Chapter 16
An urgent mission
The Maiden of Truth was just leaving as I started onto the path leading to the temple. “Dawn,” she called, sounding paranoid.
“What’s the matter?”
“Dawn, you’ve been gone for weeks. There hasn’t been a word from you.”
“Am I needed for something?”
“Yes! The King and Queen have urgent orders for you. It’s been too long that you haven’t been here. The matters are urgent.”
I followed her down to the royalty headquarters and met with the three of them.
The King looked up, surprised that I had come back. I must have looked a mess. I had caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror and saw that I did indeed look like I had just been through hell and back.
“Huntress,” The King said, “there are matters that we must discuss. Things have been unpleasant around here after Celentine had resigned, legally and within her rights. Now that you are Huntress, our plans can resume.”
“What plans?” I asked. I had never known there to be extra jobs for the Huntress, I have my hands filled already with what I had just come back with.
“There are rats out there. Murids, Canines, Ursine and Man.” He said with a sneer. “They are causing trouble ever since we’ve lost Celentine. They think our societal power is running out. But now that we have you, we can give them a surprise, let them know that the Huntress is back on board. We’ll even be able to take a number of them out, having the upper hand. They don’t know you exist.”
“What are they doing?”
“You must know, Huntress, these creatures have been causing trouble for us. They kill Felines in the streets, the vulnerable ones of course. They have their own businesses, using us as slaves, they want to burn our jungle and use the wood for their own.”
I put that into the picture, there are Felines in the city. That they left the village doesn’t mean they aren’t part of us. Felines are Felines and the King has an obligation to them all.
“Dawn,” the Queen said. “The murids are trafficking ammunitions, armor and who know what else. We have their coordinates and can take you there. There isn’t much time. We can give you the night to sleep, but further preparations are going to be neglected as you haven’t been contacted for weeks.”
“Two weeks and five days, to be precise.” The maiden of Truth entered in.
I bowed and told them I will be here in the morning.
Somehow I didn’t feel all that happy to go on this mission. Some childish part of me even wanted to protest that they didn’t even ask where I was. They would have said that my business is my own. Though they are the King and Queen, they are equals to me. The four of us, including the Maiden of Truth, made the pinnacle of the Felines. The King, the leader; The Queen, the controller of the populace; The Huntress, knife of the Felines and The Maiden, the overseer of the Gods’ prophecies. Our Gods gave the book of prophecies to their children and it’s come down to her to ensure it’s followed through.
Stepping out and leaving, the Maiden of Truth came to me, stopping me in the hallway. “Dawn, where were you? I know you may have other duties none of us know about. But being gone for that long, I got worried for you. You’re still young.”
I didn’t like that she thinks me still young. Nobody has done what I have. I held my tongue and instead opened my bag up to show her the relic I retrieved.
Her eyes widened as she jumped, took it at once and admired it, assessing each curve. “I know this,” she said. “One of Xeres’s antiques. It was… stolen, or traded to… How did you find it?” She kept analyzing every detail of it. Her mind jogging to recall where she had seen it. “You got it back… It was stolen by Dacoit. Kept hidden from our world on another island, out of reach from any of us.”
She stood there mystified, now looking at me. She made sounds and squeals as if something was eating her from inside.
“Dawn,” She ran off to a farther room down the hall. I followed as she took a key out from around her neck and opened the door. It seemed to be a high security location around here. Dust covered the floor and walls, everything in here seemed to be as old as Ares and Xeres themselves.
It felt as if two of us seemed walked in from behind the scenes into a monochrome library the color of dust covered ivory.
She set the relic on the table and took a book from the shelve. Flipping to the page describing the item.
“The Relic of Good Fortune.” She read aloud. “A beautifully sculpted piece of gold with enhancements. It brings upon the holder good luck and fortune. Xeres’s personal belongings which was given to him as a gift from the second generation of Felines on his one hundred second birthday. A gift to the King and Queen after making a treaty with the Talpa of the underground. A goldsmith by the name of Austere forged it with the help of the well known wizard, Winston.”
