I left off last Monday with a bit of a cliffhanger, didn't I? Well, it's Monday once again and I'm back with the weekly update!
Hasbro owns the Transformers copyright, unfortunately. All words and situations within the tale, however, came from my own mind. Except for one line near the end that I took from one of the movies.
Chapter 11
The ring of stumps had stood inviolate for one hundred years, a place where humans and Anta alike could hold debates, officiate births and weddings, bring complaints, or simply celebrate.
Now it held a council of war.
On one half of the circle stood the Autobots, now joined by one who seemed so like a tree himself that there was hardly a trace of his amber and white armor beneath years of moss and vines. On the other half of the circle stood a young one of their species, tall and proud with a bow slung across his golden doorwings.
'Is it true?' he asked, his voice a series of humming and buzzing tones, 'Do they truly remember now?'
His answer was a slow, solemn nod. The golden youngling threw back his helm and made an indescribable sound of joy, startling the wild, shadowed things at his back.
"Brother, our brother, warn us when you are about to initiate a howl!" The complaint came placidly from a wolf standing as high as Iirt's pauldron. "You nearly startled our little brothers and sisters!"
The long snout twisted quickly, pointing back to the two human youths on his back and the myriad gleaming eyes in the dark. For the Draug Anta go nowhere without their humans, deeming them inseparable components of the kinship grouping. The People of the Wolf were wild, quick handed, clever people, ever ready to hunt, and the Draug respected that.
Iirt bowed his helm apologetically. 'Please excuse me, Silverbolt. I often forget that you travel with young.'
The wolf's jaws hung open in an easy grin as he assured the scout that Draug children were not as easily frightened as all that.
"Chak, Una!" he said in a suddenly more stern tone, "What has Lio told you about climbing on Anta strange to you? Get down at once!"
As he'd been talking, the boy and girl on his back had decided to see whether the creature across the ring was an Anta or a tree.
"But T'o't," the boy began in an explanatory tone.
A slim femme melted out of the darkness, narrowing four red optics. "No buts, Chak. Apologize to Fallaner and get out of his branches this instant! That is not respectful!"
The twins sighed piteously, and with a mumbled, "Aaroh, Its'a," slid down.
As the two scrambled back up onto Silverbolt's back, one of the wildings, covered with white and gold fur, came to stand in the center of the ring and bowed respectfully to Optimus.
"Ar, for every full moon for two years, we have helped you comb the forests and the towns for the youngest members of your pack. The man-cubs and the girl-child. Tonight you call back the hunt before its time. Have you then found them? What is this council about, Ar?"
Having spoken his piece, the leader of the Draug Anta bowed his helm and stepped back a pace.
Optimus stood and leaned on his sword with a grave air about him. "They have indeed been located, Lio Convoy. However, all three children have been taken prisoner by humans within the city who wish to do them harm. That is why we have summoned you."
Among the trees a low murmur of human voices began to rise with the snarl of a tiger, the snort of a rhinoceros, the hiss of creatures thought long extinct. To intentionally harm a sentient being was taboo to the Draug: to harm a child was unthinkable.
In a choking, furious voice, Lio growled, "Give us the scent. The Draug will end this." Before their optics he transformed, taking the shape of a colossal lion, baring its fangs.
F'ar stood from her stump and held out a hand. "Believe me, Lio, I'd like nothing more. But the inhabitants of Jasper are innocent, and we don't want to start a panic. We need the stealth of the Draug to get me under the walls to rescue the kids. Ar will directly confront the guard for psychological purposes to grant us time."
"Time?!"
The "tree" moved suddenly, as if that word alone had brought him out of hibernation. "Time!" he repeated sharply. All optics turned to Fallaner, who grumbled under his breath.
"What about time, Ratchet?" Bulkhead asked warily from his seat.
"We're running out of it!" the older mech snapped. "In the two years we've been here I have reviewed every ancient text I could get my servos on and if Jhiaxus's Law of Temporal Dynamics is credible, then we are facing Event Convergence in a matter of hours!"
"And if the kids aren't with us when the tempest hits..." Bulkhead trailed off, hardly needing to voice the fears of his companions.
Being heavier, both literally and in the sense that they were all centuries old, the Cybertronians would weather the time-storm and find themselves back where they belonged (or, so went the theory). Something as small and short-lived as a human being stood no chance alone. Without the Autobots in physical proximity, Jack, Miko, and Rafael would simply vanish with the rest of this alternate world - utterly erased from existence.
Arcee's optics hardened. "We move now," she snapped. No one felt like arguing with her.
"Get up!"
Instinctively, Jack felt the blow coming and curled up as quickly as his bruised body would let him in an attempt to prevent worse damage. Jack was no expert, but he suspected that another kick to his ribs would fracture them.
