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Smuggler’s Route

*Author Note: This is a prequel/supplemental story that feeds into The Invasion of Allegra and the series The Battle for Allegra*

Thessalonia, Allegra

22 June, 2284

“I’m telling you, Pete, this is a horrible idea,” Ransom Williams mutters forebodingly.

Looking over at his first mate, Peter Petrova can’t help but chuckle. Ransom had always been far too cautious and doubting to make it as a smuggler on his own, which is why he and Peter partnered up a few years back. Ever since then, they had always been several steps ahead of any local, regional, or any other level of security force.

All it took was Ransom’s worries and Peter’s cool and prowess.

“If you stay with the ship, you’ll be better off than if you come with me,” Peter tells Ransom, “I’m doing this. We’ve come too far not to.”

“But what if they’re expecting us!?”

Peter lets out a loud laugh and he motions around the busy spaceport, “Tell me, who in their right mind would expect us to come to Thessalonia of all places? A place known for its security and upstanding citizens?” Peter lowers his voice as he continues his usual, friendly smile firmly in place, “If the Coalition could even figure out that we’re on Allegra, they wouldn’t think we’d be dumb enough to come here.”

“If it’s such a dumb idea, then why did we have to come here?”

Pulling out a small bag of gold dust, Peter tosses it lightly up in the air and lets it land back into his hand. He offers Ransom a face that says, ‘are you really asking this?’ before he slips the bag back into his pocket.

This bag of gold, plus the other few that Peter has hidden on his person, were supposed to buy them a new ship.

Not just any ship, but a Thessalonian ship. One of the best built ships in the galaxy.

Knowing that the Allegrians were a people who didn’t like the Coalition to begin with and knowing that they all had an affinity for real money and not the paper the Coalition churned out in the trillions every second, Peter knew that he had finally made it big.

All it took was five or so years of hustling and grinding.

“Are you sure I can’t come along?” Ransom asks after a few beats.

“Can you keep your cool?”

“Um… Maybe,” Ransom answers honestly.

Sighing, Peter shakes his head, “I’m sorry, Ransom, I can’t risk it. Can’t you just stay with the ship? I’ll come by to pick you up once we get our new ride. You can double check everything to make sure we’ve got all of our stuff out of the Night Sky.”

“But I never get to leave the ship!”

“You never keep your cool! When you’re constantly making a show of looking over your shoulder, people notice!”

“What if I promise not to?”

“Then you won’t be able to tell if someone’s following you. Trust me, we’ll be better off if you just stay here. Just this time! After this, we’ll be home free, and no one will ever have to know how we were able to buy our ship in the first place!”

“But—”

“Ransom, stay with the ship. You can talk to the passengers, play some of your games, anything. Just stay here. We don’t want a repeat of last time.”

“That was a one off—”

“It’s happened several dozen times,” Peter interrupts. Taking a steadying breath, he tried to be as kind as he can as he says, “You can wander to your heart’s desire next time, for now, I’m going this alone and you’re staying with the ship.”

Ransom frowns and he crosses his arms. Letting out a pitiful groan, he relents, “Fine.”

“Thank you,” Peter nods to the man.

Smiling, Peter then looks back over the concourse that is stretched out before him, and he looks at all the people. Unlike a lot of the other planets that they visited on the Alexandrian side of the galaxy, most of the people here are all human. A few small groups of aliens are making their way around the landing area, but it is anything but representative of the number of aliens in the galaxy. Sighing, he shakes his head and wishes that things were different here. He wished that the Coalition would fall already, and everyone could be free once more.

A few moments pass and Peter realizes that his smiles had long since disappeared. Now he is just about searing, and he can’t help but notice that he is looking at the nearest group of Coalition soldiers with his hand on his hip where his concealed weapon is.

“And who’s the one who can’t keep their cool?” Ransom asks unhelpfully after a beat.

“Yeah, yeah,” Peter waves him off. Shaking his head, he quickly pats down his clothes to ensure that he still has all the baggies of gold and sighs in relief. Closing his eyes, he thinks, They’re all still here. We’ll all be able to get out of here soon.

Taking one last breath, Peter begins walking down the ramp of the Night Sky and he stops in front of the Coalition soldiers who were waiting for him.

“Peter Petrova?” the sole officer in the squad nearest Peter inquires.

Nodding, Peter answers, “Yes, sir, that’s me.”

The officer looks up from the paperwork they are holding, and he grimaces ever so slightly. Shaking his head, he then looks at the rest of his team and whispers a few things to one of them.

Feeling uneasy, Peter gets ready to draw his weapon and shoot his way out of things. It wouldn’t be the first time that he had to shoot people at this close of a range, however he always wished that things were this up close and personal. There was something about looking someone in the eyes when he killed someone that hurt more than when he shot at them from afar.

What hurt Peter even more was being the one who shot first. There were always the questions of who could have been spared, if the person he shot was a threat, and so many other things.

But that was the price that Peter paid every day in order to get as many people as he could out of Coalition space.

He was a smuggler, sure, but his cargo wasn’t drugs like so many others. He moved people. Not slaves, but refugees who hoped to get out from under the boot of the Coalition.

Whenever the opportunity arose, he helped people out and moved select cargoes as well, but that wasn’t his focus. He was here to spirit people away to a freer life.

“Mister Petrova, I don’t want you to make a scene, so please listen carefully,” the officer says after a short while of speaking to one of their soldiers, “We know who you are, and you’ve been flagged to be arrested. However, we aren’t about to do that.”

Peter swallows and he loosens up slightly. There was something different about these people. Cocking his head, Peter asks, “What are you getting at?”

The officer that had been doing all the talking takes a slow breath and then nods to one of their soldiers.

Peter looks to the soldier and curiously asks, “What’s happening here?”

The soldier’s eyes dart around, and they slowly answer, “You saved my family a few months back. You smuggled in some medicines to our town and that saved my family and a lot of people I know. Thank you.”

Unsure what to do, Peter remains still and silent. He had never been thanked for his work by anyone in Coalition Space. Up until now, the only people who got the chance to thank him like this were those he snuck across to the Alexandrian side of the galaxy.

“Not only that, but some of us have family that you’ve snuck out of here,” the officer continues, “Plus you’ve brought our people things in the past.”

Peter shakes his head, “I don’t get it, what’s going on here? Aren’t you guys with the Coalition?”

The officer chuckles and shakes his head, “Clearly you don’t get how things work on Allegra! We’re our own people, we just tolerate the Coalition’s presence.”

“And that leads us to a little something else…” one of the soldiers whispers, “We need your help.”

Peter cocks his head and eyes the soldiers. He can tell that they are being honest and straightforward about everything, but he wasn’t used to that. Every other planet that he had been to the soldiers seemed intent on finding and killing him. Now, after all these years of running, Peter is standing in front of people in the same uniforms as those who sought to kill him, and he doesn’t feel like running.

He isn’t sure if this is some sort of elaborate trap or if his instincts about the soldiers are true, but he chooses to remain still, waiting for whatever was to come next.

“We need you to transport something for us,” the officer says under their breath, “A lot of something, actually.”

Peter opts to sound skeptical in order to further feel things out, “Seems awfully convenient that you need me to do it, out of all people.”

The officer chuckles and shakes their head, “Well, we weren’t waiting on you to do it. Believe it or not, we were planning on going AWOL to move this stuff, but it’d make our lives a lot easier if you were the one who transported it instead. It would really help us, and our cause if you did.”

“And what ‘cause’ is that?” Peter asks, his curiosity getting the best of him momentarily.

“The Allegrian militia needs food, munitions, and supplies,” the officer answers, “We’ve got access to the warehouse that has everything we need, and we’ve got everything ready to move too. All we needed was the chance to steal a ship and fly it out to the—ah—the compound.”

“Allegrian militia?” Peter rakes his memory for mentions of such a militia, but he comes up wanting. All he can remember for sure is that the militia on this planet is loosely affiliated with the broader Resistance movement.

“Yes, can you help us?” the officer pleads, “If you do it, then we could stay here and maintain our cover a lot easier—”

“What will I be transporting specifically?” Peter interrupts, “And what will it be used for?”

The officer shifts from one foot to the other as they carefully answer, “Weapons, munitions, food, and medicine. Maybe a few pallets of other supplies too, depending on what our latest batch of instructions say.”

“And what will they be used for?” Peter repeats his question.

“On the war effort,”

“What war?”

“The rebellion?”

“Last I heard, Allegra isn’t in the middle of a rebellion.”

“Oh, you just landed, right,” the officer chuckles and nods, “My apologies. Well… the militia is gearing up for a rebellion and…” the officer takes a few steps closer, and he lowers his voice, “And there’s an alien invasion that is about to begin as well. For all we know, they might already be here.”

“I haven’t heard anything about an—”

“Please!” the officer interrupts, “I know this all sounds impossible, but it’s the truth!”

Peter looks the officer in the eyes, and he can’t tell for sure if the man is being honest or not. All he can tell for sure is that the matter is important.

“We’ve heard stories about some of your runs,” one of the soldiers speaks up, “We know that you can make this one a lot easier than any of us ever could. For all we know, we’d end up getting ourselves killed if we tried.”

“And we’ve all got families to go home to,” the officer adds, “I know it’s a lot to ask you to risk your life for us, but as Hemmings said, you’ve got a better chance than any of us.”

Peter swallows and he makes his decision. Looking the soldiers in their eyes, he says, “I’m in, but I’ve got a hold full of refugees here. I can’t risk them.”

“Oh,” the officer’s eyes drop, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“But I was hoping to get a new ship… I guess I could break it in with a quick run for all of you.”

The officer looks up, a spark in his eyes, “Really? You’d do that for us?”

Peter chuckles and he looks out over the crowd of people all around them, “You and I both know that this is a whole lot bigger than either you or me. I’m doing this for everyone.”

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Caleb Fast

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Distant Prospects

Jutland Mountain, Gade-Grand

I get a whole planet to more or less myself and I still can’t find anything, Soren Grand thinks to himself with a soft chuckle. Shaking his head, he looks down at the old gold pan in his hands.

The pan, like a lot of the things that Soren owned, came from those who came before him. His boots came from his father. His grandfather was the one who first wore his watch. The gold pan? That came from some great grandfather back quite a few generations. It is one of the steel pans that were used in the American West back four hundred or so years.

But, if Soren learned anything from his family, it was that things lasted a whole lot longer when they were treated well.

Sighing, Soren looks past his pan at his bare feet. In the effort to help his boots, he never wore them in the water. Turning to his left, Soren confirms that the boots are still laying on a boulder along the side of the river right beside his balled up woolen socks.

“Maybe it’s high time my family found a new line of work,” Soren mutters to himself as he looks back at his pan and continues swirling around the materials in his pan.

Through all the generations, his family had likely gathered no more than a few kilos of gold.

That much gold might sound like a lot to someone who didn’t know much about gold prospecting but stretched over nearly half a millennium and that figure seemed quite depressing.

At this point, Soren can’t help but feel like his family continued their prospecting out of nothing but spite.

Either that, or they knew that it was impossible to try forever and come up with absolutely nothing this long.

At some point, something would have to give. Either there wouldn’t be an heir to the Grand family, or they would strike it rich. There was no in between.

So, they waited.

For generations.

And generations.

And generations.

Sure, they found some gold, but any oaf who tried their hand at prospecting could find gold. Everyone knows that there’s gold everywhere.

The only trouble is finding a place that has enough gold to make it worthwhile to invest your whole life digging.

“Please, God, let me be the one,” Soren whispers a prayer as he walks off some of the larger and lighter stones out of his pan, “If you let me be the one, I’ll do anything. I’ll build hospitals. Churches. I’ll pay for a cathedral to be built! Just give me this!”

A few more seconds pass and Soren is walking off the final bit of ‘blondes’, as prospectors called them. Most people would just acknowledge this sand as light brown.

Walking back to the shore of the river he is on with the remaining black sands that he had been panning out, Soren purses his lips and offers up a few more pleading prayers. And, when those prayers finish out, he squats down in a spot on the river where the water is a little calmer.

Taking his time, he swirls the materials around in his pan, he taps away at the pan’s sides and top, and he eventually looks at the results of his work.

Three ‘colors’.

Three? Really? Is this some kind of joke? Soren thinks bitterly as he carefully gathers his very meagre findings. Even though it wasn’t much, Soren knew enough to save everything he could get his hands on.

Everything added up to something.

Eventually.

Shaking his head, Soren quickly pans through the concentrates in his pan once more and he finds one more flake of gold and a speck of silver as well.

Shaking his head, he rinses out his pan and tosses it to the shore.

Chuckling, Soren looks up at the sky and lets out a joking prayer, “Well, I guess that’s a hard no, then. Huh, God?”

Smirking, Soren shakes his head and looks back own to his feet. If it weren’t for everything else that he had been through in life, he would have given up on a lot of things by now.

The colonizing of this planet.

His little homestead.

His long-distance relationship with his sweetheart back home.

His prospecting.

His God.

