Chapter 8

He looked at the man that was standing in the middle of the ring. He was looking this way and that, the way a caged animal would be; looking for a way out and looking for the first person to wander too close. He looked at on of his Necros and nodded, this person then flipped a switch and five shell-like enclosures came down one on each side of the prisoner.

Quasi-Deads they were called and they were a tool used by the Lord Marshal to interrogate his prisoners. They could tap into the mind and seek the thoughts of a prisoner, learning all they wanted by delving deeper through the minds history while inflicting as much pain as they could to those who resisted.

These were now going to interrogate the prisoner. The lord marshal saw the man fall to his knees as they started then his face was wrought with pain and defiance as he tried to block the Quasi-deads out. 'Ah,' the lord said, 'this is going to be painful.' He smirked at the man and waited for information to come.

"We are picking up thoughts of a planet," they said, "The name is unknown. We pick up thoughts of bat creatures." The lord frowned; he wanted more information than this. One of his aides saw his expression and called to the Quasi-deads.

"Delve deeper! The lord wants more information than that!"

"We are now picking up thoughts of a girl, Jack." They said as they scoured the prisoner's memory of that planet. "Riddick."

The Lord Marshal looked up from the ground, whence he was looking before in thought.

"Where does he come from, what is he doing here, these are things I want to know." He said exasperatedly.

"We are now picking up thoughts of an elemental." They said as if he hadn't even uttered a word. They were cycling through the conversation that had undergone between Riddick, Aereon Imam and the other priests. They came upon one of the words that had been spoken and said it aloud. "Furyans."

"Where does he come from, that is what I would like to know!" The lord marshal said again, though the quaver in his voice and the furrowed expression on his face showed that he was intrigued at how this man called Riddick knew about Furyans, but it also returned unwanted fears and memories. But he consoled himself on the fact that he killed every Furyan that lived on Furya.

"He is a Furyan, Furyan survivor." The Quasi-deads said, "Kill the Furyan. Kill the Riddick. Kill the Riddick. Kill the Riddick!" there voices rose to a cacophony of screams and they screamed the last words.

"Kill Riddick!" the lord marshal said angrily, though fear shone in his eyes.

Soldiers jumped into the ring, but just as they did so the lord's aide flipped the switch again and the power deteriorated and the five shells rose back up again. The soldiers ran at Riddick but the lord marshal noted his skill again as he saw Riddick easily killing or hurting the Necros as they came. He was relieved though when he saw Vaako, one of his best commanders, jump into the ring to help the soldiers.

The lord's hope was diminished once again however as he saw Riddick snatch one of the soldiers guns and shoot Vaako making him hurtle back the way he came and crash into another Necro. Then using the little gap he had made, Riddick jumped on top of one of the retreating shells and slinked away.

…..

He found himself in a narrow tunnel that was barely tall enough for him to stand in. he didn't know which direction to go in, the tunnel ran left and right. He guessed by the smell of it that it was a sewage pipe, and from what he could see, which was quite clear, it definitely was as there were solid shapes moving in the water, if of course that was what it was.

He decided to go left, he didn't know why, there were no clear signs for why he chose that way; he just had a feeling about it. He walked down, his body bent slightly to fit into the tunnel, which seemed to get narrower. He was walking for God knows how long and all the while he could feel things brushing past his feet.

Riddick was glad of his night-vision, he liked to see where he was going, especially in these situations; he didn't want to walk into some unpleasant thing that may be dangling from the ceiling.

"I hate that lord marshal" he said to no one in particular.

As he progressed through the pipe the diameter shrunk. It got to a point where he thought he had chosen to go the wrong way as he had to crouch lower and lower to the point of nearly crawling. Then he gasped in irritation as he saw a wall in front of him.

"Shit!" he cursed, "Fuck me! I have to go all the way fucking back. Damn this bastard ship and all the Necro bastards in it!"

He looked around trying to see if there was no where to go. There wasn't. He cursed again, but just as he was about go back he heard a hollow noise come from where he put his foot. He looked down and relief flowed through his body as he saw a hatch there. He breathed a sigh of relief that he was finally going to get out of this stinking shit-hole, but just as he did so he regretted for he tasted the stench.

