AN: Recommended Soundtrack: Hopeless, Breaking Benjamin
3 – Treason
Was she fucking serious? Or had the decades of cryo-sleep done irreparable damage to her brain? "What the fucking hell are you talking about? Uniting the Furyans?"
"You heard me quite correctly", Adria replied evenly. "There is a good chance that there are some Furyans left out there."
Riddick couldn't keep in his seat anymore. "You must be fucking joking!", he said, pacing the room. "Besides, Furya is lost. Nobody can live there, even if we actually had the coordinates to find the planet. There are no maps left, no charts, nothing…" He had searched for the planet himself for quite some time now. Without success…
She gave him an odd look. Rising slowly on shaky feet she made Riddick stop dead in his tracks and realise, that she was definitely not fully recovered. "Before everything went down the drain, I was a Lieutenant on board of a Furyan warship. I know the coordinates, there is no way in hell I would ever forget them." Adria pinned him with her gaze "Furyans are warriors by birth; we can handle a hostile planet, besides who said nobody could live there? I bet that's a myth, forged by the Lord Marshal. You have a whole goddamn fleet at your service right now, why not go there and check?"
Riddick had to admit she had a point. He didn't know what to do with the Necros at this point anyway… he definitely didn't want to be their leader. So why not take at least one of the ships and search for a forgotten planet that was most likely uninhabitable…?
"Riddick…" He caught Adria's dark gaze again. "You of all people should know what it means to be alone out there, not to have a place to call home… please, Riddick…"
Damn… just damn…
ooo
"What do you mean I'm not coming with you!?"
Riddick took a deep calming breath. He had known that this discussion would come – and that it would be in no way easy. Kyra stood in front of him, hands on her hips. "Are you fucking kiddin' me!?", she screamed, nearly making him wince and earning him a sympathetic glance from Adria, who was leaning against the wall next to the door of the Basilica's war room, quietly talking to Aereon.
"I want you off this goddamn ship as soon as possible", he said as calm as humanly possible. "I don't trust the Necros as far as I can throw them."
"Then take me with you!"
Riddick turned his back to her and rolled his eyes. They had talked about this again and again during the last month, since he had told her he would head to Furya with Adria, but never to this extend. Well… he just hadn't mentioned yet, that there was no way in hell he would take Kyra to Furya with him. At least not right now. "Too dangerous. We don't know what's awaiting us there."
"But you are taking her with you!" Riddick could hear the pouting in Kyra's voice when he turned back towards her and saw her pointing at Adria, who just raised one finely curved eyebrow.
"Just because she knows that damn planet!" Slowly Riddick was loosing his patience. "You will leave with Aereon for Quintessa within the next hour; if I have to tie you up and put you on the damn shuttle personally! End of discussion!", he roared, staring Kyra down until she finally looked away, eyes damp, and stormed out of the room.
Groaning quietly he turned to the maps on the table again and folded his hands behind his neck when Adria stepped up to him. "She will understand eventually…", she said quietly, pulling up some close-up charts in front of her on the table. It seemed that Furya was not as hostile as he had thought intentionally. With the coordinates Adria had given him, they had been able to get at least a few up-to-date charts from the sector, the planet was located in.
"It's the eventually-part that has me worried…", he murmured as an answer. "Honestly, when push comes to shove I'd rather have her at my back than you, sweetheart…" He bit his tongue; he definitely shouldn't have said that out loud. "No offense…", he said as an excuse.
But Adria just shook her head. "None taken. You two know each other, it's natural that you wish to have her at your back in the worst case…" That made Riddick look at her again. She had fully recovered during this past weeks, had even visited the training room frequently as he had been informed but she still walked the corridors of the ship like a ghost. He could tell Adria wasn't telling him everything she knew about their homeworld but who was he to ask? It wasn't like he had told her everything… for example that he had a really bad feeling about this little trip, and his instincts seldom got him wrong… Plus it had taken him longer to initiate this expedition, than he liked. His new duties as the Lord Marshal had kept him from just disappearing weeks ago.
"You are protecting her…", Adria went on quietly. "…and you are right not to trust the Necros…"
"Should I trust you?" He eyed her carefully, waiting for her to look up to him for an answer. Looking for even the slightest hint of betrayal in her behaviour, in her scent. But he didn't detect anything. Just her normal scent he hat to come to know by now – a mixture of the sea and wildflowers. Her hair was it's normal blonde, her eyes shining back at him.
"That's for you to decide when the time comes", Adria stated simply, looking back down onto her charts.
It was strange to watch Kyra depart with Aereon later that day. She still didn't talk to Riddick. Stubborn little girl… or woman… but it was all for her best…
The Necros would take on their travel to the Underverse under Vaako's command while Riddick was gone – not that he planned on returning for long – if ever… The ships had order to not make any stops in between… no more people should be forced to convert to the Necromonger's believes.