If it weren’t for what he had already seen, heard, and felt, he wouldn’t have anything to live for.

“I know, I know, keep going,” Soren nods along as he feels a little God-nudge. That same nudge had saved his life on more than one occasion, and it had guided him to this particular world when he was given the opportunity to colonize a planet for the Dawn Royals.

Soren starts walking back to his boots when he freezes.

Something, namely that God-nudge that he had grown used to, was making him second guess quitting on this particular spot.

Looking around, Soren rakes his memory for any reason why this spot might look familiar.

Anything.

A good three minutes pass before an inkling of a memory of a vision from decades ago comes to the surface. The memory is foggy from its age, but it seems to fit this particular scene.

The only issue is that there was a mineshaft in the vision.

A mineshaft located right near where Soren had tossed his pan.

His brows furrowed, Soren carefully picks his way over the boulders in the river over to where the pan had landed. As he makes his way over, he takes in the stones around him.

As far as he can tell, there is nothing about the geology that should indicate that there is gold, or anything else, in the mountainside he is approaching, but he had been surprised many times before.

Shrugging, Soren reminds himself that he had very little to lose at this point.

So what if he wasted a month poking around at a potentially barren rock? He had already wasted at least a year and had all of a few dozen grams of gold to show for it.  This river was the best producing one he had come across to date.

Swallowing, Soren reaches the beach of the river, and he removes his hat. Something about everything around him made him feel like it wasn’t proper to wear a hat here.

Running a wet hand through his greasy hair, Soren lets out a long, low whistle.

“Well, there’s no use standing here, might as well figure out what’s the big deal,” Soren says, reminding himself of why he was here. Approaching his pan, he continues scanning the stones for any signs of anything of value.

Nothing, as per the usual, Soren thinks.

When people heard about his intention to search for gold on this planet, they mocked him. Those that knew his family’s history were some of the harshest mockers.

They all told him that he wouldn’t find gold.

Those who didn’t know him told him that there wasn’t any gold here based upon charts, maps, and old data about where gold-bearing asteroids had crashed.

Those who knew him reminded him of his track record.

But the shining star through all of this was his special little lady back home.

She reminded him time and time again that King David from the Bible had never seen a victory against a giant before he faced Goliath. She reminded him that King David was the least cut out to do the job and that people doubted him.

And then David went out and made history.

Looking up at the sky once more, Soren whispers the same prayer he had offered up several times every day since he had arrived here, “Let’s make history, God.”

Bending down, Soren picks up his pan.

And there is a grand total of nothing beneath it.

Dropping to his haunches, Soren shakes his head and continues his prayer, “I don’t get it. I really don’t get it.”

Letting out a disgruntled sigh, he lays down and looks up the sheer cliff that his pan had landed at the base of.

Still shaking his head, his eyes eventually lock onto a tree.

The tree, like most of the vegetation on this world, is young. Nothing on the planet is older than maybe fifteen years, which was around when the seeders and spreadships that the Dawns sent out arrived in this system to try and make the planets around here more hospitable to humans.

However, what is sticking out to Soren about the tree isn’t its age.

It’s the fact that it is hanging precariously to the cliff’s face. All that Soren can see holding it up is a handful of slim roots, none larger than his finger or thumb.

There is an outcropping of stone hanging over most of the roots, which Soren notes must block out a lot of the rainwater that the tree might hope to ever receive.

And yet, somehow, the tree hung in there.

It persisted.

It stuck to the dream of living its life in the place where it was planted.

As Soren looks at the tree, he begins to wonder where it got its water, since the stone outcropping clearly blocked the rains. As he wonders, Soren’s eyes look back to the roots and he sees a slight glimmer.

Narrowing his eyes, Soren sees that there is a tiny spring of water that is burbling out of the cliff’s face providing water for the tree.

“Almost like that stream exists entirely for that tree,” Soren mutters with a soft chuckle. Looking back up to the heavens, he whispers, “Well, where’s my stream? Where’s the little crack that You set up just for me?” As those thoughts pass through Soren’s mind, he briefly recalls a scripture that said outright that if God took care of animals and plants then He’d take care of people. Rolling his eyes, Soren tries to convince himself that this was a sign that he’d find his gold.

Eventually, at least.

As if on cue, Soren’s little God-nudge speaks up and instructs him to walk over to where the tiny rivulet from the tree’s stream meets the base of the mountain. Looking at the bushes at the base of the stone face, he briefly considers ignoring the thought, but he eventually relents.

Shrugging, Soren thinks, What do I have to lose? No one’s watching me anyways.

Soren spends the next half hour chopping through and removing the bushes and he stops once he can see the damp area from the stream.

Sitting squarely at the base of it is a small, polished nugget of gold.

A nugget that wouldn’t be quite so dazzling were it not for the years of the water gently rolling over it.

Smirking, Soren can’t help but say, “Alright, I get it. I complain too much. But really? A nugget? That’s not about to cover any bills.”

Shrugging one more time, Soren crouches down and he grabs the nugget.

And he proceeds to tip over when he gives it a tug.

Surprised, Soren scrambles back to his feet and he clears a few stones from around the nugget.

Then a few more stones.

Then a few large rocks.

And some sand.

All the while, the gently flowing stream from about him washes the gold nugget clean, reminding Soren oh so vividly of what he was working for.

With every handful of gravel and rocks, the nugget seems to grow. Already it is many times larger and heavier than all the gold his family had ever dug up.

After an hour or so of digging, Soren’s stomach growls and his hunger pulls him away from his work. He mechanically reaches into his jacket, and he pulls out his bag of jerky. Reaching into the bag, he quickly rips it back out and he peers into it, looking for whatever had bitten him.

Confused when he doesn’t see anything other than blood, Soren looks down to his fingertips.

Staring back at him are some mangled fingers without fingernails.

In all of his excitement, he had gotten ahead of himself and gotten hurt in to process.

Chuckling, Soren reminds himself that he had forgotten to thank God for all of this as well.

Dropping to a kneeling position, Soren looks up to the sky once more and he offers God a sly smile, “So, what kind of cathedral you want me to build You, then?”

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The World Beneath

The Black Forest, Allegra

“Listen, Horton, I don’t have all day,” Hreve snaps as he scowls at his companion. Horton had been stammering through the same complaint for the past three minutes and wasn’t showing any sign of finishing.

Horton huffs before he weakly says, “Well, I’m just saying that we shouldn’t wander all the way back here alone!”

Hreve ignores Horton and he continues deeper into the cave system that they had claimed as their apocalypse bunker upon the news of the alien invasion. Hreve didn’t know if the claims of the alien invasion were true or not, but he didn’t care. He was more than ready to fall off the grid and cease to exist as far as any governing officials were concerned. For that matter, he didn’t care if anyone else from the Thessalonian Shipbuilding Company knew if he was alive either.

In short, he needed a break. Any sort of excuse would do to get him out of Thessalonia.

Hreve chuckles as he thinks, And to believe it took an alien invasion to get me out of there. I wonder if it’s even legitimate, or if it’s even still going on…

Glancing back at Horton, Hreve’s brow furrows and he can’t help but ask, “How long have we been up here anyways?”

“Well over three weeks, I’d say.”

“Think they’ve beat back those aliens yet?”

“I still don’t know if the stories were true.”

“Well, I was hearing a few scattered words from someone on the radio we brought up here… whatever the story, there are other people up here too.”

“We could just be picking up some transmissions from somewhere else.”

“Not with the magnetic field around here.”

“What? Why?”

“Magnetic fields mess with radio waves, don’t they teach you framers anything?”

“They teach us to weld and rivet, that’s all you need to know to build a ship.”

Hreve shakes his head and sighs. I can’t believe they put idiots like Horton in charge of building my designs, he thinks in disgust, All it takes is one mistake on Horton’s side of things and I could be out of a job. Everyone at the shipyards could be!

Taking a few more steps, Hreve stops suddenly, and he shines his flashlight ahead. As was common in this network of caves, the tunnel splits off into a few different directions. That was nothing new, and Hreve had been following the ‘right-hand rule’ for most of this exploration trip.

What stood out this time, however, was that one of the tunnels was made of a different kind of material. Rather than be a dull grey, tan, or brown, this particular tunnel was almost black. In many ways, it reminded Hreve of an oxidized obsidian, just with a hint of green to its matted color.

Behind Hreve, Horton gasps, “I’ve never seen anything like that,”

That would be why I stopped, Hreve thinks with a slight chuckle. Something that he had always enjoyed about Horton’s company was how the man would voice his every thought. Sure, it could get annoying, but it would be funny more often than not. In this instance, Hreve managed to see the humor in things.

“It doesn’t look natural, how do you think it got here?” Hreve asks Horton. He didn’t expect an answer, but he was open to whatever idea the other man might offer. He approaches the odd tunnel and stops just a meter away from the nearest chunk of the greenish-black stone it was made of.

“Someone must have put it down here,”

Hreve nods in agreement, happy that Horton was thinking the same thing he was. Problem was, no one should have even been in this cave before them. It wasn’t on any maps—not even the bootlegged maps that Allegrian natives made of parts of the Black Forest. The mouth of the cave appeared to have been sealed off for centuries and was completely overgrown. A recent rockslide was the only reason Hreve had even been able to locate the tiny breach that he cleared away to allow everyone into the cave.

Reaching out, Hreve runs his finger along the cold stone face. It was several degrees cooler than the surrounding country rock, which he found strange. Just to confirm, he reaches out with his other hand and touches a piece of the natural grey stone that he was used to. He frowns when he notes that his initial impression was correct. Looking back once more, he asks, “But why would they go through all the work of building something down here?”

“There must’ve been something important down here.”

“Either that, or they wanted their own apocalypse bunker,”

“I don’t know… this doesn’t look like anything anyone we know would build. It looks…”

“Alien, I know.”

“But Allegra was uninhabited when it was settled,”

“That’s what they say.”

“You think that was a lie?”

“It could have been, or the alien race that lived here was extinct. Maybe they moved on when the water started drying up. I mean, if they were advanced enough to build with whatever this stuff is, then I’d guess they knew what to expect from a planet that was drying up.”

“Why not work to save the planet? That’s what the colonists did when they found Allegra.”

Hreve shrugs, “I don’t know, Horton. All I know is that we have to check this out.”

“I don’t know…”

“Haven’t you ever wanted to discover a lost race of aliens and be remembered forever for the discovery? We could be famous!”

“But you said you didn’t want anyone knowing about us,”

“That’s because we were nobodies back at home. With a discovery like this, we could be somebodies! You know what the Coalition does for somebodies?”

Horton’s stomach growls as if on cue, “I’d guess that they feed you at the very least.”

Hreve yearningly looks at the tunnel and smirks as his mind races with images of splendor and riches. He knew full well that this could just be the opportunity that got him and his family off this planet once and for all. With a find like this, he could get some cushy job in an office making records of this find for the rest of his life. No more risking his life to do something as monotonous as approving and improving the same old ship designs day in and day out. With a job like the one he was imagining; he could finally see the galaxy and not just the same few streets between his home and the shipyard.

Smiling wistfully, Hreve lets his friend in on his thoughts, “There would be a whole lot more than just food waiting for us… We could get out of the shipyards once and for all.”

“You know, some of us like our jobs.”

Chuckling, Hreve reminds Horton of their conversation yesterday, “You called your job a premature cancer ward and you said you were happy that you got away from it all.”

“Well, it’s fun when you’re not breathing in the welding fumes… Or cleaning up after someone’s mistakes… or—alright, I guess you’re right. I could use a new job.”

“Just imagine what they’d have us do after this…”

“Well… I think we’d spend a lot more time in caves. I don’t really like the sound of that.”

Hreve shrugs and he takes his first step into the darkened tunnel. When the world doesn’t suddenly explode or anything like that, he continues walking deeper into the cave. Turning back, he calls out, “Come on, let’s check this out. If you don’t like the job they offer you, then you don’t have to take it. All I know is that I’d rather explore caves and see something new every day than be stuck in that stuffy office at the shipyard.”

Horton hesitantly follows.

Hreve can’t help but notice that the dark, matted walls of the cave seemed to absorb all the light from his flashlight. While he still had enough light to continue deeper, he found himself squinting in an effort to see further. The limited light situation fortunately didn’t seem to phase Horton, either that or the man didn’t notice the change. Either way, Hreve was happy that Horton had stopped complaining.

At that, Hreve momentarily wonders if he might have lost Horton. He quickly looks back and sees that the man is in fact still behind him, and he continues ahead.

After a hundred meters or so, the tunnel begins dipping downward at a much sharper angle than it had been. Rather than be a five-degree slope like much of the cave, it is now dropping at about a thirty-degree slope, which makes it harder to stop and makes Hreve’s ankles ache. After maybe a hundred meters of that, the ground levels off and feels almost perfectly level, which Hreve finds odd. He is about to mention it but opts against it when Horton fails to say anything.

“It looks like the cave opens up ahead,” Horton notes as his faint flashlight beam shines ahead further than it had been.