She closed the book and hurriedly snatched another one from the shelf. It was a diary. She turned through the pages, didn’t find what she was looking for and took the next one. She found it. The historian’s account over the years.
There was a brief note which she read aloud. “On this day, Xeres made a deal with one who called himself Dacoit. A very powerful being, in the form of a Man and claiming to have a knowledge of the divine beasts which surpass any other’s, even claiming to have tamed one. The exchange was on the basis of protection. He stoped the beasts once and for all, keeping them hostage while each village of Xenos pay tribute to him, namely a specific piece of gold.”
She still didn’t seem satisfied and ran to the bookshelf again. This time taking out the familiar fairytale book that seemed to be on every bookshelf I have seen, even in the temple and underwater.
She didn’t read this one aloud. “You know this story of Dacoit. He traded with us for safety. You took it. Did he know you took it?”
“He’s dead.” I told her, bowing my head in shame. “I watched him die.”
Her eyes widened as frantic women do. Then she sighed. “It’s only a fairytale. But these tales are not all that false.” She said in wonderment as she started pacing back and forth. “What did he say?”
“He said a lot, and then put me in the dungeon with Dakur.”
“Dakur?” She asked. “Who is that? The name of the island is Dakur.”
“He was starved. An immortal beast starved to the point of insanity. Dacoit locked him up and crowned himself prince. Until Dakur ate his head. Now he is the King of the island.”
“Dakur. The King of the Ancient beasts,” She said, recalling something. “That was his island.”
She still seemed confused. I told her what happened, what Dakur said.
“This may be untold trouble in the future. Something that has been suppressed. The extinction of all Xenos.”
“But there can’t be as many Ancients as there were in the beginning?”
“Who knows, they don’t die on their own. They must be killed, they have hides to withstand weapons. The only thing that may kill them is what a Huntress may have.” She looked at me curiously. “Of which I do not know about and don’t want to.” She still looked at me trying to see what weapons I held. She found nothing as she didn’t look at my feet. “Unfortunately, we don’t have more than the King’s sword. Your are our weapon.”
I held up my foot and flexed. Ungu came out.
She jumped, “I guess I missed that,” and somehow laughed in relief. “I say, that will be useful when you get in trouble dear.”
She still doesn’t know what I’ve been up to.
“Dawn, get some sleep. I will think this over and try to get some rest as well. But I don’t think I’ll sleep. Please. Help the King and Queen, with these rats we are going to exterminate in the city.”
I nodded and picked up my relic. The Maiden twitched as I took it, but she let it go. It was mine and business of the Huntress, not her’s.
———
I woke the next morning, almost feeling guilty of what I’ve done. I stole back the relic from prince Dacoit, and killed him. Well I didn’t the beast did, I merely watched the man die and aided tremendously.
I had put the relic next to me when I slept. The cat of good fortune. I hope it works. I’ll need all the good fortune I can get.
I suddenly remembered, I have to fly with the King today out to the city to stop some crime. I can’t fiddle with the relic any longer. The next door will have to wait.
I scooped up my bag, leaving the rings and other nonsense from my last trip laid out nicely on the table. The relic, I put under lock and key in the second door. I wouldn’t want that stolen or mislaid, even if the Maiden of Truth came to look for it.
I left and headed down to the King’s residence.
The Queen was inside, filing her claws. “Can I help you Huntress?” She asked.
“I had to leave with the King today, we had a mission to attend,” I reminded her.
“Oh, that’s right, you can’t fly. I forgot, you’re still young.”
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The King came in, out of his robe and having dawned a tighter fit suit. Similar to mine, but with all the frills that Kings have. “Huntress, follow me.” He said in a haggard voice. It seems like the busy days are getting to him.
