CHAPTER TEN◄CHAPTER ELEVEN►CHAPTER TWELVE

Elkanah continued to watch from the vision slits of the halftrack, the gunship slowly coming to a landed state atop the desert sand, clouds of dust whipping up and blinding everybody nearby as its engines displaced the matter beneath the craft. He kept his eyes on its retractable gangway, hoping against hope that nothing would emerge from it and that it would simply be on its way, though he knew deep inside that his luck couldn’t possibly be that good.

The major clambered back out of the front cab of the halftrack as quickly as he had gotten back in. He was eager to make a good impression on the personal regiment of the High King, just as the lowlier lieutenant had tried to impress him minutes ago in “saving” Princess Aliya. “Perhaps the High King’s men are here to see you off back to the provincial capital after all, your Highness!” the major said with a smile, looking back to the halftrack in what was an otherwise dooming statement for Talitha if she was actually taken back and found out.

Elkanah clenched his fist in both frustration and triumph at the same time, judging by the sight that greeted him as the gangway hissed open at the rear of the gunship. A number of yellow armored lifeguards were there to make their day much worse, but several were descending the walkway upon or towing behind them their Rakvah mounts, the agile yet tough canid species that roamed the oases of Siva and had been domesticated for use as steeds for desert messengers, for sports racing in the city tracks, or actually into battle when a vehicle wasn’t available. For longer marches that didn’t require speed, though, it wasn’t uncommon for troops to mount Zuthari instead for heavy gear, like the several in the detachment Elkanah and Talitha had come across. These particular Rakvah had been strapped tight with similarly colored armor plating to the High King’s lifeguards, giving them an extra bit of protection as was befitting of their high value as regimental mounts. Though they weren’t water retentive like the Zuthari, the fact that they could cover such sheer distances in short times made up for that drawback, and in the back of Elkanah’s mind that might be their ticket out, for Sarat had to be at the very edge the range of such a creature.

He was no stranger to them, either. Many youngsters of the middle and upper classes, and especially the nobility, often had at least basic lessons in riding them as a sheer symbol of status. Elkanah hadn’t forgotten. The tricky part would be nabbing one of the Rakvah, keeping the lifeguards and the other soldiers from stopping them, or keeping the gunship from giving chase. If he could do all of those things, then speed and agility alone would deliver them to the safety of the south.

“Talitha,” Elkanah said, stepping down from his view of out of the vision slit and gently placing his handpaws on his companion’s shoulders. He turned his head away from her every few moments, perking his ears as if listening for any developments outside. “We may finally have a way out of here. I need you to keep following my lead.”

“You’ve gotten me this far,” she said with the smallest of smiles. “But I don’t know if I can keep up the façade of being Princess Aliya anymore.”

“You may not have to for much longer,” he said in response, grabbing his things and posturing himself in front of her defensively for the inevitable moment when the door to the halftrack opened back up. He was sure their presence would be requested sooner rather than later.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a metal box bolted to the wall of the halftrack filled with various munitions. A belt full of fragmentation grenades was haphazardly thrown inside with the mixture of other weapons and ammunition, probably chucked in there in the panic of the retreat during battle. Glancing back up out of the vision slit for only a moment, he saw the unshielded repulsor-turbofan engines of the gunship, their intakes wide open and only closed during combat situations for fear of damage. Putting two and two together, Elkanah didn’t hesitate to grab several of the grenades out of the box, stuffing them into his pack and away from prying eyes. Talitha hadn’t a clue as to his intentions, but she’d be finding out soon enough.

Elkanah gripped his gauss rifle tightly in his handpaws as he listened to the conversation outside, growing somewhat fainter as the major took steps away from the halftrack and meeting the oncoming lifeguards at the midpoint between themselves and the gunship. He perked his ears up in the process, trying to gauge what was being said.

“The legendary lifeguards, shimmering gold as the Zaket suns themselves!” the major said as he threw a salute towards the senior officer of the group, a lesser rank at lieutenant, but still commanding the respect he was due owing to his status as part of the High King’s personal regiment. “I suppose you’ve come on business for the nobility, no doubt? Or have you come to bolster our strength and redouble our efforts to take the fight back to the Confederacy down south?”

“Trust me, major,” the commanding officer of the shimmering power-armored troop said, flipping up the visor of his helmet as two of the Rakvah mounted lifeguards practically began circling the soldier who’d dared ask the question. “Something more serious than the retreat of the Crown Army is afoot. If the Confederacy knew what lurks in the midst of this wasteland and beyond, then perhaps you’d have been more keen on succeeding in your offensive with the rest of the fronts involved. We’re here to make sure they don’t find it out.”

The major gulped a bit, donning a nervous smile as the snarling beasts circled around him, the yellow plating of their armor reflecting blindingly in the Zaket sunlight. “Th-the failure of the offensive against Halaj Province is a point of embarrassment for us all, lieutenant,” he stammered at first before collecting himself. “But if my small detachment can help the lifeguards of Phaziah Ishigar, then please do not hesitate to tell me of the reasons for your presence.”