Hreve nods slowly in response and he quickens his pace. He wanted to see if what he and Horton were seeing was true, something about the dark walls of the cave had made everything seem so tight that the thought of it opening up was both a surprise and a relief.

Stepping into a much wider section of the cave, Hreve stops once more, and he looks all around. This large cavern is about twenty meters tall and is easily three times that in length. As far as Hreve can tell, its ceiling is also a near-perfect semicircle, which he finds odd. In addition to being odd, it confirms his suspicions that the structure was in fact man-made—or more accurately, alien-made.

The walls of this cavern are made of the same dark material, but this stuff seems to have a slight glow, a glow that really highlights the geometric crystalline structure of whatever the walls were made of. Just to be sure, Hreve approaches the nearest bit of glowing wall, and he turns off his light. Horton seems to pick up on the idea and turns his off as well. A few moments pass before Hreve’s eyes adjust and he sees that the walls are in fact glowing ever so slightly.

“Weird,” Horton whispers.

“Yeah, very weird. I wish I brought our Geiger counter along, it’d be interesting to see if this stuff is radioactive.”

“Are we going to die? I mean, if all that smoke from welding didn’t get me, will this?”

“I don’t know… I wouldn’t think so though.”

“Why not? Doesn’t radioactive stuff glow?”

“Some does… but I don’t think this stuff is dangerous. The aliens wouldn’t have built with it if it was.”

“But they could have gone extinct from it.”

“That’s a possibility, but I don’t think it’s the case here.”

“I… I think I like it. It’s pretty.”

“I like it too,” Hreve agrees.

“I saw another tunnel at the far end of this room.”

Hreve nods slowly as he asks, “Think we should check it out?”

“We’ve come this far,” Horton answers.

Nodding still, Hreve grabs his flashlight and warns, “Lights on!”

Flicking on his light, Hreve squints against the bright light and he waits for his eyes to adjust. A few seconds pass before he feels confident enough to trudge on ahead to the far side of the cave.

“I was thinking,” Horton announces as they walk.

“What?”

“Do you think that these structures could be what’s causing the magnetic fields? Like, they’re weird anomalies, so they’d have to be made by something weird, right?”

“I don’t see why not,”

“Well, what are we going to call the aliens that made this thing then? I think it should have something to do with magnet in their name.”

“I don’t know about that—”

“How about Magnet-heads?”

“We don’t even know what their heads look like.”

“Field Layers? Magnet-ites? The Polarity?”

“The Polarity sounds pretty cool. A bit ominous, but cool.”

“I liked that one too.”

Hreve stops yet again, this time at the end of the large cavern that they had been in. He is looking through the cave ahead of them and he blinks a few times to confirm that he was in fact seeing what he thought he was. When that doesn’t help or change what he was seeing, he flicks his light off once again and Horton follows his lead.

Ahead of them, a faint light is shining from further down the tunnel.

“That can’t be daylight, right?” Horton asks after a few seconds.

“No… We’re way too far underground.”

“And we couldn’t have walked all the way under the mountain range… right?”

“Right…”

“Then… could it be lava?”

“It could be, I’ve never seen the stuff before though. Shouldn’t it be warmer in here if it was lava?”

“I don’t know… maybe these rocks don’t let heat move the same way.”

Hreve finds himself nodding uselessly in the dark and he also notices that his jaw had dropped. He quickly clamps his mouth back closed and he begins walking toward the light, this time without the aid of this flashlight. The light ahead of him and Horton appears to be almost aqua in color, which isn’t too unlike the sunlight on the surface, however, there still remained the issue of how far underground they were. There was no way that the light could be coming from the surface.

“I’m nervous,” Horton mumbles.

Again, Hreve just finds himself nodding along. His original thoughts of grand appearances and notoriety were gone now. All he could think about was just what could be ahead of him. He didn’t know if it was dangerous, if it was alive, or if it was nothing at all. All he knew was that it was something and that he had to find out what.

“I was thinking it could be some sort of light,” Horton rambles on, “Like, we’ve got our flashlights, maybe these aliens had lights too. Those glowing walls probably didn’t keep things bright enough for them, after all.”

“But how could it still be going all these years later?” Hreve asks, knowing that Horton wouldn’t know the answer.

“Alien tech. They’ve always got stuff we don’t. Just think about all the stuff that the Toaz had that we made use of—these aliens are bound to know some stuff too.”

Again, all Hreve can do is nod.

Horton continues babbling about everything that pops into his head for several minutes and Hreve allows it. There were better things to do than bicker, and on top of that, Hreve couldn’t muster his voice to say anything anyway.

Turning a corner, Hreve gasps when he sees a door that is being silhouetted by the aqua-colored light that is seeping through on all sides of it. Something about the presence of a door makes the entire situation seem somewhat normal and it makes the aliens—the Polarity as Horton named them—seem more human. No more were they some wispy civilization that may or may not exist, they were concrete and real—just like the door that is only a few meters away. In a way, Hreve thought that the presence of a door was funny, out of all technologies to find that humanity and the Polarity had in common, a door was not something that Hreve would have put on the list.

“Think it opens?” Horton asks suddenly.

“It’s got to,” Hreve answers as he boldly approaches the door. Stopping just in front of it, he begins feeling around for a door handle or a console beside the door or any other way to open it. He does so for a good minute before stepping back.

“Maybe it’s more simple than we’re thinking,” Horton offers as he steps forward for his own turn.

Hreve watches as Horton puts forth both his hands and rests his palms flat on the face of the door. Horton then takes a few deep breaths, the light from the door casting strange and eerie shadows off Horton’s body as he does so.

Then Horton suddenly presses on the door and it gives way, but not in the way Hreve expected.

Rather than swing one way or the other on some sort of hinge, the door glides into the area beyond in the same direction that Horton had pushed it. For a moment, Hreve is awestruck and confused, but his brain quickly catches up to the present and he realizes that the door was utilizing some sort of magnetism to work, a fact he found quite odd.

Horton stops pushing and he examines the door. Planting his hands on his hips, he happily exclaims, “Magnets!”

Hreve lets out a short laugh as he takes in Horton’s happiness, but he cuts his joy short when he realizes that he and Horton are both being bathed in the bright light that they had been pursuing. His eyes snap upward, toward the source of the light and he is greeted with what he can only describe as a massive screen at the top of the cavern he is in. The screen is at least a hundred meters above him and, if he isn’t mistaken, it appears to only be about fifty meters or so wide, which he found surprising. His eyes drop so he can take in the size of the cave that the screen is so easily illuminating when his heart skips a beat.

This was no empty cave.

It wasn’t filled with stalactites, or trash, or ruins, or anything that he had been expecting.

The floor of the massive cave is made up of gently rolling hills and a handful of valleys, all of which are spread across the huge five or so kilometer circle that the screen above Hreve is keeping bright. Scattered haphazardly along the hills and in the valleys are mostly small structures, buildings Hreve could only describe as hovels or huts.

However, those buildings were anything but primitive, like that description would imply. Rather than be built out of mud or brick, these structures are all built out of the same crystalline blackish stone. Roads made of the same material weave their way through the landscape, connecting all the buildings to each other and to the small assortment of larger structures.

“It’s like… it’s like some sort of vacation destination from the commercials!” Horton calls out joyously.

“Don’t!” Hreve grabs Horton’s shirt and stops the man from racing toward the nearest structure.

“And why not?” Horton demands, “This right here is everything we could have hoped to get from a discovery like this, and we can have it right now!”

Hreve shakes his head slowly. He isn’t sure why, but something didn’t seem right about all of this. As he shakes his head, he continues scanning the scene before him, and he begins noting the rusting hulks that are on the roads and scattered elsewhere as well. He sees that the pieces of machinery are more plentiful closer to one of the large structures, and he examines it more closely. After a few moments, he realizes that the structure appeared to be some sort of barracks.

Taking in a sharp breath, Hreve finally says, “I think this is some kind of military base.”

“Military? No way! Look at that over there! They’ve got a lake! There’s no way—”

“No! Look at those things out there! The ones with the rust. Those look like some kind of futuristic tanks to me! And look at these buildings here!” Hreve points at the nearby structures that seem like they would funnel anyone going through the door they had just entered through right to, “Tell me they don’t look like a checkpoint for people to check in before being let in.”

“But it’s so pretty!”

“Maybe that’s just how the Polarity builds their military bases.”

“But… why all the way down here?”

“I don’t know… maybe it was a bunker or something.”

“But aren’t bunkers supposed to house tons of people? This whole place,” Horton makes a big point of waving his hands around, “That’s a lot of work to just house a hundred or so houses!”

“I really don’t know,” Hreve sighs, “But I don’t like it. I know that much.”

“Well, are we going to look around at least?”

Nodding slowly, Hreve agrees, and he allows Horton to take the lead for a while.

Hreve and Horton make their way through the abandoned checkpoint, and Hreve can’t help but look inside. He stops long enough to poke his head through the open window and he takes in the sight of everything inside. He can see what appears to be a filing system of sorts for square, green crystalline plates. He can see what is clearly a chair sitting before what he believes is a computer, and beside that is something that he immediately recognizes as a rifle-like weapon.

Hreve makes a point of pointing out the rifle to Horton who simply shrugs and nods at the discovery before marching ahead.

Exiting the checkpoint area, Hreve immediately notes the green and red plants that make up the ground cover of the cave. The plants remind him of both moss and clovers at the same time, and he can’t help but wonder how the plant life hadn’t taken over the entire cave in the years since the area had been abandoned. Sure, there were some places where the plants encroached on the black road a bit, but they had yet to cover it completely.

Hreve continues following Horton for quite some time and he stops at the first of the rusting hulks that he is now certain are war machines. Horton continues on ahead, somehow unfazed by the machine.

Unwilling to part with the tank-like machine just yet, Hreve lets Horton leave and he begins circling around the machine. The machine is largely made up of the same blackish material that the alien race seemed oh so fond of, but there are parts of it that are made of what Hreve assumes is some sort of steel. The steel is where all the rust is coming from, and that rust has stained parts of the black material over the many years.

There aren’t any wheels or treads on this tank, and Hreve ascertains that it must use some sort of levitation to move along. The lower half of the tank appears to be just an armored carrier for whatever moved the machine, much like the tanks Hreve was accustomed to seeing the Coalition use. The upper half, much like a normal tank, was clearly the weapons platform where weapons that were a lot like the one in the checkpoint were pointing out every which way. There didn’t appear to be any front or rear to the upper portion of the tank, which just made it appear even more fearsome.

“Horton, I think we need to leave this place,” Hreve calls out to his traveling buddy as he quickly retreats from the tank. Something about all of the guns pointing out of it made it seem threatening and scary, even if it appeared to be very much dead.

“You can leave, I’m on vacation!” Horton calls back.

“Something happened here, man!” Hreve shouts, “I don’t think we should stay!”

“Whatever it is, it’s gone now,”

“You can’t know that.”

“It’s been forever since anything living was here.”

“We don’t know that,” Hreve starts. He is about to say more as he walks toward Horton, but he stops dead in his tracks. At his feet is something that he can only describe as a footprint. The print is easily a meter long and a little under half a meter wide and it appears to have been left behind by some sort of mechanization, based upon the sharp edges of the print. Not too far away, there is another print and then another and another. Judging by the state of the plants that had been crushed, the steps were not too terribly old.

“Horton…” Hreve says in a shaky voice, “I’m leaving right now, and you should too.”

“Just go already!” Horton snaps, “I’ll take all the credit for discovering the Polarity for myself!”

Hreve looks over to Horton and he feels a pang of anger, fear, and sadness as his friend threatens to cheat him. After so many years of working together and getting to know each other, Hreve expected more of the man. He had had Horton and his wife over several times over the years to have dinner with his own family, and here the man was threatening to throw all of that away.

Shaking his head, Hreve immediately thinks about what his father always said about how power always corrupts. People, no matter how good they once were, they always had a propensity to do horrible things in the name of gaining or maintaining power. That was one of the reasons why the Coalition had gotten so bad, or at least that’s what Hreve’s father said.

Before he can say anything else to Horton, Hreve sees something move on the crest of a hill in the distance.

A split second later, there is a flash and a beam of light.

Hreve’s eyes follow the beam and his heart stops for a moment when he sees a smoldering section of the green and red grass where Horton had been standing not long before. All that remained of the man is a few small scraps of clothing.

Somehow remembering the emergency drills from the shipyard, Hreve’s body immediately drops to the ground, just like he was trained to do in the event of explosions. While there hadn’t been an explosion, Hreve somehow instinctively knew that dropping to the ground would be his sole means of survival.

After a few seconds that seem to take hours, Hreve allows himself to look toward the distant hill where the flash had come from.

To his terror, there is something coming his way from that hill. It is walking in a soulless disjointed way that tells Hreve everything that he needed to know—the thing that killed Horton was a robot. Whatever it was, it had to of played some sort of role in this military bunker. It was a resident of this horrid underworld beneath the Black Forest.

Realizing that the machine hadn’t fired until it had a direct line of sight with Horton, Hreve concocts a plan: he would make his way back to the door he had come through whenever the machine was out of view.

