Boddo was not having a very good day. He was never having a good day when he was put on guard duty. Guard duty was awful, and boring, and long, and there was never any good plunder in it. So he sat and looked out across the fields, twiddling his thumbs, staring out at the sky.
And then everything went black.
Tyram didn't know the bandit's name, he just knew he couldn't get through with a lookout on guard. Of course he still didn't know if he could get into the base, but it was a step. And he'd spotted a comm on the bandit's belt. A surprisingly nice comm, too. Long range communication on this planet was terrible, but maybe with that he could get in touch with the village.
After he had the communicator he checked the bandit's pulse. Weak and thready, but present. He felt a little relieved about that, and turned his worry towards when the guard was due to report in or be replaced. Nothing he could do about it, he'd have to try and raise the communicator in the village as quickly as possible.
Oh, for a modern planet with a comms network. His homeworld had been fairly provincial, but it had at least been connected to the omnicom network.
“Hey,” he said. “Hey is anybody hearing me?”
There was a crackle from the other end of the machine. And then J'vann's voice.
“Tyram!” J'vann said. “What happened? Where are you? Andry said you climbed on top of an air car mid flight!”
“I did,” Tyram said. “And they still got away. Ms. Fadden brought Aurina right to the bandits. What are you doing out of bed?”
“Sasha and I are both well enough to stand,” J'vann said. “And ready to fight. Well close enough. I will admit to still having some difficulty with my left leg, but nothing I cannot handle. One moment, I will bring others onto this call.
Silence for a few moments, and then...
“Where's my sister?” Andry's voice demanded.
“She and Rimni got taken into the base,” Tyram said. “I think Ms. Fadden is trying to keep us from attacking. Put us and the bandits in a stalemate so she can get her precious eight months.”
“And let those animals have my sister in the meantime,” Andry spat bitterly into the microphone.
“I know,” Tyram said. “I'm sorry Andry, she got away.”
He was fully ready to get bawled out. He fully expected to get bawled out.
“No,” Andry said. “No you don't need to apologize. You jumped on a flying air car to get her back. If they got away it isn't because you weren't trying.”
“That reminds me,” Tyram said. “Watch out for Ms. Fadden if you run into her. She's got a regalia. Wait a second, there's movement...”
Tyram peered over the dugout and down at the earthen walled base below.
“It looks like they're sending people out,” Tyram said. “Two groups, four or five vehicles each.”
There was noise on the other side of the radio. Then another familiar voice took over talking to him.
“Tyram it's Chaddam,” the village mayor said. “What direction are they heading?”
“They're heading...hold on a second...” Tyram wracked his brains to try and remember the maps he'd studied. “The village is east from here, so northeast and southeast. Either side of the village.”
“There are other villages in the area,” Chaddam said. “And they're not quite empty yet. He must want more hostages. We've got a few on him, after all.”
“Damnit!” Tyram said.
“No it's alright,” Chaddim said. “We know what he's doing, we can bloody his nose a little bit. Splitting up his resources was his big mistake. Besides, we did get one thing out of our little encounter with the enforcers. It won't help us against that dug in base of theirs, but it's perfect for this.”
“What is it?” Tyram asked. “What do we have now?”
“Air superiority.” The grin in his voice was so powerful Tyram almost expected the communicator to curve up in a smile. “They left a couple of their air cars behind. Far as I know, the bandits only have jeeps. We can use them to get around quickly, cut off their attacks.”
“Sounds good,” Tyram said. “Meanwhile Aurina is still inside the base. If I see an opportunity I'll try to go in and get her. I'm not the best one for this kind of mission though.”
“Who is?” Chaddam asked. “Maybe we can get them out to you...”
“For sneaking around? Rimni,” Tyram said. “And he's already inside there with her.”
RIMNI
“Hold his legs! Come on you idiot hold his legs!”
“It's like holding onto a bag of snakes!”
“How's a kid this small so strong?”
“Ow! He got me in the shins!”