He himself and Adria would depart for Furya the next morning with one of the smaller shuttles and minimal crew. It was a week's travel to the planet, counting on the faster ships the Necros used for transportation. No cryo-sleep. A single look at Adria's face had been enough for Riddick when Vaako had asked, what kind of ship he should get ready for the travel. No way in hell would she take a step into a cryo-tube again… ever…
The week did give Adria more time to recover and to brief Riddick for what was to come, or at least of what she remembered of Furya. He would listen for hours when she told him not only about the planet's geographical structure but also about how she had felt, wandering the woods, hunting deer or travelling with their people's watercrafts.
It was also a plus, that they had time to train together. Getting used to each others fighting skills was essential, if anything should go wrong. What they didn't count on was that they were to be ambushed on the completely wrong planet…
ooo
The moment they stepped out of the shuttle, Adria had a bad feeling; intensifying from second to second. Next to her she felt Riddick tense. "Something is wrong…", she murmured quietly while studying the landscape around and below her. The cliffs, the red and orange rocks… this definitely didn't feel like home… "It's wrong… just… wrong…"
"You don't say, sweetheart…"
"It's a long way to come!" The voice of one of the Necros, Krone, one of Vaako's aids, got them back to the present… "For this…"
Adria ground her teeth. "This is not Furya…", she hissed only for Riddick to hear, who knelt down and took some of the sand into his hand, letting it run trough his fingers.
"Get yourself ready to fight, dear…", he murmured. Then everything happened incredibly fast.
The first two assassins were down before Adria could blink an eye, killed by Riddick's knives, she hadn't even seen him throw. Damn! That guy was good! But so was she… Moving with the speed of an Elemental she had the third assassin on the ground within seconds, a knife sticking out of his right eye. Pulling the knife out of the lifeless body she threw it with one fluid motion, aiming for the throat of a fourth Necro, who was aiming his blaster at Riddick's back.
Her movements blurred as Adria drove for cover when Krone opened fire at them. By now Riddick had taken out their fifth attacker. Only Krone himself was left. Looking over to where Riddick had taken cover on the other side of the cliff he signalled her to stay where she was… Krone was his…
It just seemed the bastard had other plans. When he opened fire at the cliff itself, the ground under Riddick and Adria shook. Within seconds she caught his gaze. "Go!", he mouthed to her, knowing she could get out, calling to her Elemental-half.
"No!", she screamed out loud when the cliff gave way and she felt her instincts switching only to one goal – survival. Everything around her blurred, when Adria slipped into the shadows beneath the cliff and became one with them. She heard the faint cry of triumph from Krone about killing and keeping when she slipped further and further away from his position, afraid he would notice that she hadn't fallen down with half the cliff like Riddick. Eventually she stopped beneath a ledge that gave her enough room to take back her human form and still stay hidden.
Riddick… she had to get down to him. Fast! He had to be buried under the debris, most likely badly injured. She had to hurry, but if she got down to him and started digging while Krone was still up there, they would be an easy target for him. Adria could only hope Riddick would hold out long enough…
ooo
It felt like hours before Adria dared to move and climb down the rest of the cliff. When she finally got to the spot, where the debris had come down, all she found was a dead, winged creature she couldn't identify and blood on the sand and rocks that had to come from Riddick.
So he was indeed injured and had succeeded in getting out from under the stones. Adria was impressed. Judging on the tracks he had left behind, he hadn't walked but rather crawled away. Damn, she had underestimated his survival instinct. Of course he didn't wait for her to come and get him. Now she only had to find him, what could be hard work if he had found cover. And only the goddess knew the creatures that inhabited this planet. Adria looked at the birdlike thing at her feet. The little sucker actually looked more like some sort of reptile than like a bird. Urgs… Sighing she decided she had to start moving.
Only a few feet away lay the cloak, Riddick had shed earlier during the fight. It seemed to have fallen down the cliff too, so Adria picked it up. Nothing wrong with taking some extra blankets with her for the night she was sure would fall soon.
A pained cry got her attention when she followed the tracks Riddick had left behind. That was the moment she started running. Adria was glad she had stuck to her normal Elemental-gear, fitting black pants and shirt with the weapon harnesses on her thighs and back, combat boots and dark leather straps on her forearms completed with her distinctive black cloak, rather than taking the heavy Necromonger-armour like Riddick. This way she was moving fast and silently trough the canyon towards where the cry had come from when a movement in front of her made her stop and seek cover in the shadows.
Crap… On the rocks about 200 meters ahead of her were a hand full of four legged creatures that looked somehow like jackals. Fan-fucking-tastic… they sure as hell had heard Riddick too and Adria was certain the cry had come from him. When the jackals took chase, Adria followed them within a safe distance. No better way to find your target than with a dog ahead of you, right? The problem was just that those beasts were damn fast.
