9.) Warnings, Wovares, & Warriors

"Plink!"

The drop of wetness landed o the back of his hand, warm instead of cold, and Riddick looked at it in the dawns dim light, already knowing it wasn't rain. Red. Blood.

He was on his feet in a defensive crouch a second later, curved knife in his grip, horrified eyes staring at the refugee's. Dead. They were all dead. Shot, stabbed, throats cut, strangled, and he spun in blood colored grass, looking for the girl.

She was still against the tree, neck broken, and he dropped to his knees near her lifeless body, knowing her eyes would open for him and they did, but it was Kyra's voice that came from her dead lips as her empty gaze locked onto his.

"There was no one else around."

Waves of pain broke the hold the dream had on him and Riddick opened his eyes to bright flashes of lightening and deep rumbles of thunder. He was on his feet in that same defensive crouch a second later, knife in hand, and found the girl's tired face in the dimness.

"You okay?" He didn't want to look at her.

"Don't follow me today. There's death in the air." He forced himself to meet her eyes. "Maybe yours." She nodded, shaking out her dark cloak before putting it back on.

"I feel it too, but I also know you can't fight destiny. There's no greater force in the universe." She stepped in front of him as his lips thinned, aware of her people hurrying to get ready.

"That's something you haven't learned yet, I guess. You might have to let someone in then, let us get close. We scare you." His lips twitched.

"Not on your life, little girl." Tori grinned boldly.

"Then prove it." He did smile this time.

"Your middle name happen to be Kyra or Jack?" She frowned.

"No. Why?" He shrugged.

"You remind me of someone. She cared about people too. At first." Riddick stepped around her. "Then she learned there's no such word is friend."

"Did you get her killed?" Riddick swung around at that, face tight.

"You calculate that?" The girl flushed at the scorn, shook her head.

"Didn't need to. You talk in your sleep." She paused, pushed on. "You said you were sorry. That it should have been you." Riddick felt the pain like the tear had just rolled from Kyra's eye and he lowered his goggles, steeling himself.

"I'm bad news, little girl. Don't follow me. When it goes down, I won't come back. Not for them and not for you." Ignoring the instant hurt on her face, Riddick took off at a steady clip, judging the muddy ground, and then picked up speed, not a bit surprised when she fell in neatly behind him, and the rest followed.

"A lot to prove and willing to die for it." He moved a bit faster than was necessary to out distance her, wanting to drive in his point. "And, maybe you will."

Riddick moved through the storm like a ghost, loving the lightening show and white clouds of foam rolling overhead. It was foggy, like dawn, carrying a feeling of something about to happen as he put more and more space between him and the following refugee's, telling himself when it went down, he would just keep going. It wasn't his fight.

The sly hunters had slowly been getting closer all day, drawn by the scent of the Furyan energy they'd been trained to track, and they crept up easily on the drenched refugee's who walked together with their hoods up and heads down, missing any noise or movement the predators made as thick fog rolled over the ground, providing natural cover.

The ambushers worked together, pack hunting like their instincts had told them to for centuries, and the people were unaware of the danger until it was too late to avoid.

"Wwhhhooooo!" The ominous sound made them look around nervously, lowering hoods to stare hard into the swirling whiteness. That call was hungry. And, close.

"OOooohhh!" The answering howl was closer, right on their back door, and they stopped, drawing their weapons as bright green eyes glared at them from the foggy shadows.

"Riddick!"

Riddick slowed, hating the girl for the hold she already had on him and he stopped as gunfire echoed.

"All the power in the universe can't change destiny." Riddick's head snapped around to see the strong, beautiful warrior woman from his dreams standing nearby, looking very real, very there. He wanted to think it was because he was close to where ever she really was, but knew it was likely because they'd bonded against his will when she'd marked him.

More gunfire came, followed by shouts, and the woman watched him flinch towards it, then hold himself firmly in place.

"The past must be settled before there can be a future." His eye narrowed, tone hinting at how much it had cost him.

"I did that." She seemed to grow angry, waved a hand, and the damp woods began to disappear, replaced with the familiar landscape he was used to seeing behind her. Red hills, dying trees, and millions of grave markers.

"There were many betrayals that destroyed our people, our world."

Understand of what she expected flooded his face and he reacted true to his nature. He was defiant.

"Find someone else to give you justice!" He shouted and her softly spoken words brought the ache back to his gut.

"There is no one else around." Kyra's voice echoed from her lips and Riddick was slapped back in time, unable to fight it.

"You signed with Merc's!" He moved passed her, angry, about to walk and yet he paused to hear her words.

"There was no one else around." That quiet accusation rolled over him, dug under his thick skin because it was true. He left her behind and she'd been hurt, had ended up dead. Did he have to go through it again?