“Alright you little...he's got hold of the bars! Pry his fingers open! Pry his fingers open! Get him loose from the AAAHHHHHH!”
Rimni sank his teeth into the hands of his jailer. Well one of his jailers, it was taking six of them to wrestle him into the cell. He wasn't ranting about how he was a knight anymore, nor had he tried to summon his Regalia. It had occurred to him this might be one of those times it was good to be underestimated, and he of all people knew the value of sneaking around. He was the Rat Knight, after all. But just because he was keeping his Regalia in reserve didn't mean he had to make it easy for a bunch of bandits trying to throw him into a cell.
They finally pried his fingers loose and threw him into the cell beside Aurina. They'd lain her gently down on the bed, either because she was a girl or because she was still unconscious. He guessed maybe his Regalia had protected him from the gas a little—he'd heard someone mention knockout gas—or maybe it was because he'd been gassed while he was already asleep. He didn't know about that kind of thing.
“And stay in there,” a guard snarled at him, kicking the doors. Rimni sat on the bed next to Aurina and thought, resting his chin in his hand. What was he, as a valiant and heroic knight, supposed to do in this situation?
Well escape, obviously. But there was also a princess—okay, she was a barmaid, but she was so pretty she was kind of like a princess—who needed rescuing. Rimni was too small to carry her out, so he'd have to wake her up. Eventually. First, how to get out of the cell? It was just a hollow in the rock they'd built bars with a door into one side of. Rimni went and checked out the bars. He was small and flexible enough to slip through them no problem, and then he'd just have to find a key or pick the lock to get Aurina out. So actually they could get out anytime, assuming Aurina was up and moving.
Which didn't look likely to happen anytime soon, so he slipped through the bars of the cell for what he thought of as a “scouting mission.” It certainly had nothing to do with being bored waiting for her to wake up. And even if it was, knowing the layout had to be a good thing right? Right. Especially now that he got a look at the base. It wasn't exactly a labyrinth, but it was a converted natural cave formation. That was important. There was always a logic to how a fully constructed base was set up, but caves didn't care where they went or how they twisted around.
Rimni was a little worried about the others. No one else seemed to have been captured, but he had no way to know what happened. And who was that woman? She wasn't a bandit, so why was she helping the bandits? It was annoying and confusing, but he reminded himself it also didn't matter. What mattered was escaping. And it would be nice to know where the exit was so they weren't running around aimlessly in the enemy base.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Before he found the exit, he found the next best thing. A communications set. It was old and banged up and probably stolen, but there were lights blinking on it so it probably worked. If he could just figure out how to get in touch with the village he could get some information. He stood on front of the console, trying to figure out how to get it working, until he heard the heavy dragging footsteps coming down the hall and realized he'd made a mistake.
There's only one way in or out of this room, Rimni scolded himself. Never, never go into someplace until you're sure you know how to get out again. If he tried going out the front door he'd have to kill whoever was coming in, and bodies are a good way to get noticed. He'd have to hide. Luckily, that's what the Rat Regalia was for. He stepped into the shadows and called on its power, fading into the darkness like he'd never been there just before Jalgoz walked into the room.
He'd only seen Jalgoz while he was being brought into the base, but he'd heard about him. Jalgoz was strong. And people said he was smart, too. As the bandit leader sat down and activated the comm set Rimni started to rework his plans. A random body lying around was a problem, but a dead bandit leader could be a huge help. Sure Jalgoz was supposed to be really strong, but was he ready for a surprise attack in his own base? He was still debating when the comm set screen flickered to life with the image of a white bearded old man lying in a bed.
“Good news, boy?” the man said.
“Yeah Grandfather,” Jalgoz told him. “I figured out how we keep things even with the town. I've got some hostages of my own, now. And I sent people out to get more.”
“Classic!” the old man said excitedly, but he devolved into a fit of phlegmy coughing. Rimni had, in his short life, seen a great deal of death. Most of it had not been from old age, but he was still pretty sure the old man could croak any second.
