed under him and he fell to the ground. With astounding agility, the man climbed up the creature’s back and dug his dagger into its neck. The Greken’s yellow eyes opened momentarily in surprise. Its body convulsed a few times and then went still, head hunched over, dagger still protruding from its neck.
But Arleth missed the Greken's last breaths. As soon as the man had plunged his dagger into the beast’s back and the creature had collapsed Arleth had started to back away. She was now full-out running as fast as she could away from the man and toward Sonohan. She had realized then, as unexpected as it was, that the man was going to defeat the Greken. The way she saw it, she could either stay where she was and wait for the man to do the same to her, or she could run and try to gain enough distance that the man either wouldn't be able to, or wouldn't be interested in trying to catch her. Also, she thought with excitement, if she managed to out-run the man, with the Greken dead, she might be able to escape! This thought spurred her to run faster.
With the excitement of the dead Greken and the assassin outside the mine, it was perhaps possible Bella wouldn't notice right away when she reached the mansion’s outskirts and her grapel went off. Or she might notice but be too preoccupied with the dangerous hooded man.
She smiled, she must have ran a long way already. The man wouldn’t be able to catch up to her; she had left when they were still fighting and it looked like the man had sustained some serious injuries. As far away as she was now, it wouldn’t be worth his time to come after her. After all, she was just a slave girl and of no interest to whatever goal this man had.
Her smile grew larger; she was going to escape! This strange man had unintentionally given her the best chance she was ever going to get. Her bare feet pounded against the sand as she ran and she breathed in the humid air deeply. This was how her freedom was going to begin!
She cast a look backwards at the mansion and years of servitude she was leaving behind and let out a gasp of horror.
The man was running after her.
Chapter 6
She tried not to panic but it was no use. When she had turned back for that split second, she had also seen the lifeless, bloody body of the dead Greken. If this man could do that to a Greken, she could imagine all too vividly how easy it would be for him to do the same to her. She felt like screaming, crying and throwing up all at the same time. She could hear the blood pounding in her ears and her breathing became more ragged as she struggled to control her mounting terror. Ahead of her, less than a mile away, the town of Sonohan beckoned. If she could reach the town, she would be much safer than out here in the open desert. She still didn’t stand much of a chance if the man found her, but in town at least, it would be harder for him to do so. In a city there were buildings she could hide behind and crowds she could blend in with.
She was a fairly fast runner and she estimated that it would take her about ten minutes to reach the town. But did she have that much time? She risked another quick glance backwards, half expecting him to be right behind her, ready to grab her at any moment. The man was still following her, his steely gaze fixated on his prey. But
Arleth noted, with a small sense of relief, that the man was still about 200 paces from her. She allowed her gaze to stay on him for a few more moments and satisfied herself that he wasn’t gaining any distance on her. Blood was soaking through his shirt from where the Greken’s claws had slashed him and he appeared to be stumbling ahead more than running. She looked forward again and permitted herself a small burst of hope. In the man’s weakened state, she would be able to reach Sonohan ahead of him and she had a chance to lose him in the bustle of the crowd. But how long would he keep looking for her? She didn’t think that he would give up so easily, not with the look she saw in his eyes. And once she reached the town, how long could she really expect to stay hidden from this man?
What so soon before had seemed like an opportunity for escape had quickly turned into a deadly cat and mouse game. And she didn’t really like her chances, not by herself anyways.
She did have one hope though. One she could barely stand to think about. But as much as she hated it, the fact remained that her best chance of survival was Kiran. He had ran off as soon as the man had appeared – that was over 15 minutes ago. The chubby boy was by all definitions a mamma’s boy and Arleth hoped that his irritating instinct to run to his mommy at every turn would hold true here. Although Bella and Kiran would be utterly useless, a strange man attacking one of the King’s personal guards would surely be a cause for concern. She felt certain that King Absalom would go to the spot where the fight had been and however unwillingly, Bella and Kiran would have no choice but to follow. Upon seeing her gone, they would assume that she had run away and their cruel natures would spur them into finding her. Although driven by hate and revenge, the two of them would provide some measure of protection if they found her before the man did. She couldn’t believe that she was actually looking forward to them finding her, but she realized with dismay that she really didn’t have much of a choice.
But something kept nagging at her, why was this man following her? She thought about what she knew. He had not looked surprised to see the Greken and he clearly knew how to kill it. That could only mean that he had also come from Oherra. But why would such a person come here anyways? Maybe he was after the king, trying to assassinate him when he was relatively unprotected and away from home? Posesson of the Crystal Throne was certainly something worth the risk. Perhaps he just wanted to kill her to clean up loose ends. Maybe he didn’t want anyone to be alerted to his presence.
But she didn’t really think that made sense. If so, why didn’t he run after Kiran, and why did he run at them in the first place? Why not go directly to the king? Arleth wasn’t an expert in assassination but she didn’t think that running straight at a Greken in the open desert wasn't a good technique for someone trying to maintain secrecy. BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP ......
Her thoughts were abruptly cut off by the loud alarm. A beam of red light flared up from her foot into the sky where it hovered for a few moments before forming into the word,
RUNAWAY
in huge accusing letters. A female voice sharply cried, “Runaway slave, number 012, property of Bella Sneel.”
Arleth swore to herself, she had forgotten about the grapel she was wearing. Even though she was still at least a quarter of a mile from Sonohan, she must have reached the border of Bella’s property. Now she had a beam of red light flaring up from her foot into the sky and the word runaway floating above it, following her as she ran.