From the top of a rather large boulder she could see them searching an area around some rock pillars but without any success. Adria didn't know if that was good or bad. Thinking about the ground, Riddick had had to cover in this short time and with his injury, she could only imagine how fast he would be able to move when he was fully intact.
Ten minutes after the jackals had disappeared further into the canyon Adria arrived at the stone pillars, stopping dead in her tracks when she spotted Riddick, leaning against one of the smaller pillars. One hand holding a piece of his armour against his leg, the other pushing a metal bolt through the metal and – as Adria guessed – into his own flesh.
"Riddick!", the woman exclaimed a little out of breath and made the man a few feet away from her look up.
"Sweetheart", he gritted out between clenched teeth. "Care to give me a hand here?"
So much for a happy reunion. Sighing she stepped down from the rock she was standing on and went to her knees next to Riddick, taking the bolt out of his hand. "I was looking for you", she stated the obvious and felt stupid for it. "Any other injuries than the leg?"
"Few scratches and bruises, nothing major", Riddick answered emotionless. "I've had worse."
Looking up from his leg before she inserted the bolt she caught his eyes. "The tragedy is, I actually believe you." Shaking her head she moved the bolt to keep the metal plate in it's place to stabilise Riddick's leg. She didn't have to check the wound out herself, trusting him he knew what he was doing. "Just so you know, this is going to hurt like hell…", she stated matter of fact. "You can hold on to me if that helps… I'll make this quick."
"Nice, but no need to… argh! Goddamnit, woman!" Before he had been able to think about it too much, Adria had shoved the bolt home.
"Sorry…", she murmured sheepishly and took the second bolt from him. This time when she put it into place Riddick ground his teeth and buried his hand in Adria's cloak.
"Done", she finally stated and leaned back onto her haunches, studying Riddick's face. Her gaze stopped at the deep cut at the right side of it that went from his temple straight to his jaw. Grimacing Adria turned his head to the side to get a better look. "That one needs to be cleaned and looked at… quite a nasty one…"
"Don't you say…", Riddick growled. Adria's touch on his skin felt strangely comforting considered their current situation. Stranded on an unknown planet without the possibility to contact their people for rescue. "We should get moving, find water and cover for the night."
The female Furyan stood and helped the male next to her to get up. "True. The stench of the sulphur here makes me sick anyway…"
ooo
They headed deeper into the canyon, following the direction the jackals had taken. There had to be water somewhere… Adria had slung her arm around Riddick's hips while he had his arm around her shoulders, taking most of his weight from his bad leg.
Eventually a set of even higher cliffs came into view and they made their way into the shadows of a rather small passage between the rocks. They hadn't talked much on their way. Riddick trying to suppress the pain, he was definitely in and Adria supporting him as best as she could, more and more carrying and dragging him forward. They desperately needed a place, where Riddick could rest for a while until his injuries had healed at least a little bit and where Adria could survey the contents of the small emergency pack attached to the harness on her hip. She was sure she had something in there that would help him, but right now there was no time. Especially since every medication to jumpstart healing would probably make Riddick sleep for days.
The sound of running water made both of them stop and look at each other. "Water…", they whispered simultaneously and Adria dragged Riddick further into the cave like passage to the source of the sound. A small rivulet was trickling down from far above them, making the ground they walked on slippery. Large puddles had formed everywhere, taking up most of the space in the cave. After a short check they declared the water coming from above drinkable and satisfied their thirst.
"I never thought, that water could taste that good!", Adria sighed after she had splashed some of the water onto her face and neck and grinned in Riddick's direction who had stepped right under the spray, cleaning away the dust and blood.
Adria stepped next to him and raised her hand to clean the cut on his face with her now soaked cloak. "It seems not as deep as it looked in the first place", she finally stated. "Must hurt like hell anyway…"
Something that could have been a chuckle escaped Riddick. "Don't know what doesn't hurt at the moment, sweetheart…" Then he looked past her to the other end of the cave. There, across a rather large puddle, was an even smaller corridor between the rocks that looked like natural formed stairs. "You think we could get to the other side of the cliffs that way?"
"Possibly…", Adria murmured, blinking the water away from her lashes when she stepped out of the spray. "I'll go check, you stay here…" She had not quite made her way over to the puddle when a barking and growling sound made her shrink back into the shadows, searching for Riddick's eyes. There were only about ten feet separating them and he too had taken two steps back into the darkness when some jackals entered the cave.
"Damn…", Adria hissed, her hands moving automatically to the two daggers at her back. But the jackal-creatures didn't seem to have noticed them yet. They on the other hand didn't remain that lucky…