“There’s at least a dozen other lifeguard gunships visiting all retreating sectors, major,” he said, raising an eyebrow inquisitively as the remainder of his men began to set up a perimeter around the gunship, while a few others began spreading out to find other soldiers to question. “All for the same reason. Phaziah Ishigar has dispatched his finest to capture a runaway slave from Zeshom Noor’s estate.”

“A runaway slave?” the major asked, scratching his head in confusion. The High King had sent the lifeguards to find an escapee? “The royal lifeguards, Phaziah Ishigar’s personal household troops, have been sent on an errand to fetch an escaped slave of that mud brick merchant?”

“He was in possession of a slave that had quite a personal stake in them by Phaziah Ishigar, major,” the lieutenant replied, doing his best to reveal the urgency of the matter without divulging the sin of the High King. As backup, he began parroting the lie he and the rest of the lifeguard detachments had been told, of which Talitha was no stranger to hearing as the story was told yet again, though with a slightly different twist. “A freak of nature bearing gold fur, owing to a genetic mutation, now prowling about Lathga Province in her newfound freedom trying to use her outwardly noble appearance as a means to usurp the High King. We cannot allow it, and we’re combing the entire province in search of such a slave.”

Talitha shrunk into herself uncomfortably as she heard her supposed backstory recounted from somebody other than Zeshom Noor. Elkanah similarly felt himself tense up at hearing it. All that his companion had told him about her past, in that her mother had birthed her with mutated fur, was now being put front and center as a cover story. What else could it be if the lifeguards were now echoing it? How could it not be a falsehood based on Zeshom Noor’s dying words, screaming out her status as a “princess” in mad ravings of death staring him down, with nothing left to lose.

The major felt his heart rate pick up at the realization that he may have just been played for a fool by Elkanah and his companion. To suffer that was beyond the embarrassment of being routed by the Confederates in the failed offensive of the Crown Army; no, this would be a total humiliation beyond all reckoning, especially in front of the High King’s lifeguards. Outwardly, he was showing his awkwardness as he glanced back at the halftrack behind him, knowing who was inside.

The lifeguard lieutenant read him like a book, sensing his unease. “Something to say, major?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at the vehicle. “Perhaps you’ve crossed paths with such a Sivathi?”

“Based on all you’re saying, it’s a… possibility…” he said, though he still tried to stick to his story. “We just stumbled across Princess Aliya and her rescuer not too long ago, and—”

The lieutenant stuck out his handpaw, palm facing the officer in a motion for him to stop talking. As if on cue, the Rakvah mounts let out a snarl and bark, causing the poor man to practically begin shaking in his boots, feeling like he’d be fed to them as their next meal for being tricked like this if Elkanah’s story truly was a falsehood. “You’re wrong,” he said. “Princess Aliya was reported missing after the crash and has either been captured or killed.”

“But she’s back there in the halftrack, I can show you!” the major said, pointing off behind him with a thumb. “A sergeant from the 100th Mechanized rescued her, she’s not dead! She has the appearance of a slave right now since the Confederates beat her and thrust a collar on her neck as a means to belittle and humiliate her.”

Rolling his eyes, as if he was growing tired of playing games with the major, the lieutenant pulled out the data pad fastened to his hip. “She’s got a collar on her, you say?” he asked, toggling the device on and immediately pulling up the information about Talitha he’d been given prior to departing for the mission. He turned it to show the major, and though there was no picture to identify her, all the descriptors seemed to add up with the supposed Princess he had just come across. “Did you get a look at the code on it? Because I have it here in the planetary slave registry, along with her descriptions and colors, and real name. Why don’t you take me to the halftrack and introduce me to her… Sir,” he demanded, mockingly referring to him as his superior by matter of rank, but knowing he held all the power here owing to his position as a lifeguard and based on the task he’d been entrusted with.

The major gulped as he looked back at the halftrack. The only thing worse than being duped was having allowed himself to be duped, and he could only hope and pray that this wasn’t to be the case and that the girl actually was Princess Aliya. His entire reputation was now dangling by the thinnest of threads. “Th-this way, then…” he said, gingerly motioning for the lieutenant and his comrades to follow behind. Throwing a few quick glances around, he could now see that dozens of the lifeguards were combing the desert sands, questioning multiple soldiers from his detachment. Nowhere was safe anymore, and the gunship, in its bright yellow paint like those of the lifeguards, hung over him like some oppressive monolith that seemed as if it would squash him at the drop of a hat.

“Elkanah, they’re coming here!” Talitha asked anxiously. “They’ll know we’re up to no good!”

“Like I said, you won’t have to keep up pretending to be Princess Aliya much longer,” he said. “We need to get one of the Rakvah. It’s the only thing that’ll be fast enough to catch us if we can make off with and get far enough south to consider ourselves safe. That’s our ticket out of here, Talitha. I need you to believe in me, just a little longer.”

“You can ride those?” she said in astonishment. “I can’t! What are you expecting me to do?”

“Just hold on tight to me,” he said, squeezing her handpaw to show his sincerity as he saw the two officers and their followers now only a few paces away from the rear door of the halftrack. “They might take us, but only for a moment. I promise, we’re going to get through this together. I’m thinking of a plan.”