He bent down and felt around the hatch, groping all the way around the crack and searching through the filth for anything on the top. He saw, and felt, what he was looking for after a bit of groping, the handle for the hatch. As he opened it a gush of fresh air wafted into his face. Just what he was hoping for, he had a sinking suspicion that this hatch led to another tunnel. He dropped out of the hatch and crawled out from under the lord marshals ship then once out, ran.

He had no idea where he was going, at all; he just wanted to get a way from that stinking ship. He was running through streets, always looking around for Necros, he didn't want to get captured again; he would smash some skulls if he needed to. As he came round the corner coming into another, wider street, he heard the noise he was dreading, a Necro ship, notable because of the sound of the engines, was coming behind, and low too. He sprinted although he knew he couldn't get away from the ship.

But as he ran into the street he saw, to dismay, that there were no other streets around, he had run into a cul-de-sac. He knew he couldn't turn and run back the way he came as the ship was still chasing him. 'Oh shit!' he thought, 'just what I fucking need!' Then there was another noise coming from behind him. At first, he thought that it was another Necro ship, but as he looked back he saw a rocket flying through the air, soaring towards the oncoming ship. It struck right on the side, then two more seared up through the air, one struck the underside of the ship, the other hit the opposite side. All were expertly taken shots and brought the ship plummeting to the ground over Riddick's head.

He looked around and saw the people responsible for helping him, but as recognition hit him, all thoughts of gratefulness left his mind. There were five cloaked figures there, one of them he recognised instantly, and it was that one that spoke.

"You made two mistakes. First, you left the tracking beacon on in my ship, the one you stole. And second and this is really the most important part. You should have ghosted me when you had the chance." Toombs said.

Riddick grimaced and he searched through the crew, none of them were there from the old crew and more importantly, the ominous looking man who wore the black hood was not there, he was strong, maybe as strong as Riddick, maybe stronger, he was also cunning, just like Riddick, 'he would make a good friend, if he wasn't chasing me' he thought. Then all his thoughts were cut short as a net gun was fired at him at Toombs' command.

…..

"So what are you going to do?" Alzan asked Voldan while eating a meal of grilled steak with long golden fried chips and peas which Voldan had just cooked for them.

"I'm going to sharpen and clean my blades then I'm going to rest and before I do any of that, I'm going to eat my dinner."

"I mean about Riddick." Alzan said in reproof, his voice stern.

"When I am rested and refreshed I will go and see if he needs help." Voldan said nonchalantly.

"You say it as if he is redecorating his home. He has been taken by the Lord Marshal, you know, your enemy? Are you just going to sit there while he does things unimaginable to him?"

Voldans eyes flashed. "What are you insinuating Voldan?"

"I am not insinuating anything, all I am saying is: while you are resting, Riddick could be in terrible pain."

"Yes. But I am no good to him, or myself, if I am weary, am I?" Voldan said angrily, "If their Lord Marshal is as powerful as they make out to be, I will need all of my strength."

"But you are not going to fight him; you are going to rescue Riddick."

"I doubt very much that Riddick needs rescuing, he may need a helping hand." Voldan replied. "But I need to prepare for all circumstances, what if Riddick is with the Lord Marshal; do you think he will give him up to me just because I am not there to fight him? Of course he won't!"

"Yes well, you mustn't rest for too long. Who knows what may be happening to that poor soul in there." Voldan nearly choked on his steak.

"Poor soul? Have you heard yourself Alzan? He is a convict, a murderer, a thief, a fraudster and who knows what else, Voltriamë, The last thing he is, is a poor soul."

"Alright, alright, I am sorry. I just don't like people suffering."

"I doubt he is suffering. You are not the only one who does research, my friend. I have looked into Riddick's past. He has been arrested and taken to different prisons all around the galaxy, all of them varying in security levels. He has escaped from a maximum security prison before. I don't think he will have any problem getting off that ship."

"You said you would go and help him."

"Yes, I know, and I will stick to that, I am a man of my word, Alzan, you of all people should know that. And like I said, I will make him pay for the destruction of Brilbane, whether he led it or not, he still ordered the attack."

"You also said you would leave after you have eaten and drank."

"And cleaned and sharpened my blades. Stop rushing me Alzan, when the lord sees the message I have sent him, he will put things on hold. Besides, like I said, Riddick can look after himself, all he will need is a diversion to allow him to escape, and I can give him that. Now can I eat my dinner? It is going cold."

