As I glanced up and down the tree line, I noticed that there was no sign of any more pursuers. So, either they all came after me and only me, or the others escaped or were captured, or they turned on their pursuers and killed them all, or…
I didn’t know. But without any indication of where anyone had gone, where did I start to look? My eyes fell back to the air cruisers.
No. That’s ludicrous, part of me said.
But it’s the only thing that makes sense, another part replied.
It’s suicide to go there, the first said again.
Where else should I go, then? came the reply of the latter.
Great. Now I was talking to myself. Had I suffered a head injury? Maybe I was going through some psychotic break. Time travel? Really? Was that type of thing even possible? Some sort of mental instability seemed more and more plausible the longer I thought about it.
I shook my head, took a deep breath, and started walking toward the air cruisers.
Was I really going to do this?
Looked like it.
You don’t even know these people. You woke up and there they were. And now, you’re going to risk your life for them?
Yes. Yes, I am.
And I hoped they’d do the same for me.
Crouching low in the tall grass, I darted across field and headed straight for the cruisers. For good measure, I tapped the Stealth stone one more time. It was already dangerous coming back here; I wasn’t about to be reckless on top of that.
Soft voices and the steady footfalls of a patrol greeted me as I approached the closest cruiser. Slipping into the shadows, I hugged the metal hull as my magic wore out and my body winked back into sight.
The voices were still too quiet to make out, and they seemed to be coming from within one of the cruisers. The footsteps, on the other hand, were drawing nearer and nearer to my position.
My hand hovered over the Stealth stone, ready to press it at the first sign of trouble.
A moment later, the guard stepped into view, his back toward my position as he continued circling the small courtyard that had been erected between the two cruisers. After his footsteps receded, I chanced a peek at what lay beyond.
Another guard mimicked the first’s pattern on the opposite side of the courtyard. In the center of it stood a small command post where a third man poured over a document of some kind.
The ramps to both air cruisers were extended, and the hold of the one opposite me was clearly visible. It contained a few crates, a row of empty seats that lined either wall, and a few storage lockers.
The steps of the second guard began approaching my position, and I withdrew back into the shadows and held my breath until he passed.
As soon as he had, I was able to breathe easier.
“Hey,” a voice whispered in my ear.
It took every ounce of restraint to keep from shouting out in surprise as I spun and pulled a dagger on my intruder.
“Easy, it’s just me,” Leon whispered with his hands raised.
A little too loudly I said, “What—”
Leon held a finger up to his lips.
When I was sure we hadn’t been found out, I turned back to Leon and whispered, “What are you doing here?”
“You’d prefer that I not be?” he asked. He shook his head, moving on. “Never mind, we’ve got a problem. They’ve captured Rayf and Elsie.”
My eyes narrowed as I asked, “You’re sure?”
“Watched them get hauled in with my own eyes.”
“And Von?” I asked.
Leon shrugged. “He must have gotten away.”
“And he hasn’t come back for the others?”
“Not that I’ve seen,” he said.
That was a bit disconcerting. “How’d you know I was here?”
“I didn’t, but we obviously had the same idea,” he answered.
“So, what’s the—”
Leon placed his hand on my mouth and pressed us into the shadows as one of the guards walked by again.
After he passed, Leon continued, “Rayf is in this cruiser here,” —pointing to the vessel we were leaning against—“and Elsie is in the one across the way. We could split up and each take one, or we go together and have a higher chance of success.”
“What about the guards?”
“I could lure them away, but you’d have to rush in there by yourself,” Leon said.
I was already shaking my head before he finished. “I’m not letting you risk getting captured when I can’t guarantee I won’t end up the same way.”
“What choice do we have?” Leon said. “You think they’re just going to go away?”
At that moment, a shout rose up from the forest.
My guess was that the body of the first man I killed had been discovered.
Both patrolmen froze, looked in the direction of the shouts, and then took off.
The man at the command station glanced up but went right back to whatever he was doing.
For a moment, I thought all three were going to leave, but two was better than nothing. We didn’t have much time, so I didn’t waste any more by explaining my next moves.
“What’s going on?” I shouted, emerging from the shadows in my civie gear.
“Gods if I know,” the man said as he lifted his head to look at me. “I’m just a lab tech here to—hey, aren’t you the—”
I smashed my elbow into his face, and he fell back, clutching at his nose.
“Secure him, then go find Elsie,” I said to Leon.
He nodded and rushed to the man’s fallen form as I spun and ran toward one of the cruisers. The boarding ramp was already extended, so I walked right up and entered.
The etching on the hull told me this was an AGIS-Anvil. What's AGIS stand for? I wondered briefly. It looked like a drop ship designed to transport twenty fully equipped civies based on the number of empty seats. Two cruisers meant forty men—if they were both full to begin with. I’d counted about fifteen myself, plus however many had chased after the others.
I found it odd that the bulk of the civies had been sent after me, considering how new I was to being an Auger. But if they had captured Rayf and Elsie right away, it was possible they’d immediately set out for me next.