The major reached out towards the handle of the rear hatch as he rounded the back corner of the vehicle, only to find it locked from the inside. Cursing himself for that fact, he was about to call out for Elkanah and his companion to step out and have a few words with the lifeguards, but the lieutenant would have none of it. He angrily banged his fist on the armored hull of the vehicle, demanding that the occupants come out. Whether or not it was actually Princess Aliya inside, he could only be sure by applying strong degree of intimidation and force. “In the name of Phaziah Ishigar, open the door!” he bellowed.

“Elkanah…” Talitha said, clutching at her head in despair. Her heart was thumping in her chest, and she wanted to be brave in spite of what was now transpiring. Even so, the sheer intimidation at the prospect of being sent back to something even worse than Zeshom Noor’s ownership had completely shattered her resolve.

“Listen to me,” he said, keeping his voice low as the lieutenant continued banging on the door. “Here’s the plan. We can’t take on these soldiers—much less the lifeguards of the High King—straight out of the halftrack. And even if we did, that gunship would be on us in a heartbeat. I have to allow you to be captured, if only for a moment. If I act as if you played me for a fool and still show my loyalties towards the Crown, maybe they won’t arrest me straight away. But they’ll certainly want me coming along to be questioned. When they bring us to the gunship to load us onboard, then we’ll act.”

He paused, motioning to the fragmentation grenades he had stowed away in his pack. “I’ll chuck one of these into the intakes of the gunship to cripple the thing. The chaos of that should buy us the few precious seconds we need to make off with one of the Rakvah. There might be a few that give chase, but that’s a chance we’ll have to take. Like I said, just hold on tight. But just play along with what I do. They may get rough, but it’s all for our gamble to get out of here.”

“Open up or we’ll blow the doors off!” the lieutenant said, his patience wearing thin. The major sheepishly stood behind him, wringing his handpaws and knowing that he was in a heap of trouble if the story didn’t add up about what Elkanah had told him.

With his willingness to wait now gone, the lieutenant turned to one of the Rakvah riders. “Get breaching charges out of the gunship,” he ordered. “If they want to hide in there, then we’ll just have to force our way in. To hell with them if we blow out their eardrums from the blast!”

“You lying slave scum!” Elkanah’s voice erupted out of the halftrack, catching the attention of everybody outside the vehicle. “You’re not Princess Aliya! Don’t you know what a heinous crime it is to impersonate a noblewoman?”

The tense atmosphere outside the halftrack suddenly snapped at the sergeant’s sudden outburst. The major felt the tightening knot in his stomach suddenly drop at now knowing that he hadn’t been the only one taken advantage of by the false Princess Aliya, and if Elkanah was coming clean, then perhaps part of the blame could be deflected onto the lowlier enlisted man. But back inside, Talitha felt herself freeze in terror. Seeing the one who’d treated her so kindly and had saved her from certain doom suddenly show aggression caught her off guard, making the healing whip scars on her back radiate painfully with reminders of such similarly cruel words that had been used against her by Zeshom Noor and his taskmasters.

Then, she remembered that this was all an act. Believe in me, just a little longer. Those had been Elkanah’s words. Who else could—or would—she trust in circumstances like these? For now, she had to return herself to the role of a frightened, submissive slave. If Elkanah’s wild plan of abandoning the Crown Army and absconding with a slave had come this far, then she had few reservations about trying something even crazier in the scheme he was now concocting. She yelped mildly—both out of instinct and out of acting—as Elkanah grasped her by her collar, preparing to open the rear door to the halftrack.

“Sergeant Judara?” the major asked, timidly taking a few steps forward until he was standing beside the lifeguard lieutenant. “What’s going on in there? Come out!”

“Oh, we’re coming out, major!” he said. “This runaway has quite a bit of explaining to do, believe me!”

The eyes of the major and lieutenant both shot to the handle of the halftrack door now turning and wiggling as Elkanah unlocked it from inside. The doors swung open, kicking up a little bit of desert dust in the process, and as it settled, the two Sivathi officers were then greeted with the sight of Elkanah grasping Talitha roughly by the collar, pointing his gauss rifle at the back of her head. “I have little doubt that I’m going to be reprimanded for being led astray like this,” he said as Talitha squirmed in his grasp. “But I’m going to do my part to set it all right! Nobody makes a fool of a soldier of Phaziah Ishigar and goes unpunished, let alone a slave girl!”

“Bring her down here, sergeant,” the lieutenant said, bringing his data pad back up and looking at Talitha’s information on it. His eyes fell on her collar identifier in the planetary slave registry: T-ZN-3033133. “I want to confirm that she’s the one we’re here for. Not that there are many slaves bearing golden fur at all, though…”

“Check her collar,” Elkanah said, doing his best to keep his nerves from getting the better of him. He knew he was playing an incredibly dangerous game, and if he made one wrong move, Talitha would be gone for good. Even then, he’d run out of options to find a way out of here. This was the only strategy he could think of in the heat of the moment. The white furred Sivathi shoved her forward to the lieutenant, careful to keep his handpaw on her collar the whole time; he wasn’t about to let Talitha out of his reach for a single second.

