Olivia let Vahn respond to her critique before handing the Line Transceiver back to Drake.

  “He wants to talk to you again.” She said.

  “You believe she’s alive now?” Drake asked.

  “Yeah.” Vahn said. “I don’t think I’ll ask for verification again.”

  “Great,” Drake said. “Bye, Vahn.”

  Drake disconnected the Line Transceiver and stuffed it back into his pocket.

  “Is he going to come get us?” Olivia said. “Because I do not want to spend another day...”

  “Shhhh,” Drake said, putting his finger over her mouth. “I need to make another call.”

  Drake dialed and put the Line Transceiver back up to his ear.

  “Drake.” Al answered. “Where have you been? We came to the prison, but you were long gone.”

  “Sorry about that.” Drake said. “A squad of V.A.L.O.R. soldiers showed up. I had to improvise. Sorry I’ve been out of reach for so long. Where are we with the Euphodine situation?”

  “It’s in our storage locker on Jhilt Yutri. I’m on Klade Hyras right now trying to find a buyer for it.” Al said.

  “How serendipitous.” Drake said. “I’m on Klade Hyras too, and I need a ride. How long before you can spare a moment to pick me up.”

  “I’ve got a few meetings set up with doctors and pharmacists who can use the Euphodine as part of their practise. Only one of them has any real potential though, and I bet he’s just buying it up as a front for Dathan. I could cancel them all.”

  “Cancel everything except the one with potential and give him a small sample.” Drake said. “Mark the bottle and put a tracer in the lid so we can follow where it goes.”

  “I’ll make it happen.” Al said. “Where do you need to be picked up.”

  “I’m not sure where I’m at right now. We’re just somewhere in the Thrysh desert, but I think I can get to the slums of Hyras City.”

  “The capital?” Al asked. “That’s close to Dathan’s palace. Is it safe for you to go there?”

  “Probably not.” Drake said. “But I have a plan to get us there, and no idea how to get anywhere else. So I think that’s where I’ll have to go.”

  “Be careful. I’m close to Hyras City now, but It’ll take me over an hour to get through this meeting and come find you.”

  “That’s fine. It’ll take me at least that long to get to the city anyway. I’ve got extras with me though, and one of them is the Human Princess. So the faster you can get there the better.”

  “The Human princess? What have you gotten yourself into?”

  “Something I’ll probably regret.”

  “Lie low until I can find you. I’ll see you soon.”

  “Al, wait.” Drake said. “That Euphodine might be important to us later on. Send someone to move half of it to our back-up storage. And make it seem like we have less than half of what we actually do while you meet with buyers.”

  “Aye, Captain.” Al said.

  Drake pushed the disconnect button and placed the Line Transceiver back into his pocket.

  “So what’s the plan?” Angela said.

  “The plan.” Drake replied. “Is for you and the Princess to wait here while I go get us a ride to the city.”

  “That’s it?” Angela said. “You know we’re not incapable. We can help you do things.”

  “I never said you weren’t capable of helping.”

  “But you’re treating us that way. You don’t have to do everything alone.”

  “I do this time.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I couldn’t deal with it if you saw what I did to the soldiers outside.”

  Angela’s expression softened.

  “Drake...” She began.

  “Just stay in the tent until I come back for you.” Drake said, turning and walking back outside.

  It was dark outside, but the dead bodies were still visible, and the stench of blood hung heavy in the air.

  Drake tried to ignore the carnage left in the ruins of the camp as he walked to the water trough and washed off the blood that covered his skin.

  Murderer. He thought as he gazed at his reflection in the water. There had been over 200 Mystic soldiers stationed at this camp before he arrived. Now there were over 200 dismembered corpses.

  It was all his fault.

  There was no time to dwell on the deaths of these soldiers. He needed to focus on getting out of this field of death.

  He left the trough and walked to the edge of the camp.