"To find peace, you must settle our past and bring her home. Bring them all home. Furya needs every life it can get." Shirah began to melt back into her own reality as it disappeared, and the calls for his help grew louder. "But, you must hurry. Even now, death catches up to her, and it's hungry."

The refuge's had tried to stay together, protecting the weaker in a tight circle, but the pack of genetically engineered wolves was large, 20 animals, and their snaps and lunges drove the group apart again and again, finally separating the girl from the rest, her energy more defined, sharper, and she took off running, hoping to draw them away from her people.

Tori fired as she ran, hitting wolves as they leapt and then one of them was passed the gun and going for her throat. The girl screamed in fury as she sank her blade into its belly, ripping upwards as it howled in pain, fell. More wolves moved toward her and icy fear wound into the girls guts as she took off running again. He really wasn't coming back for her.

Hearing acute, two of the solid black wolves turned to meet Riddick as he raced toward where they had the refugee's surrounded, and he jumped at the last moment, knife stabbing deep into a furry neck, slicing an artery as he flew overhead. He landed inside the circle of wounded, bloody people and when the second wolf followed him into the scared group, it was clubbed to the ground by Doug's huge arms until it stopped moving.

"Where is she?" Riddick demanded and Doug pointed with his bloody, spiked club.

"That way, with half the pack on her heels." Riddick took off at a blur, easily following the trail of dead animals and his respect for the girl grew with his worry.

Tori kept moving, vaguely aware of being herded, but there was no place to go. Even the trees here were too weak to support her weight, the ground filled with earthquake cracks, and she jumped, glided where she could, but the Wovares kept up, snapping at her heels, and then she was coming up to a gap that was too wide to jump and had no angle to glide from. She was trapped. The girl nodded. She'd go down fighting.

She spun to face her attackers, firing as three of the snarling animals lunged for her, and then a shadow was streaking past at a blur, grabbing her from the jaws of death, and she clung to him, trying not to scream as the huge gap approached and he didn't slow.

"Hold on!" Her arms locked around his neck, legs swinging around his waist, and instead of the jump she tensed for, he slid to a rough stop and gently stepped off the ledge, wolves close behind.

The refugee's had followed when the predators around them chased Riddick and they began to pick them off, the big animals now the ones trapped and they cleared a path to the edge of the dark, muddy gap.

Riddick's powerful arms slammed the shivs into the dirt walls they were dropping past and they jerked to a slower fall before one of the blades slipped, and their speed increased again. Riddick struggled to keep them along the dirt wall, his weight pulling them back and he shoved the knife back into the earth, using his feet to dig in.

Able to hear their names being called from above, they slowed gradually, hearts pounding, breathing harsh, and when something slithered up the dirt near them, Riddick bit back a curse. Not one of his best ideas.

"Tell them to throw a rope." Calm, and she nodded once, hating the way the dirt she was mashed against, slid under her clothes and shifted against her back.

"We'll fall more. She whispered and felt his grip tighten on the blades, feet dig in more.

"Do it." She tilted her head back, sucked in a lungful of earthen air.

"Rope! Throw a rope!" Dirt crumbled, began to side and both knives came out as Riddick's feet fought for ground and found none. They dropped, falling, and the girl instinctively threw herself back, pulling Riddick with her, and he was able to slam the blades back into the dirt, holding them to the wall.

Clothes twisted, the glow of a hand on his chest was bright in the darkness and felt warm against her skin as she clung to him, but it came as no surprise to her, no relief. She had been sure since Donre's attack in the sewer.

A thick coil of rope fell to them and the girl quickly tied them together at the waist as both knives slid more from her movements. The air seemed different down here, more alive and the strange noises of shifting earth kept Riddick's adrenaline flowing.

"Are you re… Uuhhg!" The dirt gave way and they were falling again, then grunting in pain as they were jerked upward and then swung back, slamming into the muddy dirt wall.

The girl clung to him as he used the curved blades and his feet to help those pulling them up and everyone moved back as they climbed up and out of the gap, Riddick quickly slicing thru the rope binding them together.

"Thought you were goners." Doug laughed, grabbing his hand. "We owe you big." Riddick notice Neil had nothing to say, just watched with bitter eyes and couldn't resist smirking as he stepped passed.

The girl went to check on the wounded first, sure there were deaths, just like he'd warned them, but her eyes were wide, glazed with success, and she stole looks at Riddick while he brushed himself off. Who he really was, had been revealed. He'd come back for her.

Most of the refugee's were doing the same as they tended their wounds, the hope and relief in their gazes reminding him strongly of the first few minutes after he'd killed the Lord Marshal and he let that small, cold part of him lash out in defiance, needing to prove he was anything but their hero.

"I've saved your asses three times. Pay me!" They all stilled in their praise, frowning at his anger as the girl turned to him.

"Jodan will tell…"

"No." He cut her off curtly, shaking his head.