Hreve immediately laughs at his plan, but he cuts his laughter short because he feared the robot would shoot at him if it saw his movement. A few seconds pass and Hreve’s thoughts return to the absurdity of his plan when he reasons that the robot hadn’t seen him. I’m literally about to play some psychotic version of red light green light to save my life, Hreve thinks, the craziness of it all bringing him far too close to laughing once more.

Before he can rethink his plan, the robot slips beneath the crest of another hill and out of sight. Without giving the order, Hreve’s body leaps up and begins sprinting back up the road. He was on autopilot, and he knew that his instincts were the only thing keeping him alive.

As he runs, Hreve looks back every few steps to ensure that the robot cannot see him. He gets a good three minutes of running in before he sees the glint of metal that the robot is made of, and he dives to the ground amidst some of the roadside plants.

The war machine is still stumbling along closer and closer to where Horton had been murdered. Whatever its agenda, the robot seemed intent on investigating the scene of the killing it had conducted.

Several painfully long minutes pass as the robot works its way down the hill and toward Horton and Hreve. As he waits for his next chance to run, Hreve realizes that he has to pee and a few tears stream down his face as he wills his body to ignore the urge for just a little while longer.

Before he has a chance to wet himself, the robot slips back out of sight, this time behind a building, and Hreve races closer to the door he and Horton had entered through an eternity ago. He gets to the checkpoint in time to see the robot emerging from the building that had come between it and Hreve, and Hreve dives through the open window into the room he had examined earlier.

Inside the building, Hreve takes several dozen unsteady breaths before he steadies his breathing to the point that he can calm down and think once more. As he thinks, his brain immediately jumps to the idea that there would be questions if he were to return without Horton. People could think that he murdered the man. He needed some sort of proof of what happened.

And at that, Hreve realizes that he jumped into the perfect place to take his proof. He reaches for the green plates, but he stops when he remembers just how badly he had to pee. Not wanting to risk his life to respond to the call of nature, he opts to pee inside of the checkpoint room he is in.

Finished with that, he then grabs a plate and the strange rifle as well. These two prizes in hand, he peeks out of the window just far enough to check on the robot. It is now standing over the charred earth where Horton had been standing not long before. Every now and then the machine takes an awkward step or two, but it seems like it has no idea what to do next.

And then it begins marching back the way it had come, just as suddenly as its showing up in the first place.

Hreve briefly considers making a run for it while the killing machine’s back is turned, but he can’t bring himself to risk it. He knew that he’d have a better opportunity as soon as it crested a hill.

He keeps repeating this line of thought for several minutes until the robot is finally out of sight. At that, he crawls back through the window, grabs his artifacts, and runs. He is several steps past the door he had entered through before he stops himself. He can’t help but feel like he had to shut the door. That he had to put the lip back onto Pandora’s box.

But, at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel like doing so would get himself killed.

Letting out a shaky, emotional groan that he is happy no one is around to hear, Hreve retreats, and he races away from the door, from the false paradise, and the killing mechanization. He doesn’t stop running until he steps out of the blackened tunnel and feels the familiar natural, cool stone underfoot.

Finally back on familiar ground, Hreve drops to his knees and he sets down the two pieces that he had taken as proof of what had occurred. With his hands now free, he drops down further, bowing to nothing in particular as he allows his emotions and thoughts to catch back up to him.

The terror that he had felt upon seeing the robot that killed Horton causes him to shake uncontrollably and he feels like his bones have been replaced with ice as the fear somehow reaches that deep into his being. The adrenaline that had kept him alive is easing up, and it is filling him with a pain that he can only describe as broken glass that is cutting at his insides. The excitement that he had originally felt is there as well, but it feels foreign and like it is an abomination. Any level of excitement right now felt like it was spitting on the grave of Horton.

Hreve isn’t sure just how long he had been sobbing on the ground by the time that he wakes up.

The ground beneath him is wet from his tears, and he can see several small streams of moisture that had found their way downhill from his face. As he looks at the wetted streambeds, he momentarily wonders how he could see in the dark. A moment later, his eyes find that he had somehow managed to bring his flashlight along and he had left it on as he sobbed and eventually fell asleep.

Swallowing, Hreve realizes that he hadn’t drunk anything for quite some time. He reaches for where his water had been but finds nothing. That is when he remembers that Horton had borrowed his canteen and had been carrying it when he was killed.

Swallowing once more, Hreve rises to his feet shakily. Bending down, he grabs the plate, the rifle, and his flashlight and he begins shuffling back toward where his family is near the mouth of the cave.

He didn’t know what he would do when he got back to them. He didn’t know what he could tell them. He didn’t know how to explain what happened.

All Hreve knew was that he had to get all of them out of this cave. Anywhere else would do. Even the open air would do. Better yet, Hreve thinks, Better yet, we can just get out of the Black Forest! Get away from all of this. Surely the alien invasion is over by now. Surely things are looking up out there.

Nodding resolutely, Hreve commits to the plan. He was going to get Horton and his families both out of here and far from that horrible cave.

Whatever the race of alien was that built that cave, they must have had no interest other than making war.

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Rated 5 out of 5
October 9, 2021

Interesting concept, well worth expanding.

Mike Blake

Caleb Fast

Check out his Author Bio!

RISE of the EARTHBORN (Chapter Twenty-Seven)

Decide

He will show him the way he should choose.

Psalm 25:12

“How long do we have before Pip tires?” Sem asked, his breath tickling her ear.

“With me, he can fly three, maybe three and half hours at a quick pace,” Sambeth replied and tugged a strand if her hair as she thought, “I don’t know how long he can go with the two of us. I’d try an hour and a half and see how he goes.”

“We need to head north,” he said. 

Sambeth nodded and he noticed the shimerith adjust his direction.

The shimerith was flying along smoothly. Sem noticed the change in his flying pattern when they changed course. Before must have been a cruising speed because now, instead of an easy, undulating movement, the wing beats were much faster. The shimerith set his head and neck as straight as an arrow, dropped his shoulders a little and sped through the air.

“Keep a sharp eye out for aerial predators,” Sambeth called over her shoulder, “as well as the Fallen One.” 

“I’ll watch this side,” he indicated to the right.

Sambeth scanned the sky behind, ahead and all around but still the beauty of the land falling underneath took her breath away. The sun was riding high overhead, their shadows falling straight beneath them. 

Sambeth had imagined the forest was an unending, limitless expanse of trees with few breaks but now, from above, she saw that this countryside changed continually.  There were vast stretches of thick, unbroken jungle but then a series of enormous meadows would unfold beneath them, dotted with many herds and different kinds of animals both familiar and unknown. She drank in the sight of gently undulating hills with beautiful clear streams springing between them. 

In a low place, sat a great lake. Many streams fed into it. It was crystal clear. The shapes of big and little fish as well as large aquatic beasts were easy to see in its tranquil waters. Sambeth had never seen such a vast stretch of water. As they flew along, she and Sem pointed out to one another different, interesting things but apart from that they were silent. Each locked in their own thoughts.

Every so often, Sambeth closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her face. Pip was warm underneath her. She savoured the texture of his fur. Sem was a solid presence behind yet still she felt terror and sorrow try to engulf her and fought it back. In less than a week she had seen her mother, the only person that cared for her, killed. She lost her home, found a refuge and lost it also.  She recalled Noesh’s idea to establish herself in Aresisia. That plan must stand. It was a beacon of hope, she clung to it grimly and prayed Proximus would not find her. 

“Sambeth.” 

She felt him squeeze her arm slightly.

“We’re veering off course.” 

Sem’s face was drawn. He pointed to the sun and then off in a direction different to their current trajectory. She frowned but he pointed again, leaning forward, his chin almost resting on her shoulder. 

“We should be going in that direction,” he insisted. 

She leaned forward and spoke to the beast. 

“Pip, veer right,” she called compellingly, tapping him on the right side of his neck and holding her arm in the direction. The shimerith cocked its head very slightly, a glint from his eye reaching her. Then he straightened out again and continued without altering course.

Sambeth turned her chin. Sem bent his head close to hers in order to hear against the rushing wind.

“He’s not listening, Sem.”

His eyes narrowed in worry as he gazed down the length of the enormous creature carrying them. 

“We’ve got to get to Tabun’s Cave. Ask him again,” he ordered. 

Sambeth stiffened, resenting the tone, and leaned away from him. Reluctantly, she did as he bid. 

“Pip, we need to change course. We must go that way.” 

Greater urgency coloured her voice. This time the shimerith dipped its head in annoyance. The deadly pronged tail lashed from side to side. The two on its back clutched onto the deep fur to avoid slipping off.

“Okay. Okay, Pip!” Sem cried and the undulating of the animal ceased.

“It’s no use,” Sambeth said calmly, “once he’s made up his mind, he won’t change it. We’ll just have to trust that he’s right.”

“He’s taking us miles off our course,” Sem fumed, worry causing him to speak more harshly than he meant to, “that’s bad, bad news for us.” 

Sambeth gave him an enigmatic, slanted glance from the corner of her eye. She gritted her teeth, lips set. The burn of resentment rose in her throat.  She remained silent. There was no point arguing about it.

They returned their full attention to scanning the skies. They were full of birds, thousands of them. Most of them were small, flitting here and there in clouds. The bigger birds were not so numerous, but they were there, frequently. Fortunately none of them showed any interest in the shimerith flying past except to sound a faint alarm.

She glanced at Sem a couple of times as she scanned far back on her side. He looked tense. The bile in her stomach settled. He would be anxious about his family, did they live or were they dead.  Being off course would be sending him over the edge. She forgave him. She would be harsh and more than that if she were in his place. 

Agnor was still tucked in tightly around his master, his head thrust through the crook of Sem’s arm. Why had Agnor, the most companionable of hounds, been running in the forest alone, she wondered. She thought of Sem’s parents. They would be worried sick about him, if they were alive.  Cold slashed a line down her cheek as a solitary tear slipped down and blew away in the wind of their passage.

She thrust away thoughts of Rija, who had trusted her to keep her safe. She and Rija had sworn to stay together, to be the family that neither of them had, but now Rija was far behind and Sambeth had to throw down the thought that she truly might not see her ever again.

“Are you okay?” 

A voice spoke in her ear, jolting her out of the dark jag of her thoughts. 

“I don’t know,” her voice was thick and clogged with unshed tears.

Sem turned her face, one finger under her chin. 

“I felt that,” he said, tracing the path of that one tear.  

Her eyes gazed into his, so full of fear and sorrow that his heart turned over.

He put his hand on her cheek, his long fingers curling around the back of her head.

“Trust me, Sambeth. We will be alright.”

She dashed the tears away savagely, holding her lips tight to stop them quivering.

” I’ve lost my mother and my home. And now Rija. Pip could fly away and never come back. Altor will definitely catch me one day. If I make it to Aresisia, I will be all alone.”

She twisted away, “I don’t know if I can do this.”

 He looked up in front of them. Her head was so much lower than his that he saw right over the top off the gleaming strands of hair. 

They both felt a shift in the shimerith, a change of pace.

“We’d better find a place to stop and rest,” she said, “Pip’s slowing a little. I think he’s tiring.”

“We need clear ground to land and to light a pretty decent fire to keep the animals away,” he replied. 

“Surely that’s too visible,” she protested, “Altor could find us or the Fallen One.” 

“Let’s find a clear spot to land safely and then see what we can find.” 

She nodded in agreement. 

Finding a clearing proved difficult. They were flying over dense forest. The trees were giants. Their trunks were massive in girth and the boughs as broad as a road. Pip began to circle making wide sweeping turns. There were no breaks among the great blanket of trees. Neither Sambeth nor Sem could see the ground through the clustered foliage.

“Is it worth landing in the trees?” Sem spoke in Sambeth’s ear. 

She jumped. She’d been so intent on looking for a landing spot. Pip decided for them. He straightened up out of his curving sweep and flew onward some minutes. The shimerith snaked his head down and from side to side. Then he swooped, his passengers clinging on tenaciously. Moments later he settled gently on a narrow strip of grass beside a deep, swiftly flowing river.

A quick look around the clearing showed nothing dangerous. It was picturesque with the rushing gurgle of the river and the lush green grass.

“We won’t be able to hear much with the noise of that river in our ears.” Sambeth said. 

Sem slipped off the shimerith in one smooth move. Immediately Agnor jumped down beside him.

“Clever Pip!” 

Sambeth stroked the shimerith where the long neck joined the sturdy, muscular shoulder. 

“This is a nice spot but are we safe here?” 

She spoke to herself. She was busy scanning the forest beside them as well as beyond the river. She hadn’t yet dismounted.

“There are no animal tracks leading up to the water,” she called to Sem. 

Sem was walking around the clearing, scanning the ground, looking around for signs of large predators, possible camping spots and food. Agnor followed one pace behind, wherever he went.

“Sambeth, I don’t think we’ll have any unwelcome visitors. I can’t see any animal signs at all. It’s a bit odd really.”