Voldan finished his food then drew his fighting knives. He put them in to a slot in his ship which once a button was pressed, a low soothing noise emanated. It took a minute and after the blades were scanned for dirt the machine beeped telling Voldan they were ready. He took the blades and replaced them with his sword and did the same thing, while he took a sharpener from a hidden compartment and ran it along his blades. Sparks flew from them as the knurled rod of iron scraped up the edges. Voldan preferred doing those jobs himself so he could see how sharp it was.

Another beep signalled that his sword was clean. He whipped the blade of his knife clean of dust and filings then slipped it in its sheath by his side. He walked over to the machine and drew his sword. He slipped the sword in its scabbard and walked over to his other knife. He sat down and picked it up then looking at Alzan he said:

"That's the beauty of this sword, Detrivíglök, the blade never blunts." Alzan smiled and watched Voldan systematically sharpening the blade of his second knife. When he was done he slipped it back in his sheath, the removed his armour, with all his weapons still attached and started cleaning it, breastplate, back-plate and vambraces, then took out some spaulders from the armour cupboard and put them with his armour suit. He was also tempted to take his helmet. It was his favourite helmet, which separated him from the rest of his race, of which he was captain. It was a Draktün helmet, so was the armour which he was cleaning, only unlike other Draktün armour sets, his had nano-bots in to repair any damage taken to it and keeps its strength up. He decided against it, it would only encumber his vision, and in some circumstances he valued his vision over everything.

"So what exactly are you planning to do?" Alzan asked.

"I am planning to take that bastards head. And if that fails, at least I will have caused a big enough disturbance to allow Riddick to escape.

"Why does everything you do revolve around violence?"

"Have you got a better idea? Besides have you forgotten what I am?"

"Yes you are a soldier, and so am I, but that doesn't mean I love violence. Yes I admit, it is good to relieve anger, but that doesn't mean everything has to revolve around it."

"Yes I am a soldier, Alzan, but I am a Draktün, and more to the point I am the Captain of the Draktün. And what else can I do, walk up to him and ask him if he wants a cup of tea or wants to go to the nearest inn?"

"You are being asinine."

"No, I am not, Alzan, I am being realistic, nothing will work other than violence, a big enough disturbance needs to be created for the attention of Riddick's guards to be withdrawn. Besides, like I said, I am a Draktün. Violence is my specialty."

"You make it sound honourable, yet if we weren't here you would be in a maximum security prison by now."

"No guards will be able to hold me."

"That is what we fear, you will be on the run all of your life, and that is a very long time, considering you will not die of age."

"Neither will you old man." And Alzan was old for he was around to see the colonisation of Brilbane and to see even the First World War of Earth. He was nearly a thousand years old and by far the oldest Brilbanian to have ever lived and he had been in the past two generations of commanders, both times he was the same rank, but also the strongest, it was only in the third generation that his power was surpassed. But all of the commanders look to him for his opinion, especially on battle related matters as he had seen more than any of them had ever heard of. The only commander who could influence Alzan and his opinions of war is Voldan, for he was an excellent strategist, and had seen nearly as many battles as Alzan.

"I may be old, but with age comes experience, and I have seen as many of these situations for my fill, and I know exactly how this will end, you will go and you will be hurt, tyrants never fight their own battles, they get everyone else to do their dirty work."

"You know better than even Davrun what happens if I get hurt, you know what he will awaken inside of me."

"Yes I do, and that is what I am afraid of, you berserkers are all the same, when you are in a rage you are unstoppable unless you are killed. You are like wild beasts, once hurt you go berserk."

"Hence why we are berserkers, we are the Draktün, and one of us can do the work of ten men, and come out victorious."

By this time Voldan had finished cleaning his armour and was now fitting it on, closing the snaps and putting on his vambraces and gauntlets. The last thing he put on was his cloak clasping it to his shoulders, the black and silver leaf brooches shining in the light inside the ship.

"I'm ready to go. What are you going to do?"

"I'll come with you, but when you leave the ship, I'll stay and take the ship elsewhere, I don't fancy getting involved in another battle, especially in an enclosed space next to a Draktii." Voldan laughed then went to the control panel, pressing a large button which started the engines and pulled the lever to take off. Then turning the ship he flew off to the lord marshal's ship. To take his revenge.