The lieutenant grasped Talitha by her cheeks ruthlessly, squeezing tight as he turned her head this way and that, trying to get a better look at the coloring on her fur before rushing to judgment and checking out her collar. He’d been told the girl he’d been looking for was gold furred, indeed, but carried a tan undertone that was seen if brushed aside or spread apart by one’s fingers. He didn’t hesitate in doing so, pushing aside the fur on the tufts of her cheeks to reveal the tan undercoat he’d been informed of, the sight of slave colors underneath the appearance of nobility making his stomach turn in his elitist mind.

“Her collar, lieutenant?” the major piped up, trying to reinstate some sense of authority that he held with his superior rank in spite of his lesser status as a plain soldier of the Crown Army.

Feeling his suspicions already confirmed, he’d only know for certain if the code on the girl’s collar matched what had been entered in the planetary slave registry. Her data had been made secretive and only available to Zeshom Noor himself, his minions, and those directly associated with the High King and his lifeguards. Looking down at the data pad, he stated the readout before him. “T-ZN-3033133. Registered as the property of Zeshom Noor in Lathga Province. Gold topcoat, tan undercoat, gold eyes. Twenty years of age.”

Talitha felt her heart sink as the lifeguard then compared what he’d read out on the data pad to what was etched on her collar. Even though she was still going along with Elkanah’s little ruse, the suspense and sheer risk involved was almost too much from her and nearly threatened to crack her whole part of the act. She shivered as she felt the lieutenant’s finger trace along the letters and numbers etched into her collar, reading them one by one and finally widening his eyes as he confirmed that everything was a match. Elkanah yanked her back by the collar and closer to him, in part to give the appearance that he was treating her roughly—as befitting of a Sivathi slave—but also to keep her away from any vengeful paws.

“I knew it,” the lieutenant said, slamming the datapad on the ground angrily, causing the screen and its holographic display to bug out and shatter. “Disgusting, half-breed mongrel! I don’t know what sort of sacrilege between slave and noble blood spawned you,” he shouted insultingly, not having been privy to the details that it was actually his own High King that had done the deed. “But you’re going to rue the day you were born! You’re going straight to Shaleth in chains to stand before the High King himself and answer not just for your cursed blood, but also for trying to fool members of the Crown Army into thinking you were Princess Aliya!”

“Shameful!” Elkanah said, maintaining the brutish mannerisms and forceful voice as he continued to keep Talitha close.

“And don’t think that you or the major are escaping any sort of reprimand,” he said, pointing to Elkanah. “You’re permitted to walk free for now, but you’re coming with us back to Shaleth, because blazing suns know that you have a whole world of explaining to do. Pray to the Crown that you aren’t court martialed for any of this! If it were up to me, I’d have you both arrested right now, but lucky for you, as you both know, we can’t just do that without concrete evidence to charge you with. So far, nothing is hurt but your pride in being fooled by a slave. There’s nothing saying you directly helped her on your own accord.”

“If I am to be, then I’m still going to do my part in serving the Crown and showing my loyalty,” Elkanah answered, not intimidated by the lieutenant and secretly relieved at knowing that he wouldn’t be thrown in chains as well. Even so, he gritted his teeth at hearing his words: There’s nothing saying you directly helped her on your own accord. He had. And he didn’t regret it for one second. Just as he should have helped that poor slave on his father’s architectural project. But the lieutenant—nor anybody else around him, for that matter—could know that. And they didn’t need to. The ruse had worked well enough for him, and with just a bit more luck he’d be brought in close enough to the gunship to chuck the grenade in when his foes least expected it.

“Seize her,” the lieutenant ordered two of his underlings, who quickly answered his command. Dismounting their Rakvah, one of them produced a pair of shackles from one of his saddlebags.

Talitha felt her heart sink at seeing those tools of bondage broken out, having so recently broken free of the chain that had held her captive for countless nights. Even then, she felt the smallest sense of reassurance as Elkanah gave her a squeeze on her shoulder to let her know that he was still in the whole gambit with her to the very end, even if he had to let her out of his grasp for a few moments. It was the only way he could convey his continued trust with her without breaking the act. He roughly shoved her forward into the waiting paws of the lifeguards, who wasted little time in throwing the bindings around her ankles and wrists.

Talitha looked to Elkanah sadly, her tail and ears drooping as she felt the pangs of humiliation and degradation descend upon her again, not to mention the sheer immensity of the risk of being sent back to her old life, or worse yet, trotted out before the High King to suffer his decree; unknown to her, just like her mother before her!

Elkanah bit his lip slightly at seeing the bindings thrown on to his friend, additionally doing so at the fact that her now limited mobility would complicate the escape plan some. He’d have to act quickly to blast through the chains with his weapon, if he was even able to take that chance. If he wasn’t, he’d have to do his best to get her on the Rakvah as well as he could without the chains getting in the way. There was little time to come up with an alternate plan as he felt himself being ushered towards the gunship, the two lifeguards flanking either side of her as they held the reins of their Rakvah in their handpaws. At least they were dismounted, Elkanah thought to himself. If they stayed that way, then they’d snatch one of the mounts up in a heartbeat.