She didn’t want to leave the warm safety of Pip’s back. He, too, was highly alert. His dark eyes flickered from side to side. She noticed that his wings were not folded down, tucked neatly in their resting position. Instead they were held slightly out from his body, poised and ready for a quick lift off. He lifted his head suddenly higher, nostrils wide, sniffing the air. A tremor ran through him. Should she dismount, seeing as Pip was unsettled, she wondered?

The strong neck curved up and Pip peered around and beyond the line of tree tops.

“Sem,” she called as Pip trumpeted an alarm. 

“Get down. Get off quick!” Sem yelled the urgency in his voice prompting an intense fear response in her.

Without hesitating, Sambeth slipped off Pip’s back and ran toward Sem. He raced toward her, Agnor close behind. In two heartbeats they met in the middle of the clearing.  He gathered her in, against his side and pulled her back to safety.  She turned back to Pip.

Pip’s whole body was taut and quivering. His eyes searched the sky. Then she saw them. Two, three, four, five shimerith flying in a V formation. They screamed when they spotted the four on the ground, whether at their fellow shimerith or because of the humans, Sambeth was unsure. Sem grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the trees. 

“Come on,” he cried.

The wild shimerith banked, screaming again and this time Pip flung himself upward in one mighty thrust. The wind from the beating of his powerful wings tumbled them forward into the underbrush.  They sprawled on the ground. Sambeth looked up through the tops of the tall grass waving above her. She saw the strange shimerith swerve and dip. Pip flew across their path and they altered their course and met him in the sky. For a moment they reared up, suspended in mid-air. Then as one they wheeled about and flew off into the distance.  A pang of sorrow bit into her heart as she watched Pip, her shimerith, streaking off into the distance with them.

“Did he just leave us, or save us?” Sem whispered.

She turned her head, still flung out in the grass, and met Sem’s eyes. A great huff of dog breath filled her nostrils as Agnor thrust his nose in their faces, checking they were alright.

“I don’t know,” she said bleakly. Without Pip she felt vulnerable in this vast, unknown wilderness, “I must find him. I must go back and get Rija. I must–“

“Shh,” he laid a hand across her mouth for a moment. 

The warm, clean smell of his skin drifted over her. He lifted himself up on one elbow and gazed deeply into her eyes.

“Sambeth, come with me,” he pleaded, searching her face with dark, intense eyes, “I swear I will take you far from here, far from Arca and all who seek to hurt you.”

She blinked and swallowed, thrown by his nearness and keenly aware that she lay stretched on the ground beside a stranger. How could she trust him when so recently the question of her heritage had caused him to recoil in horror?

She scrambled up and he leapt to his feet also. Now she had to crane her head to see his face.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said fiercely, “your family is everything to you and they have rejected me.”

“Trust me,” he urged, echoing the throbbing question in her mind, “come with me to Aresisia. Rija will be there and the people will thank you for their lives. I know it.”

He took her face in his hands, urging her to agree, “We will survive the Forest and Pip may return to you along the way.”

She swayed, caught by the intensity in his gaze. Over his shoulder she saw the last shimerith vanish out of sight. Without the shimerith, there was no choice for her. She sighed and looked back at the urgent dark eyes of the man in front of her.

“I’ll come,” she said huskily, “I’ll come with you, Sem.”

She gazed after Pip and dashed a tear from her eye. Beside her, strong and capable, stood the youngest son of the fabled Noesh. If anyone could help her escape Altor and make her way to Aresisia safely, it would be him.

They both searched the sky, willing the shimerith to return. A faint noise reached their ears. A stirring, rushing sound that was faint but quickly grew louder. It took Sambeth right back to the clearing where she shivered in terror, hidden under a prickly bush, as Altor took the Sacrifice belonging to his father. The hair on her arms rose.

“Oh no,” Sambeth whispered. 

She drew back, edging her back into the foliage and crouched low until ferns nodded over her head and she was completely concealed. Beside her, Sem did the same, holding Agnor close. They kept utterly still, watching. Overhead, something rushed by, outlined by a faint glow. It was moving fast and in the direction of the vanished shimerith. Proximus, the Fallen One, searching for them. Strong fingers wrapped around her hand and held it tight until the Fallen One was gone. She glanced at Sem. Without another word they slipped back into the dark tangle of the Endless Forest.

͠

Hello dear Reader,

Thank you for reading this book!  I loved writing about this girl and plunging through the forest by her side.  After the difficulty of losing her mother and finding shelter with people who abhor Earthborns, she still has no option but to flee with Sem to try and rejoin them. In the next part of the story, Sem is unable to hold off an enemy and Sambeth is taken by them. She experiences rough Qtreatment in the hands of the Panther People and their Kandace and is marked for death.  

Fear of the Earthborn

In the talons of the panther…
Journeying through the Endless Forest with Sem and the faithful Agnor, Sambeth is desperate to reach the city of Aresisia where Sem’s people are. They will know if her friend, Rija, survived the Earthborn attack on the hidden fortress. 

Panthers lurk in the forest as well as a people who worship the Panther spirit. They believe Sambeth is chosen by the Panther and seek her life. Suffering in their hands, Sambeth must think quickly or she will end up as a sacrifice to their god and never reach her destination.
https://www.amazon.com/Fear-Earthborn-panther-Sambeth-Primordial-ebook/dp/B091YRKXTG

 Reviews – sharing your reading experience by posting a review on Amazon or Goodreads would be a massive assistance in getting Sambeth’s story out into the wide world and I’d be forever grateful ;).
 

Kind regards – Emma.

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RISE of the EARTHBORN (Chapter Twenty-Six)

A People With No Home

He led his people through the wilderness.

Psalm 136:16

The secret exit came out miles from Tetrahin.  Once outside the tunnel, Noesh paused and surveyed the strained group around him.  

There are too many of us, he thought despairingly. The mothers with young children worried him the most. They would find any journey, whether it be to Aresisia or Arca, taxing, frightening and dangerous.

One approached him, her young face pale under its already pale skin. A baby peeped over her shoulder through the thick mane of red hair. Three others clustered around her legs, gripping folds in her loose clothing. He recognised her as the recently widowed Setta. 

“Where are we going, Noesh?” her quiet voice was determined. 

He tried to look calm and confident. His face was kind as he spoke.

“We must go far away, Setta.” 

“Why, lord? Why so suddenly and quickly? I’ve no food or clothing for the children,” she gazed around the forest nervously, “what will we do out here?”

T’ajar stepped closer to Setta, putting a hand on her shoulder. Noesh cleared his throat.

“We’re heading for the Tabun’s Cave. We must go as fast as we can. No telling how close the intruders are on our tails.” 

His brows snapped together in a sudden frown alarming the young woman waiting for assurance in front of him. T’ajar, in a quiet aside, urged Setta to keep near them for help with her children.

The frown remained, heavy on his brow. The betrayal of Tetrahin was a terrible blow. The lives of so many innocents now rested in his hands.  He ground his teeth thinking of his nephew. Ah yes, Amis that son of a difficult and abrasive woman. He wondered how sweet T’ajar could have such a horrible tartar for a sister but why had she betrayed them all?

Jaffith and Ajalon appeared in front of him.

“Father.” 

Both were breathing hard. 

Noesh pushed his heavy thoughts from him and lifted his eyebrows enquiringly. 

The two exchanged a brief glance, the one so tall and fair, the other dark and lithe. 

“Rija didn’t come back,” Ajalon said quietly. 

“Something prevented her from returning,” Jaffith corrected his brother, looking at his father anxiously. 

Noesh stared at them unspeaking, a stricken look around his eyes. Jaffith reached out a concerned hand and gripped his shoulder.

“Father,” he said tentatively, “are you alright?”

Noesh’s mouth worked, he cleared his throat and whispered hoarsely, “Get me Jared.”

Jaffith kept his hand on his father’s shoulder but Ajalon turned and ran. Noesh’s thoughts were spinning. The girl had gone back to her chamber to collect her things. Why hadn’t she returned. Had the enemy already been within the walls of Tetrahin?

Ajalon returned, Jared close behind. Noesh took a ragged breath and looked at the worried face of his loyal, reliable Jared.

“Jared…” his voice was still hoarse. 

The man nodded respectfully. 

“We’ve lost another…” Noesh’s voice trailed off. 

He couldn’t bring himself to say it. His beloved, vivid son Sem, that vulnerable, very young girl, Sambeth and now it seemed that he, Noesh, had also lost a princess.

He closed his eyes, a wave of despair washing over him. He felt the pressure of Jaffith’s broad, long-fingered hand on his shoulder. He reached up and grabbed it, giving a grateful squeeze in return.

Jared confirmed his worst fears. In their well-trained efficiency, the men of his household guard had sealed all doors in order to slow down the enemy. They had believed all persons to be gathered with Noesh and the people. Jared was appalled and shaken when he realised what had happened. He had trapped a young woman inside Tetrahin. She was alone to face the enemy.

“Father,” Jaffith spoke quietly, his voice coming from above Noesh’s head, “can we send someone back?” 

Noesh knew who Jaffith had in mind and shook his head.

“I’m sorry, son, we can’t–“

“But, Rija?” Jaffith’s voice cracked over her name. 

Noesh gripped Jaffith’s arms, his faces inches away from that of his tall son. The heaviness of grief drew deep lines on his face.

“If there were any way,” Noesh rasped, “but there are many here that need your leadership.”

Jaffith lifted his eyes toward Tetrahin.

“So, that poor girl will be taken by that wicked aberration after all?”

His throat worked and he dashed a quick hand across his eyes.

“Maybe,” Noesh laid a hand on Jaffith’s arm, something stirring in his soul, “but have faith. I’m sure she was brought to us for a reason. She may evade Altor yet.”

Jaffith dragged his eyes from the distant rocky outcrop that marked Tetrahin’s location and fastened on his father’s face.

“Do you really believe that, father?” 

Noesh met his gaze squarely, “I don’t know it but something tells me I’m right.”

Jaffith finally nodded. He became aware that the people were milling around them, uncertainty and fear written all over their faces. 

“The people need you,” he said to Noesh.

After a minute the old man’s eyes cleared and he looked up at his son, determination returning.  He nodded to both his sons and set about putting courage into the hearts of the people.

Jaffith and Ajalon had already pulled off a marvellous feat by rounding up every person – young, old and mischievous. They had organised what supplies and weapons they could in the few moments before leaving. Then they had rallied and chivvied frightened and reluctant clans people up the dark and dusty, unused tunnel leading out from underneath Tetrahin, far, far out into the frightening, Endless Forest.

Now Noesh put them in charge of two groups. Ajalon and a handful of the men would guide the group of mothers and children, the women and supplies to Tabun’s Cave. Ajalon was imposing and tolerated no nonsense, handy for keeping children in line. 

Jaffith and the other men would shepherd the old men and women and equipment. Jaffith was steady and kind.

Reluctantly, Noesh put T’ajar into her middle son’s care.

“Stay with Ajalon, my dear. He will need your assistance with the women and children.” 

She nodded calmly, “And you?” 

“I will go ahead with my men and see if the path is clear.” 

She reached forward and hugged him hard. She knew he took the most dangerous task. For all that he was of great age, Noesh was as fit and hardy as any man. His eyesight was still keen and his hearing undimmed. She smiled at him with pride.

“Go, my love,” she said, “and we shall meet you there.” 

He straightened under the obvious warmth and confidence in her eyes.

A loud explosion split the air. Every eye turned in stunned alarm. Far behind them, where their home lay hidden, a plume of thick, dark smoke climbed steeply up into the air.

“Ajalon!” Noesh called. 

He was at his side in a moment. 

“What do you think?” 

Noesh watched the keen, intelligent face turned toward the billowing column. Ajalon stared for a moment.

“Something has torn up Tetrahin, or someone. I had heard rumours in Arca, that the army had the power to cause a building to disintegrate in a cloud of dust.”

“Mmmm,” his father responded absently and Ajalon waited. 

“I’d say it is the Fallen One,” Noesh said at last.

He spun around, then paused and turned back to his son.

“He won’t find all of Tetrahin, son, her tunnels run deep. Our most precious secrets will remain hidden,” a bitter smile curled his lips, “and they don’t have the power to destroy entire buildings…yet.” 

His gaze was enigmatic, enough to make Ajalon pause and realise that the depths of his father’s intelligence eclipsed his own.

Noesh became aware of weeping sounds all around him. With a start he realised that the women were crying for their home. Sorrow tinged his heart again.

“Father,” Ajalon’s voice was terse, his hand gripped his father’s arm. He nodded toward the trees and pointed, “someone approaches.”

Noesh swung about, squinting. An exclamation burst from his lips.

“It’s Reuben and Resus!” 

Two mounted figures emerged from the forest, leading a horse behind them. It’s saddle was empty.

“But no Amis.” 

The men swung from the saddle and surged forward to Noesh.

“My lord,” they bowed, “did young Amis find you?” 

Noesh shook his head, mystified.

Reuben was grave, “He entered Tetrahin by a secret way. He said you showed it to him.” 