"What are you, stupid? You think he can stand up on his own?" a second voice sneered, and someone pulled his forearms away from his face. A low whistle echoed in the stone room, blowing his hair out of his face - the hairs not plastered to his forehead with dried blood, that is. Jack squinted up into the face of a man only about ten years older than him.
There was a momentary flash of compassion in the guard's dark eyes, quickly masked by disdain.
"Geez guys, what happened? You forgo black eyes in favor of split lips and lacerations? Looks too messy to be effective to me." He spat upon on hand and used the moisture to wipe some of the dark stain from the prisoner's temple. "Hey man, don't ask me to clean your gloves after this!"
The woman at the door rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up, Manuel. You don't know anything! The kid's a punk, alright? Stubborn as anything." She shrugged carelessly, showing her lack of concern for the state the boy was in. "Take him to the Grey Room while I get the other two."
Manuel drew back, revolted. "The Grey Room?! Come on, Lalia, he's a kid! A kid! They're gonna execute him?!"
Lalia shrugged thin shoulders, expression blank. "I don't make the rules, Manuel. He's the one that was in the Forest."
As she left, Manuel eased Jack's arm over his shoulder and heaved the exhausted teenager to his feet. "Sorry kid," he muttered, wincing again when a muffled whimper escaped the boy, "This is going to be a little harder than I thought." He turned his head, and just for a second an amber bead caught the light as it swung from a braid behind the man's ear.
Jack's eyes widened. "Frederica," he whispered.
Quickly, the guard shushed him as he was dragged into the corridor. "Keep your voice down, boy! She's under suspicion as it is!"
He glanced back and forth, glaring. "Tulle's guards don't need to have those fears confirmed, understand? The Fishermen Organization uses me to gather intel on Tulle's darker dealings. I was supposed to sneak you and your friends out." He stopped at a square door made of reinforced steel. "Looks like that isn't happening though."
Jack tipped his head to the side, unable to summon the strength to turn it all the way. "What's... the Grey Room?" he asked, a whisper of fear running through his voice.
Manuel looked at him pityingly. "That's where condemned prisoners wait before being taken to the walltops and shot. Specifically, that's where Tulle keeps condemned prisoners when she doesn't want the other magistrates to know what she's doing."
Trembling, Jack shut his eyes and forced himself to try to breathe slowly to stall the panic.
'Arcee, where are you?!' he cried out on his comm, knowing full well she couldn't hear him.
Aloud, he whispered, "Please, I know you don't know me, but please get Miko and Raf out of here. They didn't do anything wrong!"
The door swung open with a foreboding creak and he was pushed into the brightly lit enclosure. "Just keep your eyes open, boy. They're counting on everyone being asleep still."
With these enigmatic words, he left, slamming the door shut behind him. Without Manuel supporting his weight, Jack crashed to the floor in seconds. There was a gasp from somewhere nearby and suddenly Raf was there, holding up his head.
"Jack! Are you okay?"
From his other side he heard, "Why would you even ask that, Raf? He looks like he went ten rounds with Rumble!"
Two pairs of hands pulled him gently into a sitting position, and it was then that Jack saw the blossom of purple on Miko's cheek.
"Who did that, K'anis?" he demanded, fury that someone had dared strike a member of his family overriding his fear of being shot.
Miko brushed a hand over the bruise and made a feral little half smile. "I'm a lot more patient than the interrogator, let's put it that way."
Jack leaned back against the wall and smiled back. "You are such a Wrecker," he sighed. The smile fell away as he took in the bleak metal walls. "They're going to have us killed," he said softly.
Small fingers interlaced themselves with his as Raf whispered, "I...I don't want to die, Jack."
"Me either, Raf, me either." Jack pulled the smaller boy close and winced as his muscles screamed in protest, ribs sending little lines of fire through his nerves.
Miko said nothing, but her eyes were hard as the three huddled miserably in the corner. Then, in a fierce whisper, "If they shoot us on the walltops, we go down fighting, eyes to the Forest."
The boys glanced over at Miko, surprised. She turned to look at them, determination written across her face.
"If we're gonna die, then we're gonna die like Autobots." After a moment, Jack and Raf nodded, and the three linked hands, waiting. When the guards came to take them to the walltops, the fear was gone, and in its place was an eerie calm.
.
Magistrate Tulle patted her hair into place, hurrying at the head of the phalanx. "Hurry up!" she snapped. "The families are still in my office waiting for me to negotiate a release! We've got four minutes to get this done. No mistakes!"
The moment they were under open sky, all stealth was lost in a thunderous screech. Something flung itself at the dome, bouncing off and wheeling around for another attack.
'Speaker-chick! Mine! Nest-robber no kill my speaker-chick! Lazerbeak kill!'
