Chapter 11: The Keys to the Invisible Kingdom

Dahlgren and Balgren were staying close to her. Toombs was far out front. The beige man who had never been named was hanging behind. Jack had lost track of Eve. Jack began shifting her arms subtly, trying to remember what Riddick had taught her, once upon a time, about not having your hands cuffed behind you.

The last thing he taught me.

This is going to hurt. A lot.

There was a soft sound to her right. Another heavy thing, moving quietly. She made herself not look. That's two. One behind and one beside.

What if that's not Riddick?

Why the hell would it be Riddick?

Oh yeah. Cause I'm bait for a Riddick trap.

"Hey, kid," Balgren put his hand on her shoulder. Gave her a shake. "Stop fidgeting. You're making me nervous."

"Sorry," she muttered. "My arms hurt."

He moved closer, squeezed both her shoulders. "Want something? I got some pain pills."

She swallowed. Risked looking back at him, uncomfortably aware of how intimate this must look. "I don't get it."

"What, kid?"

"Why are we just wandering around these places? If Riddick's here," her voice cracked. She swallowed, continued. "If Riddick's here, he'll hear you long before you find him."

"That's the plan." He almost seemed to regret it. Let her go and stepped away.

"Then what? He picks you off one by one? Why didn't you, I dunno, blanket the planet with messages inviting him to come talk?"

"That's a fucking good question. Hey, Goat Fucker." That seemed to be directed at Toombs. "Why didn't we just call Chosen Boy?"

"You got his number, Goat . . . fucker?" Toombs called back. His voice echoed strangely among the rocks. Something flickered to her left; something big and quiet. Jack closed her eyes.

"Who else might be listening?"

"I tried," the beige man materialized close to Toombs. He had a piece of equipment he was watching. "Our first four orbits, I sent messages on every frequency. No hint they were received."

"Before you defrosted the rest of us?" Toombs' tone was casual. Too casual. Balgren's breath hissed out.

The beige man did not seem to hear. "Yes."

"You thought that was a good idea?"

At that, the beige man looked up from his equipment, his voice dry. "Yes. I would have preferred to discuss the matter with him at a great distance."

Toombs rolled his eyes. Then he pushed the man hard enough that he fell to the ground. "I meant, did you really fucking think it was a fucking good idea to talk to the fucking target without fucking telling ME?"

The man scrambled back. "Are you crazy?"

"That's not the fucking POINT!"

The merc crew all turned towards the kerfuffle, looking amused. Jack eased back. She heard a soft noise, this time to her left. Close. Like they were surrounded. Fear trickled down her spine. She started to move her shoulders, feeling Riddick's hands taking her through the moves –

It happened too fast. Three blurs of whiteness, bigger and faster than men. One killed Balgren, his gun half raised. Eve got off a shot. It hit into the trees. A thing of whiteness charged her. Jack lost track as one of the blurs rounded on her.

Not Riddick. Much taller. Claws. Fur. She made one last effort to get her hands in front of her, then stopped. Tilted up her chin. Do it, she thought, clinically. Make this story end here.

There was a noise. The thing shrieked. A spray of blood erupted, hitting Jack across the face. It had been shot at close range by a small caliber gun by the beige man. The beige man's gun was no match for this thing. The monster broke his neck with one swipe, grabbed his corpse, and ran, almost silently, into the woods.

The other monsters roared. And were gone. There was a moment of silence.

"Bastards!" Dahlgren screamed, started to run for the woods, arm dangling strangely. Eve grabbed him.

"Let them go, Dahl."

"They've got my brother!"

"He's dead, Dahl."

Dahlgren slipped to his knees, breathing hard. Jack swallowed. Eve was untouched. Toombs and Dahlgren were bloody. The other two men were simply gone.

They're gonna eat them.

That man saved my life. I never even knew his name.

I killed that man. If I'd called out that they were out there . . .

Eve was there. She ran her fingers over the blood spatter on Jack's face and throat. "You okay, kid?"

Jack nodded. Their eyes met for an instant. Jack looked away, blinking back tears.

Toombs turned on his communicator. "Emergency evac," he barked. "Pick us up. We got wounded."

Dhalgren had a concussion and a broken arm. Toombs had four cracked ribs and a bruised lung. Jack and Eve were untouched, though Jack's shoulders ached. They let her sit at the table while Eve patched up the guys. Toombs immediately pulled a headset and started going through computer logs, grumbling darkly as he did. He had a bottle of whiskey beside him he kept tapping with one hand.

The pilot was prepping the ship for launch, clearly doing tasks the beige man used to do. "What's your name?" Jack asked abruptly.

He looked at her with sad eyes. Kept at his work. After a long time, he said, "You can call me Kennett."