He looked at Noesh for affirmation and the old man nodded again.

“When?” 

“We saw the battle. Many wild creatures emerged from the forest and almost wiped Altor out. We saw Sem and Sambeth flying.” 

Reuben swallowed, the memory of that vision too difficult to retell.

“On a shimerith?” Ajalon leaned forward, his tone anxious. 

Reuben looked from Ajalon to Noesh straitly.

“They were on a flying beast, my lord. They were fine until the Fallen One attacked them.” 

Noesh swayed. He stood, tense and pale, supported by Ajalon as Reuben told of the great feats he witnessed in the sky.

Reuben looked at Resus, who nodded. Reuben turned his head and resolutely fastened his eyes on Noesh.

“There is still more, lord, and it sounds impossible.”

“Go on,” Noesh ordered.

“We saw Altor and his war band heading straight for Tetrahin. We were helpless to do anything to stop them. Then we felt a ripple, a something I cannot describe, like a wash of air passing through the forest and over us and that’s when they appeared on all sides, out of nowhere.”

“Who?” Noesh was hoarse.

“The animals, lord. All manner of beasts, great and small. They threw themselves upon Altor’s men until it seemed the Earthborn would be torn to pieces. Just as suddenly, the animals froze and melted back into the forest.”

Reuben looked down and kicked a tuft of grass. His eyes flickered away from Noesh and colour surged in his cheeks.

Noesh put his hand to his chest and closed his eyes. 

“Thank the Other. He bought us time,” he breathed out a long, shaky gust of air. 

“You believe us, lord?” Reuben’s mouth hung open but he looked relieved.

Noesh gave a short nod, his mind already racing ahead to other things, “What about Proximus?”

Reuben shook his head, “I don’t know. He was wounded by Sem and suffered the flame of the shimerith but he was whole. One moment he hung in the sky, the next he was gone.”

“Ehyeh preserve us,” Noesh whispered, “Proximus will be hot after us. We must move!”

Reuben nodded and saluted before he raced away to help Jaffith.

“Amis must have entered Tetrahin and met Rija,” Ajalon spoke in his father’s ear. 

“Unless they were both captured,” Noesh replied, his eye dropping on Jaffith talking to his mother.

“Say nothing, father, until we know for sure,” Ajalon’s dark face was serious and Noesh found himself agreeing. 

“We must take the people to Aresisia and pray Sem finds us along the way.”

It was Ajalon’s turn to look thoughtful, “And if he shows up with that Earthborn girl, what will you do?”

“I will beg her forgiveness for our treatment of her and inquire of the Other what His plans are for her.”

Ajalon frowned but he took a deep breath and gazed at his father with sincerity in his eyes, “Very well, father. This time I will listen to you.”

To Chapter Twenty-Five
To Chapter Twenty-Seven

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RISE of the EARTHBORN (Chapter Twenty-Five)

Far Away From Here

Take your journey into the wilderness

Deuteronomy 8:40

“Which way is Aresisia?” Sambeth called over her shoulder. 

The sun was rising higher in the sky now. The air was dense and rich. The light shone pinkish across the sky. Sem glanced at the sun and twisted back to look at the direction of Tetrahin, falling further and further behind them. 

“Look!” Sambeth cried. 

Sem followed the direction of her arm and spotted a familiar greyish-brindle shape slipping through the trees and out into an open stretch. 

“Agnor!” 

Sambeth flinched at the loud bellow blasting next to her ear but she saw the dog start and look around. 

“Can we–?” Sem began.

“Yes,” she answered. 

Without prompting, Pip slowed drastically and slipped down low to skim slowly across the ground. Sem called out again to the giant hound. Agnor saw his beloved master and stopped, peering uncertainly but he trusted Sem and held his ground.

As the shimerith passed Sem called, “Now Agnor.” 

The dog raced and sprang as Sem leaned far over. He hooked an arm around the dog’s neck and drew his head up on his lap at the same time he swung Agnor’s body behind him. There he was, in one neat move, sitting behind Sem with his head still tucked under his master’s arm.

The shimerith climbed steeply, levelling off as he surpassed the tree tops. Sambeth was concentrating on keeping a tight grip.

“Did you get him?” she called back.

She heard Sem say yes but she couldn’t quite believe it until she looked around and saw for herself. 

There that dog lay, leaning in tightly, curving around his master’s back, head poking through the crook of his arm. Her eyes met Sem’s, eyebrows raised. 

“How did you do that?”  

“He often leaps up behind me on the horse,” Sem explained, “he’s done it ever since he was a young pup and got tired on the hunt. We can even gallop like this.”  

She turned back around and leaned over Pip’s shoulder, laying along the long neck, “Fly, Pip. Fly. Take us far from here. Proximus is out there somewhere and he’ll be back.”

To Chapter Twenty-Four
To Chapter Twenty-Six

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RISE of the EARTHBORN (Chapter Twenty-Four)

Rija & Amis

The day of their calamity is at hand.

Deuteronomy 32:35

Rija watched Noesh giving his orders with calm efficiency. 

I wonder what he is going to do about Sem. 

Looking at him, so smoothly organising the evacuation of an entire people, she could believe his missing son was the furthest thing from his mind. He turned his face and his deep set eyes caught hers. For a second, she saw it, raw emotion held back by an iron will. His mouth hardened and once more he was the superb leader, saving them all.  

‘Please let Sem have found her,‘ she prayed silently. 

Sambeth was out there, alone in the forest, unless Sem had caught up with her and who knew if he had or not?

‘I will not leave,’ she told herself but simultaneously she acknowledged that it was a stupid and reckless idea.  

The Noeshiri were leaving, Altor would probably find Tetrahin and if she remained she would be captured.  She wondered if she should allow herself to be captured so these people could get away safely.  An image of Altor, tearing those innocent girls to pieces, rose before her. No! She could not become the woman of a monster like him.

“I’ll quickly fetch some items from my chamber,” she called to T’ajar. 

The woman nodded distractedly and turned to leave, Noesh by her side. 

A hand fell on her arm. It was Jaffith.

“Rija, be quick, don’t delay,” he said, his breath warm and sweet on her face. 

She stared back into his concerned eyes, conflicted by the urge to go with him and the need to stay at Tetrahin for Sambeth.

“Okay,” she agreed, “I’ll hurry.”

She would leave with the people but she would look for a way to find Sambeth, she swore silently.

Ajalon stood by the open doorway.

“Don’t be long, Princess,” he mocked, “Noesh has ordered us all to leave and I’m to throw you over my shoulder if you refuse.” 

Rija gave him a flat, disdainful look and slid out the door.

She hurried down the deserted corridors.  She must change her clothes, pack a bag and get her knife. The chamber felt eerily empty. A quick search told her what she already suspected, Sambeth had put all her survival gear in the pack that Rija glimpsed under her chair. 

She had planned to go Outside. Rija swallowed, feeling the sting of tears at the back of her eyes. Had Sambeth planned a solitary walk or had she planned to leave without her?

Rija shook her head.

‘Get a hold of yourself,’ she told herself sternly, ‘and have a little faith in your friend.’ 

In moments she was dressed in forest gear and had everything she needed stowed in her own pack.

“Come on, Rija. Hurry,” she whispered and flung out of the chamber letting the heavy door fall shut by itself. 

From the shadows, a dark figure stepped out and stood in front of her. She let out a small exclamation of fright, straining to see the face looming above her. He bent down a little.

“It’s me, Rija,”  Amis said quietly.

“Amis!” she exclaimed, “How did you get into Tetrahin – without the war band seeing you?” 

A sudden hope rose. If Amis slipped in past them, maybe Sambeth could too.

“There is a way into Tetrahin that not many know about.”

“We got your message, Amis,” she searched his face carefully, “and everyone is leaving, “Quick, we must get back to the others.”

“Yes,” he said urgently, “I need to tell Noesh something very important.” 

A quiet feeling of alarm tickled at the back of her mind. She studied him consideringly. She didn’t know if he had betrayed Tetrahin or if he was, as he claimed in his message, innocent.

“What is it?” she asked.

Her stomach tightened in a coil of alarm. A dark thread of suspicion rose in her mind.

His face set as he recognised her train of thoughts and darkened in anger. It would always be like this. The poison dropped by his mother would remain, clouding his reputation and standing amongst the Noeshiri.

“Rija, I saw the war band. It’s close and I also saw Sem and Sambeth.” 

He bent down closer so that Rija could see his eyes. They were earnest.

“They were riding the shimerith.”

He ran a hand through his hair distractedly, a move like that of Sem. She remembered they were close, like brothers.

She gasped as the full import of his words hit her.

“You mean they were together?” 

He nodded.

Rija’s heart pounded. Sambeth was alive and she wasn’t alone. If Sem was with her then most likely she hadn’t intended to leave Tetrahin for good. Rija was filled with renewed determination.  There was something about Sambeth. She had a superstitious feeling that as long as she stayed with her the Earthborn Altor would always be defeated. 

Amis was speaking, “The shimerith flew off with them in the wrong direction, not the way to Aresisia. I must speak to Noesh, to tell him this and work out a plan to catch up with them.”

“You mean Sambeth’s shimerith was flying in the wrong direction?” she said slowly. He nodded and she continued, “but perhaps they simply veered back around, corrected course and will meet us at the Cave.”

Amis began to turn away, shaking his head.

“That’s not an assumption I’m prepared to take. That shimerith could have taken them anywhere. I have to try and find him.”

She believed him. She watched as his strides lengthened and realised she was still rooted to the spot. She hurried after him.

“How will you find them?” she called.  

“I’ll find a way,” he said over his shoulder.

Weaving through the corridors, she had to half run to keep up with his swift pace. They were almost back to the others when they reached a closed door.  Amis pulled up sharp and tugged at the handle. Puffing slightly she stepped up beside him, wondering why he had stopped. He rattled the door handle again, twisting it roughly. An exclamation in frustration slammed balled up fists against the heavy wood. Her mouth dropped open as she saw the evidence with her own eyes.

The door was not going to open.  Jared and his men had already sealed it fast.   She and Amis were trapped on the wrong side.  

“No!” Amis shouted, “This can’t be happening.” 

He kicked the door savagely and tugged at the knob again. 

“Ugggghhh!” he kicked the door again.

Leaning his back against it he drove both hands into his hair and slid to a sitting position on the ground. His breath rasped deep in his throat. Tight-lipped, he remained still, deep in thought.

“Well, we are totally stuffed now,” he said finally and climbed to his feet.

“They didn’t wait for me,” she said in disbelief, “Jaffith himself told me to hurry back before Jared sealed the doors.”

“Then he’s going to be extremely upset,” Amis grinned, casting her a knowing glance. “I’d hate to be Commander Jared when Jaffith realises.”

Rija coloured and a pain in her chest settled and refused to shift. A surge of panic knifed through her.

“What will we do now?” she said, a picture of Altor’s beautiful, cruel face appearing in her mind’s eye. 

He was close now. He would find Tetrahin and then he would find her. Her breathing became ragged and she dropped into a defensive crouch unknowingly.

“Hey!” Amis whispered softly, “We’ll try the way I came in.” 

Rija remained still, so he stepped forward and shook her arm lightly.

“Come on, Rija! This way.” 

Slowly she straightened up. Amis gestured for her to follow him.

“Let’s go,” he said briskly, “I’ve got to keep you safe. I don’t want to face an angry Jaffith either.” 

His attempt at humour fell flat.

“Amis,” she said quietly and he stopped, “will we be able to rejoin the others?” 

He looked down at her sombrely, a crease between his brows. She noticed his jaw clenching and unclenching. 

“Will we?” she persisted.

He shook his head. 

“The others are heading down a tunnel leading to a cave many miles away.  Our way out is going to put us on the other side of Tetrahin, with that army in between us and the way to the cave.”

“So, we’ll either get caught or lead the war band right to the people?”

He nodded. 

“Well, we are stuffed then,” she said with uncharacteristic coarseness. 

She sucked in a deep breath and brushed the hair back from her face in a quick gesture.

“What’s the plan, then?”

Amis tapped his fingers absently against his thigh and made a quick decision.

“We’ll travel through the forest, the long way around. It will take us longer to reach Tabun’s Cave but it may also take us across Sem and Sambeth’s path.”

A thunderous explosion sounded. It shook the air around them.  

“Looks like the enemy has found the front door,” he said, “let’s go.” 

He set off at a run. Rija followed him through low doorways and around narrow passages. Finally, he stopped in front of a floor to ceiling cupboard set back in the rock of the wall.

To Rija’s surprise, he pulled the cupboard door open. It was deep and it was empty.

“In here.” 

Gingerly, she followed him inside. The cupboard was a big one. She and Amis fit comfortably.

He leaned past her and shut the door. The blackness was complete.  A small light flickered and Amis set a flame at the top of a small torch. At the back of the cupboard, he poked one long finger into a jagged knot in the wood and pressed. Rija heard a click and the wooden panel swung ajar. In front of Amis, a black tunnel yawned. 