It really didn’t matter, forty or fifteen, they were numbers that Leon and I definitely couldn’t handle on our own.
If I freed Rayf, our chances would increase substantially, but it still didn’t seem hopeful.
What was I doing?
All five us were there at the beginning, and still, the command had been to flee. If Von thought we stood a chance, we’d have stayed and fought. Right?
Oh well, I was committed now.
Focus on the task at hand, Aren.
Find Rayf and Elsie, free them, then run far away.
The Anvil was a small to mid-size vessel with two decks. The bottom deck was empty, thankfully, save for twenty vacant seats that lined the walls and a large supply crate sitting in the center of the hold.
Off to the right, a set of stairs led to the upper and slightly larger of the two decks. It looked like the Anvil wasn’t named as such solely because of its function—to be a solid force able to resist attack—but also because of its shape.
I ascended the stairs and glanced over my shoulder to ensure no one was following me.
So far so good.
When I reached the upper deck, it didn’t take long for me to find Rayf. He was gagged and bound to a chair in the center of the room where the stairs emerged, which appeared to be the bridge.
When his eyes made contact with mine, he scowled and started yelling muffled obscenities through the gag.
I knew he didn’t like me, but shouldn’t he at least have been happy to see me? I was saving him from imprisonment at best and at worst, death.
As I closed the distance, his screaming intensified, and he started fighting the restraints so much so that they cut deep into his wrists and caused blood to drip to the ground.
<
br /> “Geez, can’t you at least be grateful?” I asked as I slipped the gag off his mouth.
“Behind you!” he shouted the moment his mouth was free.
I turned just in time to see the butt of a rifle connect with my face.
Nine
When I came to, I was in some sort of cell.
Chet.
“You’re awake,” said a male voice from somewhere around me.
I sat up and winced as a pain lanced through my skull. When I tried to bring my hands to my head, I found that they were bound with a strange tech device that housed a white magika stone. The outside edge of the cuffs pulsed with a white light that was jarring to my vision.
“Take it easy, that looks like a nasty bruise,” he said.
My eyes took a moment to adjust as I looked about the room and found Leon sitting in the corner.
“What happened?” I asked.
“You got caught,” he said, then corrected himself. “We got caught.”
“Wha—how?” I asked, looking away and closing my eyes as another wave of pain washed over me.
“Don’t tell me you’ve lost your memory again,” he said coldly. “That would be very unhelpful right now.”
“No, I—I found Rayf tied to a chair. He was trying to tell me something, then the next thing I remember, I woke up here,” I told him.
“They were waiting for us,” he explained.
“But…how? How did they know we would come back for the others?”
“Maybe they didn’t, it was a gamble, but one that obviously paid off,” Leon said.
“So, what now? Where are we?”
Leon shook his head. “I don’t know. They stuck a sack over my head and locked me in a small room aboard one of the air cruisers; it took off, and when it landed, they immediately brought me in here. You were already lying there when I arrived. We appear to be in some sort of detention facility.”
Eyeing the cuffs binding my hands, I tried to free myself.
"You can't get out," Leon explained, a look of exasperation on his face. "Those are electrocuffs. No amount of struggling can break them."
"Great," I said, giving up on my restraints. “Do you have any idea what they plan to do with us?”
“None, but it can’t be good. I might not have been able to see, but I could certainly hear, and the screams, Aren, the screams were horrifying.”
Before I could respond, the airlocks on the door disengaged, and it slid open.
Two civies walked in dressed in full riot gear, guns at the ready, followed by a young man in a lab coat.
“Seize him,” the man said. “Dr. Alton requires his presence.”
The two civies approached me and roughly hoisted me to my feet.
With strong hands, they forced me through the doorway and out into the hall beyond. It was clean—a little too clean. Bright lights lined the ceiling in both directions and reflected off the white metallic surface.
The man in the lab coat tapped a few buttons on the keypad, and the door slid shut, the airlocks reengaging. He moved past the civies, led them down the hall and through another door, which just led to another hall.
On and on, we wandered.
I got the impression that they were trying to disorient me. Which seemed a bit excessive, considering I didn’t know where I was anyway.
Their intended purpose for us made itself abundantly clear when we finally entered a hallway where we passed the first window I’d seen on our journey. An unfamiliar man was strapped to a table that was tilted almost upright. Two people, a man and a woman, dressed in the same lab coats as my escort, busied themselves around him.
The man on the table began to struggle when he saw the woman pick up a syringe.
“No! No!” he yelled. “Please, don’t!”
The other lab tech grabbed one of his wrists and held it down as the woman plunged the needle in just below his bicep.
A green line snaked its way down the man’s arm, and he screamed. His body began to convulse as whatever they injected him with found its way to his neck and began to fill his face, turning his eyes a solid and radiant green.
The noise that escaped the man’s throat caused a chill to run down my spine.