“That's what I was thinking,” Jalgoz agreed.
“Good,” the old man said. “Good. Do me a favor, boy. If I'm still kicking when you kill the Knights, get a vid of it for me will you? I haven't gotten to see a knight die since the Ruin Wars.”
“Sure thing,” Jalgoz said. “Won't be too much longer. I--”
Rimni moved.
It was listening to the talk about killing Knights. Like it was some kind of sport. He shot from the shadows, dagger pulled back to strike. He tried to slash open Jalgoz's throat but the huge bandit was quick, much quicker than anyone his size should be. He jerked back instinctively, so Rimni's dagger just cut a line of red down the side of his neck.
“Gahh!” Jalgoz snarled, pressing a hand against the wound and standing up from his chair. “Little shit!”
“What's happening?” the old man on the communicator said. “What was that?”
“It's a kid,” Jalgoz said, activating his Sloth Regalia. “In a Regalia. Damn, I heard one of the knights was a little kid I just wasn't sure I believed it. Little bastard nearly got me. Went right for the jugular.”
“Shame to waste talent like that,” the old man gave another hacking, coughing laugh. “But I suppose you'd better kill him. And be quick about it, I don't torture kids. Don't like killing'em much either, but he drew first blood.”
“I dunno who you are old man,” Rimni called out as he bolted around the room, a blur of motion that ricocheted off walls and floor alike. “But the only one dying here this big asshole!”
Rimni darted in a few times to attack, but Jalgoz's guard was up now that he knew Rimni liked striking for the throat. After a few failed rushes in Rimni decided to change things up. A dagger to the kidneys would kill just as surely as the neck, so that's what he went for first. He zipped around to Jalgoz's back and stabbed.
There was a scraping sound as the tip of his dagger slid off the hard auram armor. He was still too busy being shocked to react when Jalgoz's claws came sweeping down, cutting his arm and slamming him into the floor. When he tried to get up, Jalgoz's armored boot slammed onto the Rat Knight's back, pinning him to the rock.
“Like I said boy,” the old man said. “Do what's gotta be done, but...”
“Yeah yeah,” Jalgoz said, raising his arm. Two-foot blades gleamed along their razor sharp edges. “I know. Make it quick.”
AURINA
Aurina sat up in bed and tried to figure out where she was, floating in the disorienting miasma of confusion that comes with opening ones eyes to discover an unfamiliar ceiling. It wasn't a sensation she was very used to. People on Trego tended to stay in the village they started at. Her fragmented memories of getting captured didn't help much either, except for giving her context. Chances were good this was the bandit's base, though exactly how or why she got here she had no idea.
She felt like she ought to be panicking, and she kind of was. She could feel the panic fluttering in her chest, a tight tension at the bottom of her brain. But it was as if something had pushed it down and to the side. Something heavy and hard in her mind that refused to let the panic overwhelm her. That forced to the front of her mind calm, focus, escape. This effect was in no way supernatural, nor is it exactly rare. Aurina had simply discovered she was one of those people who's mind naturally and without training works better in an extreme situation. Since most people agree that extreme situations are best avoided and something akin to a near death experience is required to uncover it, most who possess this ability never realize it and those who do normally use it as infrequently as possible.
Alright fine, she told herself. Escape. But how?
She patted herself all over looking for anything that might help. A completely fruitless endeavor since she didn't normally carry much around, and even if she'd had a full set of lock picks she'd have no idea how to use them. But she did it to make herself feel better, and to her surprise she did discover something. Had the bandit's not bothered to search her when she came in? Or had they merely decided it couldn't possibly be a threat?
Booky cooed slightly as she pulled him out of her pocket, both heads nuzzling her wrist.
“I'm sorry,” she told him. “I don't have any food on me right now. Once we get out of this, I promise.”