He took her arm and pulled her through. 

“Here, hold this,” he thrust the torch into her hand and pushed the wooden panel shut. 

He dropped a heavy bar across the door and then another.  Even if the back of the cupboard were tapped, no telltale echo would alert the invaders to the presence of a secret tunnel. 

“I can’t believe Noesh doesn’t know about this,” she said faintly.

“He does,” he replied and swooped the torch deftly out of her hand. 

He paused and shot her a significant glance.

“How do you think I know about it?”  

“Do Sem and the others know?”

“Only me.”

Without another word, he set off down the sloping tunnel leaving Rija to mull over a multitude of questions.  Why had Noesh showed him this tunnel and not his own sons?  

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. 

That Noesh, he was an enigma.

“Plans within plans,” she said aloud. 

Amis was too far ahead of her to hear.  Looking at his shadowy back, Rija couldn’t believe that again, she was walking into the dangers of the Forest with a virtual stranger. And Amis was either the saviour of the Noeshiri or a traitor to them all.

To Chapter Twenty-Three
To Chapter Twenty-Five

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RISE of the EARTHBORN (Chapter Twenty-Three)

Altor

…they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living (the Nephilim).

Ezekiel 32:27

Altor strode over the bloodstained field. A deathly hush hung over the broken and battered bodies strewn about. 

‘Cark…cark..caaaaark…’a solitary crow hopped nearby. 

Altor snarled at it, daring it to come closer. The crow hopped closer again. It cocked its jet black head to one side and fastened a shrewd, milky eye on Altor. 

I’m not afraid of you, it seemed to say. 

Altor’s expression changed. A frisson, like a chill, started at the nape of his neck, tingling down his spine. He did not recognise the sensation at first then it dawned on him. It was fear.

The animals had come, stealing through the forest on padded paws, others swung through the trees with fierce intent. The brush of heavy bodies made the wild jungle whisper and sigh. The birds cried in alarm and then in fury. The roar of lions and bears swelled, the scream of the mighty boar-like Atedin joined in and the ground shook with thunder of their feet. Without hesitation the animals threw themselves upon Altor and his men.

Altor’s army defended themselves with everything they had but no weapon or shield could withstand the forest creatures, maddened with an unearthly rage.

That crow knew, and so did Altor, that the attack of forest animals, great and small, had not been defeated on this battlefield. At the crescendo of the fight, every animal paused and lifted their heads high, listening. An unearthly voice, felt rather than heard, called them and in a moment all were gone, slipping away into the thick, fastness of the forest.

A handful of men were left standing, bewildered at the sudden disappearance of their foe and the strange quiet had fallen. Now only the crow stared out of his bold, beady eyes and Altor was discomfited.

“Aaargghhh!” 

A shout tore from his throat and he shook his massive head, sending the waving hair dancing over his shoulders. He lifted a fist and thrust it high in the air, staring up into the sky.

“You will not win!” 

The echoes screamed back at him, amplifying his voice as if mocking him. 

From all directions across the gruesome field a remnant of men streamed toward the towering Earth-Born. He was at his finest, gathering them in with a nod, a handshake, an acknowledging grunt. A gleam of pleasure lit his face when Ittai led his muscled horse to him and wordlessly handed him the reins. The magnificent black animal was miraculously unharmed.

“Follow me,” Altor was short and sharp, “we will go forward to find the fortress.” 

There was some protest but Altor would not have it. 

“We did not come thus far to turn back now. We have spilled our blood on the battlefield and lost our friends and brothers. To turn now dishonours both them and us.”

Ittai gazed at the bloodied, dirt stained faces around him. No one dared to nay say Altor, even now. They all knew that something other worldly had happened and had no clue what it was. Fear stalked every survivor. They were afraid of what lurked in the deep forest and afraid of Altor too.  Ittai felt pity for them. As second under Altor, he felt responsible for them and since most of this small band of survivors were of his own tough, hardy tribesmen, that feeling doubled.

Silently they all followed Altor up the rise and over. Curiously, it seemed as if a trail had been deliberately left for them. The trackers found the entrance easily although, without the deliberate trail, Ittai was doubtful if they could have uncovered the Fortress. It was cunningly embedded in the rocky hillside.

They stole along empty, echoing passages, investigating every room and corner, until they reached the heart of the fortress. Looking into a room, Altor came to a dead halt. Ittai saw the muscles in his back and shoulders bunch and stand out. Altor bounded into a stately room and yelped. It was a strange sound and brought Ittai to a wrenching halt.

There, lounging comfortably before a fireplace sat the arresting figure of Proximus. To say Altor was astonished was truly an understatement. He stared at his father and it was moments before he could speak. The pungent scent of burnt feathers filled the air.

“F…father.” 

He faltered, the passion and excitement coursing through his entire body along with the sudden shock caused him to stutter. 

“Altor,” Proximus said languidly, merely flicking a short glance at his son from the corners of his eyes. 

He returned to staring at a portrait on the wall, ignoring his third-born son. 

“I see you understood the trail I left for you and had the wits to follow it.”

“Father! How did you come here? Are you hurt? Where is she? Do you have her?” 

Altor plunged forward. He flung himself on one knee at his father’s side, gripping his hand and bringing to his lips. Proximus left it there a moment then deliberately disengaged. 

“Tsch, Altor,” he murmured. 

Curiously, the small sound brought colour surging to the smooth, arrogant cheek of the son. Altor leapt to his feet and stood straight, hands behind him. A short silence stretched between the father and son. 

“Father, I lost sight of you when the shimerith attacked. How did you come here? Were the rebels in situ when you arrived? Do you have her? 

Ittai hovering in the doorway signalled to his men to gather and wait. Who knew what poisonous and deadly men Proximus had posted throughout the rebel fortress.

Proximus sighed and turned his eyes upon Altor. 

“No, my son. They had made their escape before I penetrated the outer entrance to this fortress.”

“But how, Father, did you know where to find it?”

“A very useful spy,” Proximus drawled, “hell hath no fury like a vengeful, ambitious woman.” 

He laughed quietly and the sound echoed eerily.

“Father, what is this place?” Altor asked. 

Proximus looked briefly around the room and back at the portrait on the wall, tapping one hand on his thigh. He sighed and looked at his son.

“It belongs to someone I have wanted to find for a long time,” he pointed to the finely painted picture on the wall. 

A trick of the eyes made it seem that they followed the viewer around the room.

“Noesh,” he finished. 

Ittai, waiting at the door, gasped in shock. The name Noesh was familiar to him. It seemed that Altor had kept pertinent information from him. A cold feeling gripped the pit of his stomach and he was profoundly relieved that they had found no one at Tetrahin. 

Proximus swung around at the slight gasp and stared at Ittai, still standing guard at the door. With a wave of his hand he made it clear that Ittai was dismissed. Nodding, Ittai withdrew and started to pull the massive door shut. Altor’s men were to protect him but not from his father and they were never permitted to listen to the Fallen One’s plans.

Ittai hoped the Fallen One would give up and return to Arca. He shivered. If not, Noesh was in terrible danger and he, Ittai, would be caught up in the middle between a master he hated and a friend he would be ordered to kill. 

As the door settled into place he heard Proximus speak.

“I must leave you to chase after your beauty, Altor. To find Noesh, I must find the other girl. She will try to rejoin him. The sky trail of the shimerith is still fresh.”

To Chapter Twenty-Two
To Chapter Twenty-Four

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RISE of the EARTHBORN (Chapter Twenty-Two)

The Enemy Comes

At the noise of the tumult the people shall flee.

Isaiah 33:3

T’ajar met Noesh at the door of the dining hall. 

“Thank goodness you’ve come!” she rushed unto his arms. 

She looked so stressed that he paused. Gripping her upper arms, he held her away searching her face.

“Sem told me about Sambeth’s dream and Ajalon’s gracious reception of it.”

She flipped her hand to the dining room behind her.

“It did sound overly dramatic,” she confessed, “I couldn’t help but agree with Ajalon.”

She was thrown when her husband failed to echo her sentiment. Dropping her arms, Noesh strode into the room, tension and displeasure radiating from him.

“Where is she?” he demanded, looking around at each startled face turned up to his. 

Rija and Jaffith looked as though they were doing their best to ignore the tense atmosphere. Ajalon had returned. He leaned back insouciantly in his chair, a half eaten stick of bread held in one hand.

He looked startled when Noesh stood in front of him, bristling.  He cleared his throat.

“Er…she left.” 

Noesh bent a stern eye on his middle son and let the silence draw out. Ajalon’s colour changed and he shifted uncomfortably under that piercing gaze.

“She left?” Noesh looked truly horrified. 

Nobody said a word. He glanced back down at Ajalon, who had at least shown enough grace to straighten in his seat.  

“You’ve certainly outdone yourself today, Ajalon,” he snapped, “go and find her. Bring her here. I want to hear – no, I need to hear everything she said.” 

All the assembled faces; Jaffith, Rija, Ajalon and T’ajar, looked stunned. Nobody stirred. 

“Move!” Noesh bellowed.  

Ajalon rose from his chair slowly, an odd look forming on his face. “Father, I–“

His father threw up a hand, cutting off Ajalon’s words.

“You went too far today,” he said with uncharacteristic coldness. 

Ajalon dropped his eyes, “I just–“

Noesh cut him off again.

“You’ve made it your business to be as obnoxious as possible to that girl ever since she arrived here.” 

Now they were all staring at Noesh open mouthed.

“…and I hope you haven’t endangered us all by not listening to her this morning.”

Ajalon held his father’s gaze steadily as he spoke. When he paused, Ajalon swung out of the room.

“I’ll go find her,” he said in a clipped voice.

Noesh gritted his teeth, the muscles in the jaw clenching as he watched his son leave the room. He swung around to Rija, Jaffith and T’ajar.

“Where is Sem?” he said, a sudden dread gripping him.

T’ajar and Jaffith exchanged puzzled glances.

“I thought he went to find you,” Jaffith said quietly and his mother nodded. 

“He did,” Noesh said, “I was finishing up something and he left. I thought he was coming back here.”

“Perhaps he saw Sambeth and is with her,” Rija said innocently, “she was pretty upset when she left.”

The expression of dismay on Noesh’s face was mirrored on T’ajar’s. Rija puzzled over it for a minute, then her eyes fell on Jaffith’s face. He was looking at his parents, a knowing expression on his face.

“I’ll go and find him,” he said, getting up off his chair with the easy, muscular grace of a panther. He gave them a slanting smile as he passed.

The minutes lengthened uncomfortably until a full half an hour passed.

 “Maybe I should return to our chamber. Perhaps Sambeth is there,” Rija suggested tentatively. 

She was seated, listening but not participating in the sporadic, stiff conversations between the pent-up husband and his puzzled wife. Noesh drummed his fingers on the table and from time to time rose to pace the room.

His brows twitched together when she spoke.

“No. Please stay,” he said, “they will return any moment and I think you should be here.” 

She nodded without saying anything else.

Into the silence came the sound of many feet approaching. Noesh and T’ajar rose to their feet and Rija found herself doing likewise. To their surprise it was Jared, Noesh’s steward, and several of his men. Jared ordered the men to wait in the corridor and stepped inside. Noesh, T’ajar and Rija were held riveted by his ashen face.

“My Lord Noesh,” he began in an unsteady voice. He paused as first Jaffith and a heartbeat later, Ajalon pushed through the door back into the room. 

“What is it?” Noesh demanded looking at Jared keenly. 

The man simply held out a tiny scroll, no bigger than his finger, “This just arrived by pigeon. You must read it immediately.”

Noesh took it from his fingers. He exclaimed as he spent a minute reading first one side of the missive and then the other. His eyes rested momentarily on T’ajar’s face. He turned back to the others.

“It is from Amis,” he said, breathing through pinched white nostrils, “they’ve betrayed us after all.”  

“What? Who?” Ajalon cried. 

He leaped forward and snatched the note from Noesh’s slackened grip. Jaffith leaned over his shoulder reading.

 “I can’t believe our aunt could be so wicked,” Jaffith said. 

“What is going on?” T’ajar demanded. 

Her husband put his arm around her shoulders.

“This note is from Amis. It seems that Rian, Norea’s henchman, has been talking to some important people in Arca.” 

T’ajar quivered but he went on.

“Altor knows the location of Tetrahin. He is coming.” 

His eyes fell on Rija sitting frozen, dark hair spilling across the front of her chest and fear leaping from her white face. Pity stirred in his breast. 

“He’s coming to get Rija.” 

Rija remained still, staring blindly but T’ajar trembled all over. Only the strong arm of her husband kept her from falling.

“How did she know?” she burst out, “How did Sambeth know?” 

Her voice dropped dramatically.

“Noesh, she came to the table speaking of warning dreams and other dangers. She said we all must leave Tetrahin.” 

T’ajar’s eyes filled with tears, “We didn’t listen to her!  And Ajalon was so unkind.”

She rounded on Ajalon and Jaffith.

“Did you find her? Did you find Sem?” 

Jaffith shook his head.