He left the room and went down into an ancient, carved stone tunnel. It reminded me of my own temple. It lead down a set of stairs. We walked for a few minutes and came to a large enclosed space. Guards and Felines smattered with grease were just finishing up and getting ready to leave.
What struck me was the large piece of metal in the middle of the room. It was as large as my temple, a ramp was sloped down and the guards of the King were running up and down it.
I stared in awe. I didn’t know we had one of these. “This is how we’ll get to the city?” I asked. He nodded and ushered me inside, apparently trying to take off soon.
“We’re a bit behind schedule, but it won’t matter, I can brief you on the way there.”
I went up the ramp, guards stopping and letting me by. I didn’t know if it was because of me or the King.
He showed me to the lounge and had me take a seat. “I’ll be back shortly.” He told me. “Just need to get us out of here before the day is over.”
“It’s only morning now.”
“I know,” He mumbled as he walked out and started giving orders.
“No, we don’t need that. It’s only a two day’s trip.”
“But the…”
“Fine, bring it.”
“And the…”
“It’s literally only five of us on this ship, not the whole village. You didn’t check the oil yet? We flew a month ago. It should be fine. I know what the checklist says. We need to leave.”
He walked past and ordered the pilot to start the engine. She said something that sounded like she couldn’t.
“Just start it,” The King replied.
The engine roared and leveled to a nearly unnoticeable idle.
Sunlight crept in from outside and the ship’s ramp closed up. Hoses and pumps were taken off the hull of the ship and someone shouted from outside. “Clear!”
We rocked forwards and then I was suddenly kicked sideways in my seat. My claws attacked the upholstery next to me. The king looked at me and sighed at the new holes in his seats. I smiled shyly and settled down as I felt that we were moving steadily. No more surprises.
“Would you like something to drink?” The King asked me as a steward came into the cabin.
I stared blankly. I didn’t have a faintest clue what to order.
“Two teas please.” The King said, and the steward left.
“So Huntress, there has been some trouble with the Murids lately. They seem to have been packaging things illegally and sending them throughout the country. Many illegal things. Guns, drugs, missiles. Supplying all of our enemies with arms we don’t want them to have. Revenue that we could do without. Plus, what good is a Murid? I despise the little demon spawn.”
He pulled out some papers and laid them in front of me to open up. The first one was a briefing of the mission. I sketched over it. Basically what he just told me. The next page was picture of the rodent.
Species: Murid
Name: Jenres
Height: 3’01”
Weight: 48 lbs.
“He’s small. Are all Murids this tiny?” I asked.
“Yes, but he’s particularly small.”
Something seemed to be on his mind. He seemed eager to get there. “Please take care to notice that he does have bodyguards with him at all times. They can be dangerous and I don’t want you killed.”
“So, do you want me to kill him?”
“Yes,” he answered, his mind somewhere else. But he answered again, “No, not exactly. If you can, take the shot. If not, just stop the delivery from happening and take as much as you can. I’ll stay in the ship and we can stay in com by radio. Here, take this.” He took a small device from the cupboard and handed it to me. “That end goes in your ear and the wire goes into your pocket, under your clothes and into the receiver.”
I put it in my ear, the bulky part I kept in my pocket. It was uncomfortable, large items and a thing in my ear. It made them twitch.
I sat there looking over the mission details and sipping my tea. It was hard to believe that I was flying, the ship was so steady.
The King stood up, “It’s time we give you some weapons. I see you don’t have any so I’ll have to give you a gun. You know how to use one right?”
“I’ve used a bow and arrow.” I replied.
He closed his eyes and breathed, “I hope you learn fast. We have thirty minutes to landing.”
He opened the cupboard and and took out one of the smaller guns and handed it to me. “An ion blaster. It’s got controls and knobs, but just keep it on this setting for now.” He took it back from me and adjusted it then pressed button on a remote and a small door opened at eye level across the room. “Take a few shots at that, get your aim right. There’s notches down the barrel.”
He sat back down and got lost in his thoughts anxious again.
