Arthra insistently pushed the heavy cart forward through the deserted city's empty streets. She struggled with the effort, but she couldn't stop or slow down. The group she was following was close, she could see that from the tracks they left behind, and she needed to catch up. A group this large – at least fifty drell – had to have their own breath-giver with them.
Hopefully her cargo of three sand serpents – each one at least five times bigger than her and much heavier – would be enough to buy her an air filter. Some breath-givers were reluctant to sell filters outside their own group, but these serpents had plenty of fresh meat on them. No one could afford to turn down food on Rakhana, especially when they travelled in a group with so many people.
That's only if I can get to them, of course, Arthra thought grimly as she spotted the two men with guns trying to ambush her. Before they even realised they've been seen, Arthra shot an arrow from her crossbow at one man's face and ducked behind her cart as the other started shooting.
Fuck. The huntress thought as she put another arrow in her crossbow. They were one-on-one now, but crossbow versus machine-gun wasn't an optimal situation. Fortunately, there was more to Arthra than met the eye. Using her biotics to pull the shooter out from his cover, the huntress carefully aimed her crossbow at his head and pulled the trigger.
Arthra smiled victoriously as she started to drag the men's bodies to her cart, examining them for loot. Most importantly, although they were used, two extra air filters meant she was no longer in such a hurry to get a new one. Their guns and ammo were also definitely worth keeping – personally she preferred her crossbow, but a weapon was always easy to sell.
Arthra also replaced her boots with a better pair, and added a knife and a compass to her possessions, before finally stripping the corpses and throwing them into her cart with the serpents.
No one could afford to turn down food on Rakhana. Not even when that food was another drell.
Kicked in the shoulder, Arthra woke up to see the barrel of a shotgun aimed at her head. At least it had the shape of a shotgun, but its technology was way more advanced than anything the huntress has ever seen.
Looking up, she saw a mean grin on a face with four eyes. She probably still wasn't fully awake yet, because at first she thought it was just a drell who's been deformed by toxic radiation. Then she saw two other four-eyed creatures with futuristic weaponry and realised these were definitely not drell.
She was still frozen in shock when the alien pointing the gun at her said something in a roar-like voice, sounding angry, but Arthra had no idea what he said. The alien seemed to realise she didn't understand him – looking annoyed, he tapped on some kind of glowing device on his forearm before he spoke again.
"On your feet, slave," he said, "And if I'll have to repeat myself again I'm blowing your brains out."
Regaining her senses, Arthra got up obediently. Moments later, she was led handcuffed outside by the aliens. In the normally empty street of the ghost city, a convoy of futuristic vehicles now stood waiting. She was shoved into one of these vehicles, and saw a dozen more drell in handcuffs inside. They all looked as miserable as she felt, and many had fresh wounds and bruises.
The convoy started moving, stopping for a few minutes every once in a while. Each time a few more drell prisoners were led into the vehicles before the convoy continued its journey.
Arthra tried to think of a way out of her situation, but the cuffs seemed to block her biotics. The aliens didn't even bother to take away her crossbow, knowing there was no way she could use it against them.
Eventually, however, it seemed an escape might be possible after all. Arthra was startled by an explosion from outside, but shock quickly turned to hope. The convoy stopped abruptly, and the sound of gunshots and more explosions filled her ears. Whoever is fighting these aliens isn't from around here, she realised – no one she ever met had the firepower to fight them, nor the will to risk their life for strangers.
After a few minutes, the sounds of the fight were replaced with heavy silence. Everyone in the vehicle held their breath, wondering if they were truly saved.
Moments later the handcuffs on the drell prisoners fell from their wrists, and as the vehicles' doors opened most of them rushed outside and scattered away. Arthra was about to do the same, but then she saw from the corner of her eye a different kind of alien finishing off the last of the four-eyed stragglers.
The creature was very tall, with long limbs and hands that looked like talons. It had mandibles around its mouth and a crest of metallic horns covering the top of its head. More than anything its features reminded Arthra of a pterodactyl, only with advanced alien weapons instead of wings.
There were at least twenty four-eyed alien corpses scattered around, and the young drell huntress was not only grateful to the tall alien who saved her but also extremely impressed. She wanted to try to express her gratitude to the creature, but as Arthra began to approach it she saw that one of the other aliens was about to shoot it in the back.
Instantly acting on instinct, she biotically pulled the four-eyed alien within reach of herself and slit its throat with an arrow from her quiver.