"I told you no credit, little girl, and this is a bigger job than I signed on for. I want proof this isn't a setup or worse, a waste of my time." She shook her head but Riddick saw no fear, no worry. Reluctant to part with it, she might be, but she had something. She wasn't bluffing. He raised his goggles.

"Let me put it another way. No proof, no pilot. I'll walk."

"He's shamming." Even Neil's' voice sounded unsure and the girl shook her head, eyes bitter.

"He never does." She hadn't looked away from Riddick. "And, if it proves who you are?" He said nothing, waiting, and her face tightened.

"Fine, but hear me. I'm about to provide proof of payment. We have a deal. No backing out after this for any reason." His lips thinned.

"As long as I'm satisfied." Electric sparked as they stared at each other, exchanging a rare, identical thought, and then she was digging thru her pack.

She held out a small, square, cloth wrapped object and everyone tensed as he reached for it, the ground beneath their feet trembling. Thunder rolled in the distance as he slid back the dark cover to reveal a stunningly beautiful gold amulet. It gleamed despite the lack of light, almost shinning in the dusk, and to Riddick, it felt like the object sighed in relief at being uncovered. On the front was a single, silver decoration. A hand.

"I know who you are. I've seen that mark you bare." His eyes swung to hers even though he didn't really want to look away from the amulet. How did it work?

"You've seen it on someone here?" She shrugged, reminding him of Aereon.

"The odds are very good that we can give you what you came for. " His face tightened.

"In exchange for what?" Her eyes were unreadable.

"We already have a deal. Just keep coming back when shit goes wrong." Riddick looked back down at the golden talisman, fingers eager to touch it, and he forced himself not to, sent his mind back to finding an escape from the clever trap that had been laid for him.

"Can't be done without a crew. Can't protect every side." He stated finally. He lowered his voice. "You could ditch them. Come along for the ride." He expected a sharp denial and was surprised when she shrugged, smiling dryly.

"I already am along for a ride. So, are you." His nod was rueful. Mostly because of Aereon, he was once again in charge of a group of people he didn't even really like. He shook his head, trying one last attempt at escape.

"Not for much longer. I can find things on my own."

"It wold take you years." She stated matter of factly. "What's two weeks? Once our help comes, you can go back to being just the flyboy." He raised a brow.

"You mean that?" She nodded without hesitation.

"Yes, though the position's there when you're ready." He looked around at them.

"You have no place to go. Furya was destroyed." There were nods and frowns.

"We know that, but by now, the ground is fertile again and we'd rebuild what was stolen from us." Doug stated firmly.

"And, if it's unlivable?" Riddick asked, already knowing it wasn't.

"We'd go where you'd go, where you say." The girl answered quickly, words drawing mutters and nods.

"You wouldn't last a day in my world."

"You could teach us." That came from Neil and Riddick turned to him, surprised for the second time in five minutes.

"Why?"

"Because it's the right thing to do."
"Not my…"
"Then make it your fight!" Doug demanded, drawing the warriors hard glare, and the girl stepped between them, into his line of sight.

"You could though? If you wanted to?" Riddick nodded slowly, hating her, hating them all for the carefully maneuvered walls of his newest cage.

"I can keep people alive. Just usually choose not to." He looked around again, eyes hard. Yet another cage to escape. He already had one plan in the works but it would be a slow one, and he would keep looking for another.

"It'll take at least 10 more like me, some serious firepower, and a lot of luck. Does your prophesy have that covered?" He mocked them, but Doug's voice was confident, almost arrogant.

"We believe that or we'd still be in the sewers where ya found us." Not gonna beg, that one, and Riddick let out a low growl of resignation that had the girl smiling in relief before he spoke.

"Nine days. That's it. No one comes, I'm gone and you won't catch up." He looked at her, unable to resist touching the amulet any longer, and his fingers slid over the seductive gold cover, opened the thin top.

"How does this work?"

The instant his skin made contact, it began to glow a brilliant gold and silver mix that immediately ran up his arm and then traveled his body. It receded quickly, the amulet seeming to bulge in his hand, and then a huge wave of energy shot out in every direction, knocking those closest off their feet. Raising up, Riddick looked at the girl.

"Never mind." She smiled, picked herself up.

"Only those of the royal blood can use it. It's alive, can sense a traitor if it's touched by one. It's unique and now, our warriors will come." Riddick carefully wrapped the gold treasure back in the protective cover and stored it in his pocket.

"It's gonna draw soldiers too. Let's get to your place and set a surprise for them." He turned to leave, looked back over his shoulder. "You wanna lead?" She shook her head, unable to completely suppress the desire in her tone.

"No. I'm getting good at following. I'll let you know where. It's only a few hours out." He nodded, took off running, and she darted after him, ignoring the unhappy looks of some of her people. The world was full of hard choices. She'd made hers.