“Get moving, Sergeant Judara,” the lieutenant said, motioning forward to the gunship with his weapon as the two dismounted guards began escorting Talitha in front of him. “The major here can wait; we'll be back to question him as well,” he added, looking back at the superior ranking officer with a grimace of disdain as he left him behind, standing awkwardly at the halftrack.

As Elkanah felt compelled to follow along in the footsteps of the lifeguard lieutenant, he slung his pack over one shoulder near to his free arm, keeping an eye on the gaping maw of the repulsor-turbofan intake that had to be about a hundred yards away from his current spot. He’d be passing directly under it to board the gunship at the rear. Looking back over his shoulder at the dunes to the south that expanded endlessly, he knew that Halaj Province—friendly territory, though perhaps not at first sight if he came in riding in uniform and atop a lifeguard Rakvah—lay beyond the horizon. It seemed devoid of any retreating Crown troops at present, providing a straight shot to move the beast in the direction of safety. This had to have been a thinner part of the retreating front, with the bulk on the flanks of his current position. He was certain that one or two other lifeguards that hadn’t dismounted might give chase, however. If he could get enough of a head start, then perhaps the distance between him and any pursuers would be great enough to get away clean or avoid any fire they sent their way.

Elkanah kept his pack hanging loose as he continued stepping forward behind the lieutenant, the distance slowly beginning to close. He clasped his gauss rifle tight in the other paw, knowing he’d need it when the action started. So far, everything was going as well as could be expected, though he resented seeing Talitha being pushed forward in the way that she was. The lieutenant was so spiteful of the fact that he believed her to be impersonating a noblewoman that he took it upon himself to shove the girl a few times with the stock of his weapon, making her stumble a few times as her footpaws became caught in the chains binding her steps.

“That’s right, keep walking, you pretender,” he said villainously as he gave Talitha another check with his weapon. “You’ll have wished the Zaket suns had burned you to death when you have to face the judgment of the High King.”

Elkanah gripped two of the fragmentation grenades in his handpaws as he stuck his grip into his pack, preparing to sling it off his shoulder as he neared the engine intake of the gunship. Talitha and her escorts, now including the lieutenant as he had stepped forward a few paces to torment his prisoner further, were nearly preparing to round the corner of the gunship ramp to begin loading inside. The attention of the three lifeguards was completely honed in on her, and though at the expense of her wellbeing and dignity, they had completely left Elkanah unwatched as they prepared to send her aboard. It was going to afford him the perfect opportunity to chuck the bombs into his target.

It was now or never. This whole thing was more insane than desertion, more insane than setting free a slave and knowing what it entailed for him as a member of the Crown Army, and more insane than lying to the major. He was now going to be escalating a situation with the High King’s finest soldiers, and there could be absolutely no room for error. With their backs turned to him, he dropped his pack onto the sandy ground as he pulled the pins of the two grenades simultaneously, aiming upward into the spinning turbine of the gunship’s starboard engine.

Elkanah immediately dove down onto his belly as he took up his gauss rifle into a firing position, laying low to avoid any flying debris that was sure to come. The attention of Talitha’s three escorts was caught for the briefest of moments, along with that of the gunship pilot, co-pilot, and gunners while they heard the clinking thuds of metal on metal as the turbofan chewed up the duo of now live grenades. That only lasted for nearly half a second before the explosive force of the fragmentation charges inside detonated, tearing apart the fan blades and sending them shooting in every direction with a tremendous explosion. Several were thrown into the side of the gunship hull, killing the starboard gunner while the exhaust port and repulsor ring of the engine itself shot off backwards into the sand from the force of the blast, narrowly careening over the heads of Talitha and her captors.

Though indeed a reckless plan and endangering all, it paid off as the sudden jettisoning of the exhaust and repulsor ring knocked the lieutenant and one of the dismounted Rakvah lifeguards to their backs, while the third stumbled backward in a daze with Talitha as well. The Rakvah of the other soldier that had fallen down spooked from the sudden eruption of chaos, breaking free of its reins and taking off running in a northward direction as fast as its legs could carry it.

The trio of lifeguards were completely at Elkanah’s mercy now, and the only one that was even remotely still standing tried to tighten his grip on Talitha to secure her before feeling three shots from a gauss rifle smash into his back, denting his power armor that was meant more to protect from plasma and kinetic fire and breaking several vertebrae as he was sent crumbling to his knees. The other two were vulnerable in their stunned positions, and the only other occupants of the gunship were the crewmen inside—everybody else in the cargo hold had spread out some time ago to begin questioning. This gave Elkanah the only opportunity he would receive to surge forward and put down the other two lifeguards before it was too late.