“That’s enough,” my escort said as the civies pushed me forward and away from the window.
The man’s continued screams echoed in my mind long after another set of doors closed behind us and cut off all sound from the room beyond.
They took me to the end of the hall and marched me into a small room with a lone table inside. The top of the table had a built-in device similar to the electrocuffs around my wrists.
One of the civies inserted a white rod into my cuffs, and the bottom fell away, releasing me. The other civie took the cuffs away, and the first one shoved me into the chair in front of the table, placed my wrists into the grooves on the table, and slammed the device shut.
Once it clicked into place, a white light appeared along the edges just like on my cuffs.
“Is this really necessary?” I asked.
The man glared at me but didn’t deign to respond.
“Dr. Alton will be along shortly,” the lab tech said, looking around the room and forcing a smile. “Make yourself…comfortable.”
Then he stepped out of the room, followed by one of the civies. The other took up a post by the door as it slid shut.
“Have I done something wrong?” I asked.
The man stared forward without even turning to look at me.
“Nice place you’ve got here,” I remarked. “Real…homey.”
At that, he glanced my direction but still didn’t move.
“So... that man in the other room—”
“Shut your mouth, Oathbreaker,” the man said at last.
“It speaks!” I said in triumph. “Look, I don’t know what they told you, but I don’t know anything about breaking any oaths. I’m—”
“Are you deaf? Shut it.”
“I will if you would just tell me why I’m here,” I replied.
In one fluid movement, the civie stepped toward me and pulled his gun up, aiming it at my head. I tried to pull away from him, but my arms were securely locked onto the table.
At that moment, the door hissed open and a sharp, shrill voice said, “Stand down, corporal.”
The civie didn’t budge. “Dirty Oathbreaker deserves to die.”
“I said stand—down,” the woman said with finality.
After another long pause, the corporal relaxed and lowered his weapon.
“That will be all,” she said.
“My orders are to stay with the prisoner,” he argued.
“Your orders have changed. Leave us,” she said.
The civie looked between the woman and me and then walked out of the room, mumbling under his breath. When the door closed once more, the woman pulled up a chair opposite of me and sat.
She was not unlike any of the others I’d seen in the facility. She wore a white lab coat with a name badge that identified her as Dr. Klara Alton. Her auburn hair was pulled back tightly into a bun, and a set of thin glasses rested on her nose.
She had a softness in her face that was disarming, yet her rigid posture and sharp-eyed look told a different story. She was a woman used to getting her way and not to be crossed lightly.
After scrolling briefly through a datapad, she lifted her eyes and smiled as she spoke, “Aren Halland. 18. A Guardian in the Allyrian army. Or you were until recently. Now you’ve taken residence among a band of criminals led by the ever-elusive Maximilian Vondergrift.”
“Criminals?” I said with alarm. “Hold on just a minute, nobody told me—”
“Did I give you permission to speak?” she snapped.
Something in the way she said it caused me to sit up a little straighter.
“I am not interested in your criminal present,” she responded.
“Then why—”
Dr. Alton held up a finger, and I held my tongue, not wanting t
o press my luck. “I want to talk about your past,” she said.
Good luck, lady. I don’t even know about my past.
“What is your father planning?” she asked.
My father? I can’t remember anything about him. He must be some rival scientist on the edge of a break through or something for this lady to take an interest in him.
“I—I don’t know,” I replied. It was the truth.
Her fist slammed into the table. “Lies!” she shouted. “Tell me what you know!”
“I don’t know anything! Honest. I woke up yesterday on a ship I didn’t recognize around people I’ve never seen before doing gods know what in the middle of nowhere Allyria.”
“You expect me to believe that?” Dr. Alton said, pushing her glasses higher up onto her nose. “I’m going to give you one last—hold on a moment.”
She lifted her datapad, gave it two successive taps, and held it out toward me. “Once more, tell me what you know about your father’s plans for Balgyra.”
“Balgyra? No, you must be mistaken, I’m Allyrian. And whatever formula or weapon you think my father is making for the Allyrian government, I assure you I know nothing about it.”
“By the gods,” she exclaimed in wonder as she set the tablet down. Lines bounced up and down on the screen in real time and went flat as the datapad settled on the surface of the table. “You’re telling the truth.”
I nodded my head in confirmation.
“Well,” she said, reaching into the pocket on her lab coat and pulling out a small box. “Onward and upward as I always say.”
Setting the box on the table, she clicked it open and lifted a syringe out of it.
I bolted up out of my seat and backed away as much as I could, but my arms were still firmly locked into place. “Hey, hey, easy now. I don’t like needles.”
“This won’t hurt a bit, I assure you,” she said.
“Tell that to the guy next door,” I quipped.
Alton scoffed. “You think I’m going to waste you on trial tests? Now, hold still.”
For the second time today, the door hissed and slid open, saving me from whatever pain and suffering was surely to befall me.
Sworn Guardian: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure (Forbidden Magic Book 1) Page 7