I shot the target a few times, fortunately I wasn’t too bad, the target was big enough, but I wasn’t too good at hitting the center.
We landed soon after and the King stayed while I was ushered out. The guards stayed with the ship.
I was stepping out and into a large parking lot with similar ships scattered about.
“H, this is HRM, can you hear me?” He was talking through the radio as I got out of the ship.
“Yeah.” I said back.
“Great. Now, we landed in the shipping block of western Xenobia, I need you to find his ship. There will be guards all around and Murids packing boxes into the ship. Please confirm once you see it.”
There were Murids everywhere. They seemed to be the only crew working here, coming in and out of every ship. Guards? None. None that looked like the one in the picture.
“Don’t stand out in the open, H. Felines don’t visit these places often unless it’s you. Plus you’re not wearing normal civilian clothing, so stay hidden.”
I sighed, too bad I have a black jumpsuit. Easy to crawl through the shadows, but it’s nearly midday already. Not easy to hid like this.
Running along a darker wall I found his guards, they were just coming out of the building and taking transport to one of the ships. I stalked behind them, watching carefully as they got out and stood in front of a ship. I found Jenres, he came out behind the first three. Closely surrounded by his tall guards, he looked like a baby running around under the kneecaps of adults. His tawny fur stood out amongst the black cloaks of his guards.
I snuck under and between smaller ships, getting a closer look at him and the boxes. I hid behind some and tried reading the label. It was only addresses, obvious code names and nothing else. No contents described on the outside.
I looked on top to see if I could open it. The metal cases were locked from the outside. No chance of opening it soon.
“H, did you get a visual?” The King came through over the radio.
“Yeah, he’s here. Lots of guards.”
“Alright. Assess the scene and take action, he’s probably going to leave soon.”
The scene: he was closely surrounded by guards, walking into his ship, boxes everywhere, they must still be loading.
I should have some time still.
I could try to get inside the ship, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to come back out with all those guards. Maybe I can shoot him now.
I held my gun up, hoping that target practice helped. Ungu was my go to, not projectiles. Steadying my hand on the box in front of me I waited for a good shot, he was walking up the ramp and into the ship.
Wham!
Something hit me in the back, I toppled over from the force but my back didn’t feel it. Turning around to see who was my assailant I found a guard rubbing his forearms, the baton he hit me with was clattering to the floor. My suit, it must have reverberated the swing back into himself.
A second later something hit my head. I was out cold.
———
The next thing I knew I was hanging in midair, some sort of electric waves were pulsing, holding my hand and feet in place, and numb.
Jenres was in front of me standing on a pedestal twice his size. “Ah, the Feline is awake. I’m so glad you could join me. I was just doing a purge throughout the city. It seems like I didn’t even have to find you, you came straight to me!” He clapped in glee and rubbed his hands together.
I could barely open my eyes, my muscles were too loose and weren’t responding, feeling woozy with the electrical interference in my head. Glancing over to my right I saw my hands were held like I was a magnet, hanging on the wall as an inquisition prisoner.
He continued to ramble on about Felines and his successful business of trade and money.
I closed my eyes, trying to get some sort of consciousness back. Focus. I was still groggy, hard to think straight. How did I get here? I remember aiming, waiting for a good shot. Then I woke up here.
“Your ambitions are very great, Feline, something about you tells me that you have it in you. You would make a great slave.”
I attempted to slap him across the face. All that happened was a whole lot of confused motion, I jolted up, wriggled my arms and gave up quickly, letting out a tormented growl as I gave up.
“Woah! Hold it.” He yelled, then sighed. “Someone like you, always revolting, maybe you wouldn’t be such a good slave, maybe better off dead. People like you always at my throat. Plus a good slave never attacks his master.”
His huge body guards, almost twice the size of me, stabbed me with a stun rod. These guards, wearing black robes which hung to their feet and a vented muzzle, eyes hidden behind dark bug eyed glass, handled me cautiously, they know I’m full of surprises.