With the agility inherent to the Sivathi species, he leapt upward as all heads of the soldiers and remaining lifeguards spread throughout the landscape turned to the sudden uproar. The billowing smoke coming from the ruined engine gave some degree of cover from the outside, and only added to the confusion within. In spite of that difficulty, Elkanah snagged the reins of the Rakvah that was now free of its handler before it could flee just as the other had done, quickly blasting the fallen lifeguard and the lieutenant in the head and ending their lives in an instant, their helmets imploding from the impact of the hypersonic gauss rounds.

“Talitha!” Elkanah shrieked as loud as his lungs would permit, his voice barely audible over the crippled whine of the damaged engine and the shouting voices coming from all around as the enemy began to realize what was happening. “Hold still while I cut those chains. We’re mounting up as soon as I’m done!”

Knowing that he only had seconds to act and that the smoke would only provide cover for so long, Elkanah withdrew his plasma knife from its sheath, igniting the gas infused blade and wasting no time in slashing downward between the wrists of and ankles of his companion. The chain links easily separated, leaving the white hot metal at the point of contact dangling from the shackles. Not bothering to put his blade back in its pouch, Elkanah simply dropped the thing into the sand and hoisted Talitha up by her waist, the adrenaline of the escalating disarray letting him lift her as if she weighed nothing. He plopped her down firmly on the back of the Rakvah mount, causing it to stir anxiously, its nervous nature only antagonized more by what was transpiring.

Talitha wobbled awkwardly as the Rakvah started to shake itself to and fro in frustration, and she desperately tried to find a grip on something—anything—to avoid being bucked off. Elkanah was quick, though, and after slinging his gauss rifle back over his body, he had mounted up in front of her, seizing the reins in his handpaws and narrowing his eyes at the puffing clouds of smoke. It was the only shield they had from the lifeguards and soldiers, and it would soon be broken not just by them coming in to the rescue of their attacked comrades, but also by the remaining crew of the gunship, who were sure to be disembarking out of the loading bay any second.

“Do you still trust me?” Elkanah said, his heart thumping in his chest as he looked back at Talitha.

Talitha could only nod in affirmation, the sheer calamity that was exploding all around them had shocked her nerves completely. But the truest freedom she could ever know was now within her clutches, and she owed it all to him for getting her this far. His crazed scheme to bluff his way towards the gunship and Rakvah had worked, and to flee towards Halaj Province was their sole remaining obstacle. The desert couldn’t hold the two of them prisoner for long, not when they had the fastest of steeds in all the Zaket system.

“Then grab on, and don’t let go, no matter what,” he said, turning his head back towards the smoke cloud that obscured them from sight as he began to hear the clamoring of the gunship crew inside, their footpaws clanging against the metal floor of the vehicle as they sprinted towards the loading bay to exit and intercept them before they could escape.

Time seemed to stop, if only for a moment, as Elkanah felt his gamble nearly paying off. All that remained was to flee. It had been years since he’d mounted up atop a Rakvah, much less at a need to go full speed. But the maneuvers were still within his muscle memory, the old rhythms he’d known from his privileged childhood permitting him the honor of riding such a creature. The bond between steed and rider was something he could quickly feel being forged—not by training, but by necessity—as he tucked his knees against the padded carbon fiber saddle nestled atop the beast’s back, preparing to push his footpaws deep into the stirrups and drive the beast as quickly as it could.

“Hyah!” he exclaimed, flicking the reins and leaning forward, his spine almost parallel to the plane of the Rakvah’s body as he and Talitha tried to keep themselves low and bonded with the Rakvah, in addition to making themselves smaller targets as they exploded from the cover of the smoke. The major who had been so recently humiliated by the lifeguard lieutenant had already been approaching the incident, trying to reclaim some of his stolen glory, but was immediately knocked down by the yellow armored beast as it began its run in full sprint, topping out at far faster than even the speediest ground vehicle the Crown Army could send after them. The only thing that could hope to give chase were the few lifeguards who hadn’t dismounted their Rakvah and the gunship—which was now crippled. Whether another could be sent after them, Elkanah could not know, but he had little time to dwell on it as he pushed the beast straight southward towards the open desert.

The flanks of the retreating Crown Army could only watch as rooster-like tails of sand were kicked up in the wake of the speeding creature, with Elkanah almost on the verge of panicking himself as he felt himself struggling to maintain control and balance with Talitha clutching on to him. Behind them, a trio of lifeguards had given chase while the remainder that were on foot had descended upon the gunship for damage control.

In spite of his unnerved state of feeling that his faint boyhood memories of Rakvah riding couldn’t hope to contend with the likes of a lifeguard’s mount, Elkanah felt all the tension of doubt melt away out of the sheer need of survival. He maintained control, he held on tight, and Talitha clutched to his waist out of pure instinct to reach the freedoms that they both so desperately craved. Neither of them would be going back to the miseries of their past lives; they’d sooner die. And if the lifeguards in pursuit had anything to say about it, that’s exactly what they intended to do to them. Amidst a few stray kinetic round shots from trigger happy soldiers taking pot shots at them, more well aimed plasma bursts shrieked past Elkanah and Talitha from the pursuing lifeguards, singing the air with the scent of ozone as the gaseous projectiles crackled the atmosphere around them.