"I never knew your –partner's name. He died for me."

"You are important," Kennett responded. He rubbed his face. "His name was Silbury." Toombs snorted, put the headset aside. Poured himself a shot of whiskey, eyes hard on Kennett. Kennett gave him a nod. "We need to consult with her Ladyship. I recommend we go to Polyphemus Station to use their equipment. It is not far."

Toombs poured a shot. "Brutal place." His eyes tracked over to Jack. He downed the shot. "Good place for buyin' and sellin'." From down the table, Dahlgren made an appreciative, bitter noise. Toombs pushed the bottle towards him.

"Down below," the pilot said. "The upper regions are quite safe. A good transportation and communication hub."

"If we're gonna recruit muscle, we won't be in the upper regions."

"She may decide to go another way with this mission."

Dahlgren shoved the bottle back to Toombs, who poured another shot. "Yeah. I might too." His eyes went back to Jack, thoughtful. "So, baby, did Riddick pop your cherry already?"

"Toombs," Eve said sharply. "Let's ride this one out for a while. There's a lot of money on the table."

"Lotta money, and bad intel. And I think we were being played." He hit some buttons unsteadily and an image of the beige man appeared, his ghostly voice emerging from hidden speakers.

". . . you will be well compensated. And you will be able to assure the safety of this young lady . . ." the image shifted to Jack, in cryo restraints. "Once the job is done, your record would be cleared, you would be well compensated. The ship would be yours. If you wish to disappear with the girl, we can assure that no one will look for either of you. Or we are happy to arrange for the two of you to settle anywhere we have influence. My employers would prefer not to put either of you in danger. There is no need to revive the mercenary crew that accompanies us. . ." Toombs flipped off the recording. His eyes were hard.

"That was not our deal, 'Kennett.'"

The man spread his hands, placatingly. "We meant no harm. You would have been compensated the same if he had responded."

Toombs downed another shot. Looked at Jack. His voice was only slightly slurred. "So, darlin', they were gonna sell you to the big bad. You know why they think he's got such a hard on for you?"

Jack glared at him. "No."

Toombs snorted. "Tell me what you do know."

She started to shake her head. Eve caught her eye. Give him this, she seemed to say.

"When I was a kid, we were just on some fucking ship that fucking crashed. We survived. All these people died--" her voice cracked. "All these people died and we didn't. That all we've got. That's--" She shook her head. "It's a real thing. But it's not really that big of a thing."

Toombs's face softened slightly. He shoved the whiskey bottle at her. "Have a drink, darlin'." It almost seemed like an apology.

What the hell. Jack took a tiny sip. It made her feel warm. She took another. Toombs grinned at her. "Thanks," she leaned back in her chair. "Hell of a day."

"Yeah," he responded. "Sorry about that."

Are we having a moment? She took another sip to cover her confusion.

Jack was back on the skiff, with Riddick. He was trying to teach her strategy using a chessboard out of the skiff's emergency supplies.

"This bit's easy, kid," he grunted. "Hunter Grazner was a pawn. That's what you've gotta remember. You're on a knight now. Doesn't move like you think it should." He moved the tiny pieces on the tiny board delicately.

"I'm on a horse?" she asked, irrelevantly.

He snorted. "Something like that. You can get a long way on a horse. Though you're going the wrong way." He looked at her, appraisingly, and they were on horses, spinning around and around on a merry-go-round. The center was mirrored and the reflections seemed to fall into an infinite center.

Ziza was riding a walrus in front of her, laughing. Jack laughed, a brittle, choking sound. Riddick grinned at her and dismounted. He seemed to be falling for a very long time before he landed, gently, next to a dragon. He patted it. It snorted softly, a small burst of flame erupting. "Queens are the best," he said, with great satisfaction. "But bishops ain't so bad either." He took two steps, swung Ziza off her walrus, started to move purposefully away from the mirrors. Jack slid off the horse and chased after him.

"Not for you," she scolded.

He grinned at her. "Don't think that's your decision." He jumped off the wheel. Jack leapt after him. The ground wasn't moving right and she fell to her knees. He turned to her, concerned, setting Ziza down. Ziza laughed and ran back to the merry-go-round, swinging herself back on easily.

Balder nuzzled her face; making a soft snuffling sound. She missed him so much it hurt. She wrapped her arms around him, used him to leverage herself up.

"Are you with me?" she asked. She wasn't sure who she was asking.

Riddick took a step towards them. "Do you want me to be?" His voice dropped so low it seemed to be coming from the ground beneath her feet. There was a curved knife in his left hand. He reached towards her with his right. Balder growled.

She opened her eyes. Toombs was standing there, a strange grin on his face.

"We're here, darlin'."