  In a large, canvas covered crate sat several signalling rockets. Drake dug through them until he found one labelled, Medical Assistance Required, and stuck its bottom end into the ground.

  He stepped back and aimed his revolver at the end of the long fuse protruding from the rocket.

  A light pull of the trigger sent a fireball flying out of the barrel. Sand exploded into the air upon impact, but the fuse was lit. Moments later the rocket ignited. It sailed hundreds of feet into the night sky before it exploded in a brilliant flash of green light.

  The next beacon post would see the signal and relay it on until the nearest ambulance got the message.

  It wouldn’t be long before somebody arrived, and then they’d have a ride.

  Drake turned back toward the camp. There was no way he would spend his time waiting for the ambulance out here among the dead. He’d have to go back to the tent and face Angela and her inevitable questions.

  The girls said nothing as Drake walked back into the tent.

  “You don’t have to just sit there in silence.” Drake said. “You can still talk to me.”

  “I don’t want to talk to you unless you’re going to tell us what happened out there.” Angela said.

  “It’s complicated.” Drake said.

  “So explain it.”

  Drake took a deep breath.

  “It has to do with Vhy’ Rai.”

  “I thought you said you can’t use Vhy’ Rai without your gun. You said you broke a rule or something.” Angela said.

  “What happened out there was me breaking the rules. Vhy’ Rai has rules to prevent things like that from happening.”

  “So what was the rule you broke?”

  Drake sat in silence.

  “Drake.” Angela said. “Are you going to tell me?”

  “If I told you,” Drake said. “You would never think of me the same way again. You’d be afraid of me.”

  “Do you know how many people you killed out there?” Angela said. “I’m already never going to think of you the same way.”

  “I’m not some cold blooded murderer.” Drake yelled. “I didn’t want to kill those soldiers.”

  The roar of hovercraft engines split the air.

  “They got here fast.” Drake said under his breath. “We’ll talk about this later.”

  He turned and ran out the front of the tent.

  The ambulance had already landed near the center of the camp.

  Drake sprinted forward and jumped in the open door of the hovercraft.

  The pilot turned but Drake punched him hard in the face before he could make a sound.

  “I’m really sorry about this.” Drake said as used the tape and bandages in the back of the ambulance to bind and gag the man.

  Now to find the medic.

  Drake stepped out of the hovercraft and looked around.

  He spotted her standing over a headless dead body.

  Why did it have to be a girl?

  He couldn’t hit a girl.

  He pulled out his revolver and pointed it at her.

  “Turn around!” He said.

  The woman raised her hands in the air and turned around.

  “Walk into that tent.” Drake said, pointing to the tent where Angela and Olivia were now sitting. He followed behind her with the barrel of the gun pointed at her back until she entered the tent.

  “Olivia.” Drake said. “Tie her up. Then take her clothes and put them on.”

  “What?” Olivia protested. “Why do I have to do that?”

  “Because you’re wearing a silk night gown, and it’ll stand out when we get into the city.” Drake replied. “And because you have no shoes. Seriously, don’t your feet hurt?”

  “I guess they do.” Olivia said.

  “So be happy I got you better clothes.” Drake said. “Now tie her up.”

  Olivia fumbled with the ropes for a minute, but eventually tied a knot around the woman’s wrists.

  “I’ll be waiting outside.” Drake said, satisfied with Olivia’s job of tying the woman up. She would be able to escape, but it would take her at least fifteen minutes. They would be long gone by then.

  He went to the ambulance and stripped the clothes from the pilot and put them on. It felt good to get out of the blood soaked rags he’d been wearing before.

  He turned back and yelled toward the canvas tent.

  “Are you done changing yet?”

  “Yes.” he heard Olivia yell back. “These clothes are a little big though.”

  “I’m coming in.” He said as he walked in through the tent flap. “Close your eyes and I’ll lead you to the ambulance. You don’t want to see what’s outside.”