“Take her off and throw her out of here,” Jenres ordered. “Throw her out in a box, make sure she won’t come back.” He let out a manic snicker. “Now!”
One guard grabbed each of my arms as another turned the numbing electric field off, my feet were already cuffed together.
They held onto my arms and dragged me out to the back of the ship to the cargo loading bay. I held their forearms and sunk my claws into their sleeves. They grimaced and quickly cuffed my arms together and put a dual leashed collar on me.
“Enough antics!” Jenres cried out. “Throw her out, I don’t want to see here anymore,” the tiny Murid said, flicking his hand and turning around. “Felines are such bad company.”
I struggled against the leash, but I had no range of motion. both guards pulled back on the leash and I choked, finding myself half on the floor while being held up by the collar.
“Put her in a box and chuck her out the back,” he said. “Come on, I have a martini waiting in the lounge.”
They dragged me over to the other corner of the room. From the looks of it, it was either night time, or we were in outer space.
Shit. If they’re going to throw me out I have no way of surviving.
I thrashed about on the floor as the guards pulled me down the length of the ramp. I resisted, trying to claw my way out of the shackles. No, the locks won’t give. I have to focus, but it’s hard to breakout of a lock like this, there’s no keyhole to stick a claw in.
They threw me into a small box and and pressed a button, the cuff fell off and one guard hit me with the stun rod as the other picked them up and put the lid on. It was dark, cramped, and I had no way of getting out. I hit the walls a few times, all I found out was that it was made of metal.
I lurched and heard the sound of metal on metal as I slid, being pushed out of the ship falling from the sky, leaving that terrible Murid’s ship.
I fell, fortunately there was gravity, We’re not in outer space, which mean’s I’d find land eventually, there’s hope.
I have to find a way out. I pushed and pushed, trying to crack the walls of the box I was in, to no avail. I gave up quickly, hoping this wouldn’t kill me, I have nine lives, but I might be running out. Dying even once isn’t fun.
I curled up in a ball hoping someone would find and save me, somehow. It’s beyond me how someone could even try to save a box falling from the sky.
I stayed curled, hoping that it would save me to any degree. I have to be ready for the landing. Or crash landing.
Curled up I waited for the crash, hoping that anyone would help me. I have to focus. My heart rate was through the roof, I was shaking and still my mind wasn’t clear.
Sitting in the box, trying to stay still as I flipped and tumbled downwards, I thought of the relic that I left behind in my room, there was something I should have done before I died, at least given it to it’s rightful owner, Xeres.
.
———
Xeres?
I open my eyes, blackness, with stars far out in the distance.
“Dawn, you’ve done so well this far,” Xeres says. “Don’t give up.”
“But I’ve reawakened the Ancients. Dakur is reuniting the rest of the Ancients. They’re going to exterminate all of Xenobia.”
“That is not a reason to die,” Xeres says. “There are people relying on you. Extermination only comes once the sword is out of the hand. You are our sword.”
I stared off into the stars. Wondering if there are others like me out there. Others who suffer the same pain as I do. Being the thin line between a planet’s survival or demise and dying in the meantime. “I found the relic.” I muttered.
“I know. Keep it safe Dawn. There will be a time.”
I sunk back down to earth, my box tumbling through the sky, and woke with a jolt. My head was hit badly and I could feel a large welt bubbling up. Everything else was fine, except for maybe a sprained wrist. I rolled it around gingerly. The box was broken, the metal bent and damaged out of shape. The sunlight came through the tunnel I had made as I shot through the ground and came to a stop five feet deep.
I wriggled my way out and found myself in a sparse forest. The ground was soft, the weather was warm and it was still day time, but coming to an end soon.
My mind was still unclear and I was especially a bit confused as to where I was, it didn’t seem like anywhere I had been before. I looked around some more, limping slightly, and found a tree bearing apples, so I grabbed one, eating it before climbing up the tree to sleep the pain off.