This is just great, Arleth thought to herself. As if things weren’t bad enough, now the man had a beacon flaring in the sky leading directly to her. Now she certainly wouldn’t be able to hide for very long in the city. She really had to rely on Bella and Kiran finding her first. Her only consolation was that at least they would be able to find her easily as well. How desperate her situation had become! Arleth put her head down and continued running as fast as she could towards Sonohan.
* * *
Huffing and puffing, Kiran gasped his way to the opening of the mines. There were two Grekens standing guard by the entrance, but for the moment Kiran didn’t notice them. The Grekens for their part had quickly appraised the freckly boy as not threatening and were instead looking at him curiously. They watched as he stopped a few feet ahead of them and bent over at the waist; hand on his heart, chest heaving up and down.
The entrance to the mines was a man-made cave which shielded the caverns below the ground from the frequent sandstorms. Not only did the cave block the sand from filling up the underground passageways, but at its inception it had also served an equally important function – defence. The cave dated from the time of The Great War and during the hundred years of conflict, the lynstone mines were one of the few targets on Tocarra of any interest to the warring factions. The cave had served to protect those defending the mines from being surrounded in a battle. Attackers would only be able to get into the mines from the one entrance which could be heavily defended. The magical charms and defensive barricades were long gone, but the cave remained as a testament to the bitter struggles of previous generations.
Of current importance, the way the cave was positioned, with the entrance facing the Sneel mansion meant that the Grekens weren’t able to see the fight between the strange man and one of their comrades happening a distance behind them. It also meant that Kiran, having just rounded the corner of the cave wall hadn’t yet seen the Grekens watching him. He was still bent over, struggling for breath. Finally his breathing became slower and Kiran, with his head still down started to focus on his surroundings. It was then that he noticed there were two huge shadows in the sand. With a start he jerked upwards and saw the Grekens standing a few feet in front of him.
“EEEEEEPPP!” Screamed Kiran, stumbling backwards onto his ample behind. With his bottom in the sand, he scuttled backwards like a crab in an effort to distance himself from the creatures. In this effort he failed as within a few moments his ran up against the cave wall. This was just too much for the boy to take. He pressed his back up against the cave, curled his knees to his chest and with eyes glistening with tears yelled, “MWWWAHHHMMMY.”
The Grekens stared impassively at the scene in front of them. Unable to feel amusement, and long since losing their curiosity in him, they viewed him as an inconsequential distraction.
“MWWAAHMMMY,” Kiran shouted again through his sniffles, “HEEELLLP!”
“Kir-Kir?” Came Bella’s voice from somewhere in the back of the cave. “What is it?” She materialized out of the darkness and upon seeing her snivelling son, wide-eyed and pale, huddled against the cave wall she rushed over to him. Squatting down beside him she put her arms around him and held him to her chest. “What is it? What happened?”
“Ma a an c a m me, ran atttt mee,” Kiran said between sobs. “Sc c carry, he had a a a dagger.”
“Shh, there, there Kir-Kir,” said Bella patting her son’s back. “Calm down, I can hardly understand you. Try to stop crying.”
Kiran nodded and sniffed into his mother’s chest. He rubbed the tears from his eyes and started his story again, “I was s i i itting when I saw a man. He was ru u u nning at me and he had a dagger.”
“What did he look like exactly?” Said King Absalom. He had followed Bella up out of the mines but until now Bella and Kiran had not noticed him.
Kiran looked up at the king, “I d d don’t really know. He was wearing a hood. I couldn’t see his face. He was tall and he was carrying a long dagger.”
“And he was running at you?” Demanded the king.
“Ye e ess,” Stammered Kiran, “Right at me!”
A look of alarm passed over Absalom’s face. “Well it’s a miracle that you weren’t harmed.” Absalom paused for a second as if the thought had only just come to him, “Weren’t you with that servant girl? Did she not run away with you?”
For a moment, Bella and Kiran stared blankly at the King; both had forgotten about Arleth. But slowly realization dawned on the pair; anger appeared on Bella’s face and sheepishness replaced the dull stare on
Kiran’s.
“Kiran!” Roared Bella, pushing her son away from her so that she could glare at him. “Where is Arleth?”
“I don’t know,” said Kiran looking down at his feet, “I left her there when I ran.”
“You left her there?!” Raged Bella. “Do you know how much money I paid for her? Do you have any idea how annoying she will be to replace? I bought her in Bridon, do you remember?! Bridon! The capital of slave traders, where there is the best selection in all of Toccara. And you couldn’t be bothered to at least take her with you when you ran away?!? She is probably already dead, and utterly useless to me.....”
Kiran squirmed in his mother’s grasp, desperate to look away from her accusing stare. He racked his small brain for something that he could say to stop her yelling. In doing so, his eyes fell upon the Grekens standing directly behind her. The creatures were now more intent, axes held firmly in their claws, waiting for direction from their King. Of course! Kiran thought to himself; there had been a Greken with him and Arleth. The Greken would definitely kill the man, Arleth would still be alive and his mother wouldn’t be mad at him anymore. And, he thought feeling especially clever, he could tell his mother that he had known the Greken was there and that was why he had run. He didn’t think his mother would realize that he had just thought about the Greken now. He silently congratulated himself on being so brilliant.
“..... and I just can’t believe that you would do this to me,” Bella continued with her angry tirade.
“Mommy,” Kiran interrupted hesitantly at first, and then more confidently “Mommy!”