  The two girls both closed their eyes and held out their hands. He took hold of them and walked carefully to the ambulance, helping the girls to make sure they didn’t stumble and fall.

  “You can open your eyes now.” Drake said as he sat them down in the back of the hovercraft. “But don’t look out the window.”

  He moved to the cockpit and began the start up procedure.

  “Default destination: Hyras City.” A computerized voice said. “Would you like to keep this course?”

  “Yes.” Drake replied to the computer. “Continue autopilot programming.”

  The hovercraft lifted off and zoomed toward the city.

  Drake left the cockpit and went back to where girls were sitting.

  There was a puddle of vomit at Angela’s feet.

  “You looked out the window, didn’t you?” Drake asked.

  “You did that to them?” Angela asked.

  Drake’s heart sank at the question.

  “Yeah.” He said. “It’s not something I’m proud of.”

  “I understand.” Angela whispered. “I wish I hadn’t looked. If I was stronger I could just deal with things like this, but I can’t. I’m just too weak.”

  “You shouldn’t confuse distaste for killing, with weakness.” Drake said. “There are plenty of weak people who can kill, but there aren’t many people strong enough to go through the things you have and still keep going.”

  “I haven’t been through that much.” Angela said.

  “Angela,” Drake said. “You’ve been sold into slavery, kidnapped, chased by monsters, and taken prisoner by a group of soldiers that wanted to kill you. And that’s just what’s happened this week.”

  “Well when you put it that way...” Angela said.

  “When I put it that way it makes the fact that you’re still functioning sound pretty impressive.” Drake said.

  “Thanks.” Angela said softly. “That helps a little.”

  “A little?” Drake said. “I must not be as good with comforting words as I thought.”

  “Not good is an understatement.” Olivia chimed in. “You didn’t say anything nice to me.”

  “Nobody asked you.” Drake said. “Alright, feel good time is over, we’re almost to the edge of the city, I’ll lower our speed and altitude, and we’ll jump out of here.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Olivia said. “We’re not really jumping out are we?”

  “Come on Princess.” Drake said, “It’s not the scariest thing I’ve made you do since we met.”

  “Yeah,” Olivia said. “In the day and half since I met you, jumping out of a flying ambulance isn’t the scariest thing you’ve made me do. That doesn’t say good things about our friendship.”

  “At least you called it a friendship.” Drake said. “Get ready to jump when I tell you.”

  Drake moved to the cockpit before Olivia could respond to his quip and lowered the speed and altitude until the hovercraft was just barely remaining airborne.

  “Are you ready to jump?” Drake asked as he walked back to the open side door.

  “I really don’t think this is a good idea.” Olivia said as she looked out the door.

  “Try to roll when you hit the ground.” Drake said.

  “What?” Olivia asked.

  She screamed as Drake pushed her out the door.

  “Ladies first.” Drake said as he looked over at Angela.

  “I’ll just do it myself.” She said, moving toward the door.

  She paused for only a moment before jumping out.

  Drake watched her hit the ground and roll then jumped out himself.

  Chapter 20: Drake

  Drake found a suitable place to wait in the corner of an alleyway where a few homeless people sat around in a circle playing some kind of card game.

  “We’ll just wait here.” Drake said as he sat down on the ground and leaned his back up against a wall. “Al should be here soon.”

  “I recognize you.” A homeless man said as he looked over to Drake. “You’re Drake Ashbell.”

  “Notice the posters did ya?” Drake said. Reward posters with Drake’s face on them were plastered on every wall in the slums. But people in the slums never turned in a criminal since most of them were criminals themselves.

  “You don’t even remember me do you?” The man asked.

  “Should I?” Drake said.

  “Perhaps not.” The man said, “But we have a history together.”

  “That’s pretty unlikely.” Drake said, “It’s only my second time on this planet. But refresh my memory.”