“That’s why I took so long,” he said seriously, “I looked everywhere I could think of but found no sign of  him.”

Ajalon remained quiet. Every eye focused on him. He shifted uncomfortably unwilling to meet anyone’s gaze.

“Well?” Noesh said quietly.

“Sambeth is not here,” he said.

“What do you mean, Ajalon?” 

His mother stepped forward putting a hand on his arm.

He looked down at her and answered a little roughly.

“She went Outside, mother. She went into the forest. Bethe saw her leaving and then Sem went after her.”  

Noesh turned grey and T’ajar’s face was filled with fear.

“You mean you drove her out there,” it was Rija. She faced Ajalon, in a tumult of fury, “You hard-hearted monster!” 

She stopped abruptly and turned away, a sudden thought stopping the hot words bubbling in her throat.  She glanced at Sambeth’s chair seeing in her mind’s eye Sambeth casually placing  her forest pack under it. Rija’s throat hurt as she swallowed. Sambeth had planned to leave.

“I didn’t mean for her to go off out there alone,” Ajalon spoke, a touch of defiance colouring his voice.

“I guess that’s exactly what you did,” she began untruthfully but pulled herself up.

T’ajar gasped, “They’re out there in the forest with our enemy approaching Tetrahin!” 

She turned to Noesh and hid her face against his shoulder.

“How can we warn them?” her voice was muffled and full of tears.

Noesh stared into the distance. A second warning. First from the Other then by Sambeth’s dream. A remarkable and curious girl, he thought. He castigated himself for not spending time with her.  

He had allowed his prejudice and fear to cloud his reason and block out the whispers of the Other.  He had known Sambeth’s coming was significant and a sign but she was a fugitive, hunted from Arca and almost certainly one of those cursed earthborn hybrids. His face was tight. Earthborns…they were dangerous, unpredictable creatures at best. His eyes fell on the faces of his sons, manly and attractive. He hadn’t wanted an abomination anywhere near them.

He became aware of T’ajar tugging at his sleeve and returned his gaze to her desperate face.

“What shall we do, my love?” she asked. 

“There is no question about it,” he said crisply, “our window of opportunity is here. We must leave at once.”  

T’ajar gasped, “Do you mean we must leave Tetrahin? Can we not defend it? What about your building materials…the boat–“

“No my dear,” he replied gently, “you see, I too, had troubled dreams last night and an urgent warning from the Other. Proximus is coming.”

She looked at him forlornly but only for a moment. Her shoulders squared and she took a deep breath.

“Is it the Aresisia plan then?” 

He looked at her steadily.

“It is.”

Jared spoke from beside Noesh’s elbow.

“We can be ready to leave in one hour, my lord.” 

“Begin sealing the inner doors,” Noesh ordered and Jared strode away instructing men as he went.

Noesh spoke again, “Any sign of Sem?”

 The response was negative. Noesh clenched his jaw, a muscle twitched in his cheek.  There was no time to send out a party to look for him and the girl. He could only hope that they wouldn’t be surprised by Altor or Proximus and that Sem would remember the plan to flee to Aresisia.     

Jaffith and Ajalon approached their father. Noesh noted that Ajalon was having trouble meeting his gaze. Jaffith reached him first and they embraced.

 “Sem will be okay, Father,” he said as he stepped back. 

Ajalon also embraced him with a murmured, “Father.”

“Sons, we have no time to lose,” Noesh said. 

In the back of his mind he pondered how to relieve Ajalon. That boy had always required special handling. He would be loaded up to the eyeballs with guilt over his rough treatment of Sambeth, yet he would be as bristly as a porcupine at any suggestion he did wrong. He would be out of sorts until the matter was thoroughly thrashed out. 

This time Noesh would indulge him.

“What are you going to do about Sem?” he demanded, staring searchingly at Ajalon. 

Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Rija was watching them. Her normally calm face was angry and set giving her face a stern beauty. 

Jaffith shot a quick glance sideways at Ajalon, “We will go out and do a quick search for them.”

Jaffith always said the best things that he could about his two younger brothers, Noesh thought warmly. Unlike Ajalon. 

The lines in Noesh’s brow deepened. Seeing it, Ajalon took a deep breath.

“It is all my fault, Father,” he said, “Sambeth came to the breakfast table talking about warning dreams and that we all must leave Tetrahin at once. Well, it all sounded like such a lot of nonsense to me that I…well..I grilled her about it pretty fiercely. Sem was really mad at me for doing it. I guess he saw her going Out and went after her.” 

A stricken look came into Ajalon’s dark eyes and he continued, “They haven’t returned. What if…what will we do if they don’t come back soon and we have to leave without them?  It will be my fault.”

Ahhh, Ajalon, Noesh thought, just when he seemed beyond reprieve he would display an unexpected caring. His thought was interrupted by Rija.

“I will wait for them.” Her voice was quiet but it contained a touch of whiplash in it. They all jumped at its intensity. 

“We will wait as long as we can,” Noesh assured her, “but they may not be able to get past the invaders.”  

“Sambeth saved my life. She tried to warn you all, to save your lives. The least you can do is give her a chance,” Rija replied.

Noesh’s man came running into the room. 

“My lord, you must leave now!” he cried. 

He turned and ushered through two men half lifting, half dragging another man between them. Noesh recognised his fastest runner panting and heaving in between them. 

“What news?” 

They lifted the spent runner closer to Noesh. He tried to speak. 

“Give him some water,” Noesh ordered. 

Ajalon was there before he finished speaking, holding a glass to the man’s lips. The man drank deep and, struggling free from his helpers, drew his hair back from his face with a trembling hand. At last he spoke in a hoarse whisper.

“My lord, a war band approaches not more than two leagues hence. They seem to know exactly where we are. We must hurry.”

“Right, let’s go,” Noesh barked. 

He swept his wife out of the room and toward the secret exit. A hand caught heavily on his arm. Half turning he saw that it was Ajalon. 

“What is it?” he said impatiently.

“It’s Rija, Father. She refuses to leave.”

“Then compel her,” Noesh answered shortly. 

Ajalon nodded and swung around, not before Noesh observed the look in his eye. He will enjoy the compelling part, he thought ruefully. Ajalon was always the practical joker, the tease who enjoyed the uproar when he stirred things a little too far.

“What of the traitor – what of Amis?” T’ajar asked, raw pain tinging her voice, as they walked briskly. 

Noesh was quiet for a moment.

“He warned us, T’ajar. I sent some of my men after him as soon as Queen Norea sent him off to Arca. It was obvious that Norea had changed her heart toward us but I thought maybe, just maybe Amis might be caught up in something and not be able to extricate himself.”

“You think of everything,” she said admiration in her voice, “did he betray us too?” 

He gave her a rueful look and shook his head.

“I don’t know.”

“But Amis knows our emergency plan,” he added, “let’s hope he didn’t pass that on to Norea or Altor.”

T’ajar flinched but her face remained inscrutable. 

“Does he know how to get to Tabun’s Cave and to Aresisia?” 

“He does,” Noesh replied briefly, “and he has Reuben, our best forester, with him.” 

Noesh didn’t say anymore than that. If Reuben had survived the disastrous trip to Arca, then Amis would be alright. Reuben was one of Noesh’s most capable, trusted men and between he and Amis, there wasn’t much to know about getting out of tight corners and surviving in the forest.

As the people of Tetrahin fled down the long, dark tunnel, Noesh’s thoughts turned again to Sem. He was somewhere out there, in danger from an Earthborn psychopath and from its unearthly father – far from any help from the family. He felt something nudge him in the back of his leg. 

Looking down, he met a pair of big, brown eyes gazing at him speakingly. It was Agnor, the brindle hound of  Sem’s. He was looking at Noesh as if he were trying to tell him something. 

“Come on, boy,” he said. 

He slapped the side of his thigh, encouraging Agnor to move along with them. He followed and a few steps later he thrust his nose into the back of Noesh’s knee again. 

It was quite a clunk from that long, broad snout and it brought Noesh to a sudden stop. 

“Ouch, Agnor! he exclaimed, “What is it?” 

Again the hound fixed a penetrating stare upon him, gazing deeply into his eyes. A quick picture of a fluttering pigeon crossed Noesh’s mind and one of himself extracting a note from its strapped on vial. An idea began to form in his brain. He let out a brief, “hah!” and gave Agnor’s head a pleased pat.

“Good idea, boy.”

Minutes later he spotted Jaffith and called him to his side. 

“Run ahead with Agnor to the nearest exit. Set him loose and give him the command, ‘Seek! Find Sem.'”

He showed Jaffith the vial strapped on Agnor’s broad leather collar. The vial sat snugly at his throat concealed amongst the thick fur.  Understanding dawned in Jaffith’s eyes but Noesh drew a finger across his lips.

“Shhh. I don’t want to give your mother any false hope.” 

Jaffith nodded and disappeared ahead, Agnor running at his heels.

Noesh watched them go.

“Ehyeh be with you, Agnor,” he muttered in his beard. 

He hoped he would see him again with Sem, at Tabun’s Cave or ahead in Aresisia.

To Chapter Twenty-One
To Chapter Twenty-Three

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RISE of the EARTHBORN (Chapter Twenty-One)

Shaken But Alive

I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

Job 19:20

For a long time Sambeth was too shocked to speak. 

“You escaped the Fallen One again,” Sem wrapped his arms tightly around her, “are you okay?”

“I think so.” 

She relived the moment when Proximus’s gaze drilled into her own, seeking and plumbing the depths of her soul. Was it her imagination, or did the cold angelic eyes search her face? Did he seek to find some resemblance to his own?

Her fingers were nerveless and her grip on Pip’s fur had loosened when the Fallen One tore her away. Guilt ripped through her. She hadn’t resisted him and Sem had made a foolish and dangerous leap to save her.

“I’m so sorry, Sem. I’m so, so sorry. I should have–“

“Stop,” he touched her lips briefly and his hand, warm with heat of human blood, blocked out the chill of the wind, “you couldn’t have done anything different, Sambeth.”

She nodded wordlessly and after a moment he loosened his grip but kept his arms firmly around her.

Pip was flying fast, the location of the fortress would be reached in moments. Her eyes searched the terrain.

“We get back into Tetrahin,” she called over her shoulder, “I’ve got to tell Rija. We must warn all of them.”

Sem was quiet, his brow knotted in a fierce frown. She was right but the enemy were too close. Sem placed a hand on her shoulder. It was heavy. Sambeth turned looking at him wide-eyed.

“We can’t,” he said simply. He saw the irises widen in the depth of those eyes as she searched his face.

“There’s no way we can get to Tetrahin safely now, Sambeth.” 

He was deep in thought, his face stricken and Sambeth panicked. 

“What do you mean?” she demanded, her voice high with alarm, “We’ve got to get to them before Altor gets there.”

“We can’t–” he began but she flung up a hand, silencing him with a gesture.

“We have to,” she insisted, a sob in her voice, “we can go by the secret entrance where you first brought Rija and me.” 

She had twisted right around, loosening her grip on Pip and clutching Sem’s sleeve. As Pip undulated and slipped through the air, only Sem’s grasp held her fast. He felt her panic and rising hysteria. 

“Sambeth, we can’t get in that way. The conflict is happening right at that very spot. The other entrances are too far away.” 

The light faded from her eyes. There was a look of disappointment in her gaze that bit deep. 

“I promised Rija we’d stick together. I can’t let Altor find her or the others. He will kill them all.” 

He looked her square in the eye.

“Don’t think I’ve abandoned them. I would never do that,” he said flatly, “you don’t know everything, Sambeth. We have contingency plans for a time such as this and I know them well.”

The sting in his voice caused colour to surge into her face. 

He ignored it and continued relentlessly.

“My father has Jaffith and Ajalon there. Those two will do everything in their power to help him get everyone out. They are most likely escaping down our most secret tunnel out of there.”

Sambeth shrank at the hard cutting edge in his voice and the angry glitter in his eyes.  She turned to face back the other way, her heart hammering. 

“But how will they know he’s coming?” 

Sem sighed heavily, “I’m sure that after your warning they would be on alert. ”  

Sambeth’s insides felt shrunken and heavy. Bereft. Gone was the amity they’d enjoyed before. She tightened her lips. That’s what you get for insulting someone’s loyalty to their family and their courage.  

She leaned forward.

“Keep flying, Pip!”

She felt the answering ripple that ran through his body. ‘Oh Rija,’ she thought desperately, I hope Altor doesn’t get you.’

Again Sem’s hand lifted to her shoulder. Half nervously she turned to meet his eyes. They were a shade rueful as he looked down at her.

“She will be alright, Sambeth,” his tone was serious, “we had an emergency plan in place if something like this should happen and you did warn them.  I didn’t tell you before but I spoke to my father before following you out of Tetrahin. He was much struck by your dreams.  I’m sure he acted upon them.”

“What do we do now?” 

“We have to go north to Aresisia. We have contacts in there. We must make every effort to meet my father and the people, either there or along the way.”

To Chapter Twenty
To Chapter Twenty-Two

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