The distance was great enough between them and their speed matched with their pursuers enough that the gap was going to stay as it was. It was only a matter of dodging the incoming fire of their pursuers until they ran out of ammunition. Elkanah was incapable of returning fire with his focus totally honed in on maneuvering the Rakvah, and Talitha had never handled a weapon in all of her life. But that wasn’t going to stop her from trying, for the desperation of seeking the freedom that was in her clutches caused her to grab at Elkanah’s gauss rifle strapped to his back, hastily undoing the sling and looking backward as she clumsily held the thing in one handpaw while grasping on to Elkanah for security with the other.

“What are you doing!?” Elkanah shouted over the thundering paws of their mount and the flickering of plasma blasts. He looked backward over his shoulder, if only for a moment, to catch sight of Talitha blindly holding the gauss rifle in her only free handpaw, with no sense of aim or composure. “You don’t know how to handle that thing!”

“Better to make use of it now then not at all!” she said wildly, the barrel of the weapon flying up and down crazily in the air as she hopelessly tried to aim it at the nearest pursuer. There was no possible way she was going to hit anything while holding a two-handed rifle in one paw alone, being thrashed about on a mount she’d never ridden, all while under fire from three of the High King’s chosen warriors.

Fate had other ideas.

Talitha haphazardly squeezed the trigger of the gauss rifle, and the recoil sent it flying out of her grip and into the desert sand behind them, clattering to the ground. Nearly falling off the mount, she quickly slapped her other handpaw back onto Elkanah’s waist to regain her grip, but not before looking back at the tungsten round rocketing back behind them, smashing into the sand in front of the lifeguard she’d been “aiming” at. The hypersonic impact exploded in front of the beast and its rider. The Rakvah was totally obscured by the screen of sand dust that had been kicked up, but the lifeguard came barreling forward through the cloud, somersaulting forward as he hit the ground in a heap, knocked out cold.

Elkanah could sense the blast that had occurred, looking back with Talitha as he caught sight of the new development. Now only two lifeguards pursued them, but he and his companion had lost their weapon in the process and were still under vengeful fire. Turning his head back forward as he felt Talitha lean into him for security out of the sheer terror that surrounded them, he saw before him a deep valley maze of stone and sand developing, which was treacherous terrain for a speeding Rakvah. Without the option to turn back around, Elkanah knew that he was going to have destiny force his hand once more by scurrying straight into the labyrinth before him in the hopes that he could shake off his pursuers. If the terrain could do just that, then the remaining expanse of Lathga Province’s wasteland lay ahead of them beyond the fast approaching valley, and beyond that, the freedom of Halaj Province.

A massive rock formation outlined the nearest edge of the valley, with a single tunnel-like opening that bored its way downward into the valley proper. Aside from that, a singular slope also provided a straight shot down, and although it would be the least treacherous, it provided no hope of shaking off their pursuers. The single opening dropped down sharply into blackness, but with the faintest of light at the bottom Elkanah surmised that it also led down into the valley. With no time to mull it over, he sharply jerked the Rakvah’s reins off in the direction of the more dangerous route, the opening in the stone quickly approaching like a gaping earthen giant preparing to swallow them whole.

“Close your eyes and hang on!” Elkanah said, preparing to dig his footpaws into the stirrups as tightly as he could, fixing himself firmly into the carbon fiber saddle. He felt Talitha’s grip intensify around his waist as she buried her face against his back once again, not wanting to feel the intensity of what was about to happen.

Elkanah thrust his weight with the Rakvah in a motion to make it leap forward, timing the maneuver perfectly as they soared through the air and into the opening in the rock face. The feeling of weightlessness only continued as they all finally landed down back on the beginning of the tunnel slope, quickly gaining in its descending angle. Like a rollercoaster drop, they all felt themselves plummeting downward at a steeper and steeper angle, Talitha shrieking into Elkanah’s ear at the sudden rise in speed. Elkanah nearly felt himself laying backward on the beast and standing in the stirrups as gravity pulled them downward towards the light at the bottom of the shaft, the Rakvah’s armored paws screeching against the smooth stone as it tried to gain traction. The air rushed past them like they were in freefall, but through the sheer desperation that had gotten them this far and through so many impossibilities, Elkanah kept his composure, doing everything in his power to maintain his control on the mount.

It was over in a matter of seconds as the fall leveled out, the Rakvah skidding to a slower speed as its two riders felt themselves lurched forward as they suddenly decelerated. They didn’t dwell on their shocked nerves for long as Elkanah pushed their mount forward further, getting out of the way of the screaming body and yelping beast plummeting down the shaft behind them. The lifeguard that had chosen to follow them hadn’t been as fortunate, his mount having lost its footing and stride as he’d tried handling his plasma rifle in one paw and the reins in the other. Elkanah cringed a bit as he heard the armor plating of his enemy crunch into the stony ground like a crushed can, the air whooshing out of his lungs as the impact mortally injured him and caused his Rakvah to yelp out painfully.