  “My name is Rugo Kresh. I was once King Dathan’s most elite assassin.” The man replied. “Until he sent me on one final mission four years ago. A mission to kill you.”

  “You’ll have to be more specific.” Drake said. “Dathan sent like ten guys after me the last time I was here.”

  Drake needed to be ready to deal with this guy fast. If he had a vendetta he wanted to settle he could draw a lot of unwanted attention.

  “Perhaps you remember giving me this?” Rugo said as he removed his hood to reveal a heavily scarred face and a missing right eye.

  “Oh yeah.” Drake said as he moved his hand to his sword, “Well that narrows it down to three of the Kings assassins. Tell me, did I do that with a sword or a dead cat?”

  “The sword.” Rugo said.

  “Well great. Now we’ve got it down to two candidates. Too bad you weren’t the dead cat guy. That was actually pretty funny.”

  “The king fired me and blacklisted me after you did this to me. I haven’t been able to get a job in three years. My face and my destitution are both your fault. I’ll make you to pay for them with your life.”

  The man drew out a rusted sword from beneath his cloak and swung it fast toward Drake’s chest.

  Drake drew out his sword, just in time to block the man’s attack, and back up to take on a defensive position.

  The other homeless men in the circle dropped their cards and ran from the alleyway.

  “Too bad.” Drake said, “If you’re the assassin I’m thinking of then you were the easiest one to beat so this should be quick. That’s good, I don’t want to be causing a bigger scene than we already have.”

  “But I do.” Rugo said as he lifted his free hand revealing a bright red ring around his middle finger.

  There was a flash of light from a red jewel embedded in the ring in the ring.

  Hemoignisium.

  Some of the dirt that made up the floor of the alleyway rose into the air in front of the man’s outstretched hand and compressed itself together, forming eight small spikes.

  Rugo smiled before sending one of them flying fast toward Drake.

  It whizzed right past his head and exploded into sand as it hit the wall behind him.

  Rugo continued to shoot the spikes, one after another, as Drake ran down the alleyway toward him, swinging his sword to knock down the flying rocks as he went. Rugo fell backwards onto the ground as Drake’s fist smashed into his already marred face.

  Drake didn’t wait to see if the man had been knocked out or not.

  “Run away!” Drake said looking at Angela and Olivia. “Soldiers will be here any second!”

  Drake turned to run out of the alleyway, but stopped short as a group of seven soldiers being led by some of the homeless people arrived.

  “That’s him!” A homeless man yelled pointing to Drake. “We get the reward, right?”

  “We’ll talk about it after we catch him.” A soldier said as he drew out his sword and walked toward Drake.

  So much for lying low. At least nobody had recognized Olivia. That would have created a commotion that not even Drake could escape.

  “I’ve changed my mind girls.” Drake said. “We’re running the other way.”

  Drake’s stopped short again as Rugo rose to his feet to block the other side of the alleyway.

  He should’ve taken the time to make sure that Rugo stayed down. Now he would have to do some real fighting.

  “Never mind again.” Drake said. “It looks like you girls are in for a show.”

  Rugo’s ring flashed again as he pulled up more rock spikes and sent them flying toward Drake’s chest.

  Drake dropped to the ground and laughed out loud as the rock spikes smashed on the armor of the oncoming soldiers, knocking most of them to the ground.

  “I like your sand trick.” Drake said as he jumped back to his feet. “Why don’t I show you one of my tricks.”

  Drake pointed his revolver at Rugo’s chest and pulled the trigger.

  A small ball of blue light flew toward the former assassin, growing into a huge icicle as it raced through the air.

  Rugo’s ring flashed again.

  Sand shot up from the ground, coming together and hardening almost instantly, as it intercepted the icicle in mid-flight.

  Ice and sand exploded in the air, leaving a cloud in the alleyway.

  Drake sprinted straight through the cloud with his shoulder lowered in front of him.

  He slammed hard into Rugo’s chest, sending him reeling backwards yet again.