All she had to do was press his shell and she would have her own personal siege weapon. She was sure he could blast open the cell doors. But then what? Alone in enemy territory, with who knew how many more Regalia users running around, not to mention a swarm of regular bandits. She didn't have a big auram-infused shell, ordinary bullets and lasers would kill her just fine. And where would she go? Booky was fast but when you've got nowhere to go the only place fast gets you is nowhere fast.
But I don't have any better ideas, she thought. Maybe I can try just a little help from Booky. Keep it discreet.
She did not bother to ask herself how a giant two headed snail with built in shell cannons could be discreet anywhere, let alone in an enemy filled cave, she just pressed his shell and stepped back as her faithful steed began to grow. And kept growing. Grew, in fact, far too much. When she had come up with this—well, even she couldn't bring herself to call it a “plan” but the right word was somewhere in the same general linguistic district—she had taken into account neither the size of the cell nor the size of Booky's shell.
Basically, he just didn't fit.
She pressed herself into the corner away from the spiked shell of the expanding cephalopod, but luckily for her and for Booky only three of the cell's walls were hewn from the solid elemental rock of the planet. The fourth was made of low quality metal welded together by low quality craftsmen, and as the auram reinforced snail shell expanded into them the bars of her cell gave way like cheap twigs, although they broke with less of a satisfying snap and more of an unholy tortured shriek.
“Good job Booky!” Aurina said, reaching clumsily around his shell and shrinking him back to normal size. “Not exactly what I was going for, but we did get the cell open.”
She was just tucking him back in her pocket when bandits carrying rifles rounded a corner and ran down the hallway
“What happened here!?” One of them demanded, leveling his gun at her.
“I don't know!” Aurina said, full of wide eyed innocence. “It was like the whole roof was caving in!”
“Leave her alone,” the other bandit said. “There's no way she's got the power to pull this off. She don't look like a warrior to me, and if she had a Regalia that woman in the suit woulda said.”
“Yeah true,” the first bandit agreed. “I get worried about this place though, I mean if the roof is gonna...ungh!”
It took a moment for the other guard to process what had happened, that the girl he had disregarded as a threat had knocked his partner unconscious with a shattered piece of led cell bar. Unfortunately for him, Aurina used that stunned moment to hit him with the exact same bar, leaving both guards sprawling on the ground.
“Hah!” she laughed, resting the bar over her shoulder. With her other arm she picked up one of the rifles, and after a moment of thought removed one of the guards belts. She tied the belt around her waist over her dress, slipping the bar inside it, and held the rifle in both hands. “Okay, here goes nothing. Come on Booky, you're my backup.”
She made her way through the tunnels. She still had no idea where she was going, but the base seemed almost deserted. The emptiness of the halls didn't feel normal, as if the halls themselves thought things were unusual and strange. She could feel that this place was normally full of people. Was it just because of the men the bandits had lost in the battle?
And then she heard noises she recognized all too well. Metal on metal. Someone was fighting. It could be the bandits fighting each other, or it could be a rescue mission. Andry here to save her. Or Tyram. For some reason her mind slid back and forth between her brother and Tyram. But now wasn't the time to piece apart the connection she'd felt to the young Dragon Knight. She followed the noises and peered through a doorway just in time to see Jalgoz raise his arm to finish off Rimni.
“NO!” she screamed, dropping the rifle she was holding in her shock. But no one cared about that, because right afterwards she exploded.
The light burst out from her like an exploding star, though there was no heat to the piercingly white wave. But while it had no heat it did have force, smashing Jalgoz across the room like a pebble kicked away by a petulant giant. His flailing arm obliterated the table with the comm set as he fell.
What the hell was that!?Aurian thought, but that hard weight in her mind intervened. No. No not now. You don't have time. She ran to Rimni's side. Lying on the floor seemed to have mostly protected him from...whatever it was Aurina had just done.
“Are you okay?” She asked.
“Yeah,” Rimni said. “I'm okay. But we better go. I still need to rescue you.”
“Right,” Aurina smiled. “Come on. We'll go and find a way out of here.”