Chapter 1 – City of ice and fire

Riddick hated the sun; it burned his sensitive eyes and stole his vision. Today he found himself stood in the sun.

This and every other Saturday, he thought grimly. The wind picked up around him and the sand stung anywhere his bare skin showed; he tugged his sand cloak roughly, pulling it further around him for protection. Riddick squinted through his furnace cover, longing for the goggles slung around his neck. Three thick spikes stuck out one side of the filter glasses obscuring half his view, on the other side metal was gauzed keeping sand and flames from his eyes.

It took him another hour to reach Targo, the centre of the IUE systems roughest sphere. IUE 13 was a small planet at the very edge of the system, there was only one inhabited area on the planet and that was the capital Targo. IUE 13 unlike the other planets in the system was a harsh environment, in the days the deserts of the planet boiled and the sands burned, at night the ice came and froze the world to a deathly quiet. Only Targo spun directly on the axis, preventing these extreme conditions, instead the city was a cold desert; although citizens walked on sand they wore thick boots and fur hoods. This atmosphere made it the perfect location for a forge capital, and so it became a planet filled with the fire of forges and the ice of war. Only the hardened men of the mining colonies and the masters of metal craft worked in such a lonely world. Riddick was one of them.

Five long years to be declared legally dead, and they had been long, each an eternity he felt. As he joined the throng of people heading to the workshops he couldn't help but feel he had wasted the life Carolyn had given him.

What would she have done with it, he wondered, a family perhaps, love, and children? Certainly things he knew nothing of. And what did Richard. B. Riddick care of such things any way? He laughed at himself sourly; look at you, ex-convict, murderer, psychopath, cannibal for fuck's sake! What are you doing thinking about such pathetic things.

This thought comforted him, it was stupid of him to ponder such things, come on focus Riddick, you're on the home-straight now. Soon, oh so very soon, he could return to humanity; there were few families in Targo, usually after finding a partner craftsmen would take the massive sum of credits they earned working were few men dared and move out of the IUE system altogether. Riddick was thinking of starting his new life on Sirius, the planet of wolves. It was well known that anyone who had worked on Targo came highly recommended and there was no job that required more skill than crafting Sirius armour.

But first I need an excuse, Sirius was a colony planet, it would seem strange for a man working so well paid on Targo to move to Sirius alone. Who? It was that simple, a person was all that was required, it had to be someone he could live with, someone that would stop people associating him with a serial killer...Jack. Riddick flinched; the thought that had emerged from the depths of his mind scared him. She is the only person you know, the only one who knows you're alive, unless you think Imam would make a good wife? He curled his lip, mocked by his own mind!

The low growl that escaped Riddick's lips was the only thing that alerted Gerry to his presence.

"Well look what the sand cat dragged in, what an honour Mr Diesel"

Gerry was very Irish, this and his thick brown hair and bright worn cheeks made him much more approachable than most of the employers in the area. He was a friend to his workers and often after work Riddick found himself at one bar or another with Gerry listening half heartedly to tales of his family. Now Riddick found himself the only other forger working at Stallion Forges. Of course there was also the Iron Bears. Tula and Marlo were skilled carvers and made quick work of the raw materials that came from the mining colonies quickly eradicating impurities. They were local to the planet and as they came of age the bears would come to Targo for work or join the ranked forces and learn combat. Often it was the rouges that stayed in Targo so the siblings Tula and Marlo were a smart find by Gerry.

The words rose up Riddick's throat like bile. "I think I'm going to leave the IUE."

"It'll be a damn shame to lose me best worker, I'll be fucked to find another crazy bastard like yourself, anyone who tries to fill yer place gets torn to bits, old friend of mine!"

Riddick smiled, this was Gerry's acceptance, the man never disappointed. Nobody seemed to accept his silence with the same smile that this man did and yet Riddick knew behind the smile lay a man who would claim a life to protect his own. This was a man he could respect.

Does this mean we are going to find Jack? Riddick paused for a second...Yes, I believe it does.