Original Stories Fan Fiction / Realism Fan Fiction ❯ Aqua ❯ Betrayal ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter Ten

Betrayal

 

 

Sweat poured down Lackardel's face. He looked back over his shoulder to see if the rest of his team was still keeping up with him. To his dismay, Terald and Arisan were lagging a ways behind, only Jonathan seemed to be able to keep pace with him. He halted and waited for Terald and Arisan to catch up with him.

 

“Do you think we lost them, Captain?” Terald asked. He looked over his shoulder to see if they were still being tailed by the angry mob that had formed on the most recent planet that they had searched due to the fact that Jonathan had been a little overfriendly with a few of the natives thinking they had been female when they were, in fact, male. Needless to say, they were greeted with hostility from the rest of the inhabitants.

 

Lackardel eyed Jonathan angrily and muttered, “I should have just taken the other two and left him home.”

 

It was a known fact around the Royal Guard that Jonathan was an excellent strategist and fighter and extremely loyal, but too friendly with the opposite sex. It was even a game amongst the female guards to see how far they could string him along without actually promising anything. His male comrades found the game amusing and often placed bets on how far the woman would go with no promises or offers.

 

“What?! I told you it was an accident. How was I supposed to know that the girls were guys and the guys were girls?” Jonathan exclaimed under his commander's disdainful gaze. “You knew what I was when you picked me to go with you on this mission thingy-magig.”

 

Terald stared incredulously at his best friend and repeated, “Mission thingy-magig? You moron. We're looking for the prince.” Then he whacked him upside the head and continued, “You know, the future ruler and only heir to the Night-n-Gale throne. The reckless, arrogant, self-centered, jacka-”

 

“That's enough, Terald,” Lackardel said loud enough to drown out the last of the sentence. “We all know what Prince Darain is, but he is still our future king, so we shall all not mention what we think of him.” Then, adding in an undertone, he muttered, “Lest not to his face, anyways.” Arisan laughed at her captain and shook her head at his undertoned comment.

 

“There they are. Get `em,” came a distant shout, indicating that they were still being pursued. Terald, Arisan, and Lackardel eyed Jonathan angrily and simultaneously thought, Maybe we should just hand him over to those he-she's and be done with it. Then they were off once more.

 

Their tired bodies were pushed to the limits before they finally found a suitable planet to hide on until their pursuers were gone. They looked back over their shoulders, as they entered the atmosphere, and saw that the he-she's were watching them and grinning. Lackardel looked at the planet and saw, to his dismay, that it was red and desolate. They had no hope of finding any food during their stay.

 

Once they landed, they split into two groups and agreed to meet within six hours with their findings of the planets inhabitants. Terald and Jonathan split from the other two and walked in the opposite direction, grumbling at each other.

 

An awkward moment passed between Lackardel and Arisan before Lackardel suggested, “You can still catch up with the other two if you don't want to search with me.” Arisan looked down at her black, leather boots and shrugged. “I wouldn't have come if I didn't want to, Captain,” she muttered quietly. “Come on, let's start looking around.” Then she spun around and began walking away from him.

 

Lackardel was sized by a sudden sense of de-ja vu as he watched her retreating back. He shook his head to clear it, but it wouldn't release his senses. Amounting it to nothing more than the planets atmosphere, he jogged to catch up to Arisan.

 

They walked for an hour in silence, just looking around the desolate landscape, finding no trace of intelligent life. There was no trace of life, or that there ever had been any life at all, it was as if silence itself were the only inhabitant.

 

Arisan suddenly stopped and grabbed his arm. He looked at her for a moment, and when she didn't say anything, asked, “What is it?” She looked at him with her wide, fearful emerald eyes and said, “We're not alone. There are inhabitants on this planet, only they live beneath the ground to escape the sun.”

 

Lackardel was having a hard time believing what she was saying and gave her a funny look to convey as such. No race they had ever heard of lived beneath the ground just to escape the sun. He would have inquired more on the subject of these ground dwellers, except he received a sharp blow to the back of the head and darkness closed in on him.

 

* * *

 

“I thought you said these creatures would be easy game.”

 

“I did.”

 

“Then why do I have a welt the size of my fist on my upper forearm from that accursed female?”

 

“Because you were careless. Now quit whining and help me haul our catches up to the king for the reward.”

 

The second voice grumbled as it drew nearer to Lackardel. He didn't open his eyes, even when a hand closed painfully around his upper forearm and dragged him up some sort of stairs. Behind him, he could hear sounds of another being dragged, and assumed that it was Arisan, though he secretly hoped it wasn't.

 

When he was again dropped, he chanced opening his eyes and saw that he was laying on gray stone and that there were several dozen red creatures surrounding them. He had no clue what they were, having no prior knowledge of the races that the Letrangra ruled over.

 

When he attempted to regain his footing, a foot was placed in the small of his back and he was forced back onto the stone. “The males awake, sire,” the first voice he had heard called out to one of the others. “What should we do with him and this female?”

 

“I don't care. Do with them what you will and go to Jamison to collect your prize for catching one of the prey we released to the upper levels,” came a grating voice. Lackardel growled and sent a wordless spell into the foot on his back. He leapt to his feet as his captor yelped and drew away.

 

He spun around in time to see two or three of the red creatures hauling Arisan away. His rage knew no bounds at seeing them touching her. Lackardel could feel his powers welling up in response to his heightened emotions and saw it manifest in a flame around his entire body as he raised his hand and balled it into a fist.

 

“Juka dina kulid guoy settub jiw ody manka,” he shouted the last of the spell, releasing black flames on those that stood closest to him and those that held Arisan. His dark flames passed right over Arisan, leaving her untouched according to his wishes. The flames destroyed anything that they touched.

 

His eyes sparkled angrily and the remaining red creatures backed down under his angry glare. “So, a Letrangra spell caster, eh?” came the grating voice of the king. “You are not of the prey that I set loose for my special hunters to recapture. Now, you have killed almost half my nobles, I'm sure that your ki-“

 

Here Lackardel's grabbing him by the neck and pulling him towards him so that they were almost nose-to-nose cut him off. “Lets get one thing straight, I am not Letrangra and I will never let you or your slimy people get their hands on Arisan, ever again,” he snarled in a threatening voice.

 

His captive's eyes narrowed in loathing. Lackardel was more than happy to return the glare, ten-fold. There was silence before the red creature king hissed, “By the time you leave this planet, you will wish you had never been born.”

 

Lackardel's muscles suddenly seized together as pain laced through his entire body. As he fell to the ground immobilized, his chin struck his shoulder and he caught a clear glimpse of his attacker.

 

“Ar…i…san…” he breathed in disbelief.

 

She stood not five feet from him with her feet spread wide apart and her hands held out in front of her, crossed at the wrists and glowing with readied, unreleased power. Her dark hair flowed around her like a cascading waterfall, her black ears flat against her skull, and her emerald eyes sparkled with unrequited malice. Arisan's hate filled eyes were the last thing he saw before he was sent spiraling into the welcoming arms of darkness.