The single remaining rider, however, was barreling down the slope that lined the side of the valley, continuing to lay down fire with his weapon as he aimed over his left towards Elkanah and Talitha. They quickly resumed their sprint as the former sergeant and his freed companion thrust the Rakvah down the westward part of the valley, opposite the direction of the descending enemy.

Knowing that if he spent too long in his descent, the distance would grow too great to ever hope of catching the fugitives, much less hope to hit them with his plasma rifle. With about another fifty yards to go before he reached the bottom of the valley to where he could turn tail and pursue again, the lifeguard took as crazy of a risk as Elkanah and Talitha had by jolting off to his left, leaping through the air and towards the ground of the valley below. The drop had to be a good forty-feet or so, and he’d thought if the two Sivathi he pursued had come out of an even steeper drop than that without a problem, he didn’t see why his mount would have any more trouble. It wasn’t as if he had a choice, either, for this was the only way to maintain a distance where he could continue an effective chase; and he knew that as a lifeguard of the High King, he was mandated to do whatever it took to carry out his orders.

What he didn’t count on was that he’d end up like his comrade that had also overestimated his abilities. The added weight of the Rakvah’s and the lifeguard’s power armor caused his mount to collapse in a heap after hitting the ground, Siva’s gravity practically breaking the beast’s back in the process as it whimpered pathetically. The lifeguard found himself thrown from the saddle, spinning several times in the sand, but his steed had taken most of the damage, leaving him relatively unscathed.

Though stunned for a brief moment, the bulky warrior soon brought himself up to his footpaws, his plasma rifle aiming downrange at the ever dwindling figure of Talitha and Elkanah as they thundered away into the distance. His finger hovered over the trigger as he squinted his eye into the targeting reticle of his helmet’s visor, the crosshairs flickering green on the jade colored vision field as he prepared to fire.

Just as he began to feel his finger depress the trigger, the target reticle flashed to red as the duo and their stolen mount left the effective range of his plasma rifle. It was only then when he saw this that he realized what had happened. He and his comrades had been outsmarted and outplayed by a slave girl and a disgraced rank and file sergeant of the Crown Army. He, a Sivathi with the privilege of wearing the yellow armor of the household troops and entrusted with the missions of the Crown of Siva, had just failed.

Elkanah and Talitha looked back behind them as they saw what had transpired. They caught sight of the now dismounted lifeguard angrily firing his weapon in their direction, shouting curses all the while as the bolts of plasma now fell short behind them, scorching the sand and stone into blackened craters upon impact. Elkanah laughed triumphantly and pumped his fist in the air as he saw their sole remaining enemy throw his plasma rifle down on the ground in frustration, stomping the thing with his armored footpaw until it was little more than scrap.

“By the Zaket suns, Talitha,” Elkanah said as he pushed the Rakvah towards the nearest slope along the side of the valley. “We’re free of the Crown now! We’re free! Next stop, Halaj Province!”

Talitha, still shocked at the whole thing that had just played out since being found out at the cave, finally felt as if a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Something felt entirely different. The prospect of true freedom that had been in question was now a near certainty, for they’d be long gone and hidden into the desert by the time a gunship or aircraft—the only thing with the speed to overtake them now—could be dispatched. Knowing this as she continued to grasp onto Elkanah, she lifted her face to the heavens, letting the binary suns warm her face as she smiled. For the first time, the true meaning of what it meant to be as a child of the Zaket suns had graced her. It was a feeling she would not soon forget.

As the lifeguard finally satiated his anger and had stomped his weapon into pieces, he undid his helmet strap, taking it off completely and looking at the fleeing fugitives with his own eyes. Their dust trail was becoming fainter and fainter as they sped up the side of the valley before finally ascending to the southern end of the chasm, bolting off in the direction of Halaj Province where the Crown Army and Phaziah Ishigar’s minions could not touch them.

“Corporal Eliu?” came a crackling transmission from the speaker nestled at his gorget armor plate. “Corpral Eliu? What’s happened? We have no vitals coming from the other two in your squadron!”

It was the lieutenant’s subordinate master sergeant. He must have come aboard the gunship to try and take control of the situation that had gone out of control. Sighing heavily and knowing that he would be paying severely for his failure, the lifeguard corporal reached up to the transmission button on his armor, speaking in annoyance. “We’ve got a bigger problem now than a damaged gunship and a few dead lifeguards, Master Sergeant,” he said.

“Why? What’s happened? Haven’t you captured those two by now?” the transmission said again, crackling more loudly as the still whining shriek of the damaged gunship engine droned on and on in the background.

“They’ve evaded us and are well on their way into Halaj Province by now, Sir. I doubt dispatching the nearest gunship will find them in the vastness of the desert,” he said, looking up at the binary suns as he squinted. It was like the eyes of Phaziah Ishigar were watching him, burning bright in anger at his failure. “The High King is going to need a different plan if he wants to pluck her out of the protection of the Confederacy now.”

He then intentionally took his finger off the transmission button of his gorget armor plate, not wanting what he said next to be on the record.

“But now I fear for the High King’s image now more than ever. The Confederacy may just be about to gain a new symbol to rally behind.”