Even without his glasses, Rafael recognized the sound. Struggling, he freed one arm from the soldiers' grip and waved it frantically. Decepticon help was better than no help at all.
Lazerbeak caught the signal, and surprisingly, understood it. She pulled up swiftly and flew to the edge of the Forest, lighting on an outstretched arm.
'Nest-robbers gots speaker-chicks, gonna kill!' she squawked, 'You move quick now, gonna lose speaker-chicks!'
Optimus nodded once and activated his comm. 'Arcee, move your unit into place. I will provide a distraction. The mist will obscure your entry point. But hurry!' He launched Lazerbeak into the air and stormed towards the walls of Jasper. The people of the city appeared to have gathered in the streets and on rooftops, even before he left the tree line. If he found out they were there to witness the execution, there were going to be consequences.
.
Through the barriers, the protestors gathered by the Fishermen Organization felt the ground begin to shake. They scrambled onto the walltops and stood at the edges of the city, watching, waiting.
A shadow moved in the mist, and two sapphire orbs burned in the blanket of white, shining down on them. The nervous guards murmured a collective greeting and bowed their heads, each holding up the symbol of the lion's head to proclaim their loyalty even as they prayed that the shield would hold.
Those in the streets merely watched, tight-lipped. Many gestured to the wall where the Speaker trio had been forced to kneel.
"Nene', who is it?" Raf whispered, squinting. Without his glasses, he could not see the eyes. The hands holding them did not give an inch, even as Miko strained against them.
"One of ours, Atsk'a. They're here for us!" she all but crowed.
Tulle cuffed her sharply, eliciting a warning glare from the two boys. "Mind your tongue before the Raa Anta!" the woman snapped, putting on a charade for the citizens as best she could in her frazzled state, "They never come during the day but when matters are grave indeed! It is my suspicion that they have learned of your repeated irreverence and your unnatural behaviors, and have become angry!"
The children huffed or rolled their eyes at the thought. Jack frowned, suddenly troubled.
"But...we used the distress signal when we were captured...so why didn't they come for us until now?"he murmured to the others.
Miko shook her head in lieu of a shrug. "I don't know, Y'ats'a, maybe they've been chasing off Raptors?"
Beside them, Rafael hung his head and voiced a childlike fear. "Or maybe we did something wrong." With the guards pinning their arms behind their backs, Jack and Miko were unable to physically comfort the little boy, and each lapsed into what seemed a morose silence. Over their comms, however, the older two quickly reassured the third that this could not possibly be the case.
'The Autobots would never leave us behind, Raf. Name one time when we were forgotten!' Miko challenged.
Raf hung his head. 'I can't. The memories are there, but...they're starting to get fuzzy, like they're disappearing!' He looked up in horror. 'The timelines are converging. We have to get back to our fixed points before we forget everything!'
Jack and Miko squinted at him.
'Fixed points? What fixed points?' Jack asked.
'The 'Bots!' Raf was almost frantic. 'They're our constant! If we can get into physical contact with them before Event Convergence, we'll keep our memories. I think.'
The elder two cast each other grim looks, then turned pleading eyes up to the aqua lights in the mist. Don't leave us! they silently shouted, suddenly worried again.
Magistrate Tulle straightened her robe, hoping against hope that the Anta hadn't come for the Speakers. They were too young to have actually been in contact with the guardians! None of them even bore clan marks! Which meant, on further analysis, that any kind of Anta might show up, any at all! Young Speakers were rare, and three in the same generation in the same town was unheard of. In retrospect, there should have been more Anta present if word had spread about the Speakers.
Trembling, Tulle stared up at the stern blue eyes. It was too soon! Too soon! There were nine days left before the eclipse, when she could awaken the Sleeper. That's why she'd decided to execute the Speakers now, so that the Anta couldn't interfere! She was going to have to talk quickly to get out of this.
In the fog, the blue lights narrowed, and a thunderous voice spoke words they did not understand. The people trembled, for that voice was seldom heard. It was the king of the massive beings himself! What could he possibly want of them? No one had spoken the language of the Raa Anta since the mysterious disappearance of the last Speaker, for the magistrates' supervisor had forbidden its study as being too lofty for common folk. The titans hardly ever spoke to them anyway, giving them little reason to want to learn it.
The colossus waited a moment, then repeated his query. Taking advantage of the guards' distraction, Raf twisted out of their grasp and snatched his glasses back. As his friends followed suit, he dashed to the parapet, waving his arms and shouting.
"Here! We're down here, Optimus!" he cried, catching the Autobot's attention.
The soldiers gasped at his outburst and drew back. Didn't he know it was bad luck to speak the giants' true names aloud? There were standard procedures for a reason! Tulle squeaked in dismay and scuttled forward to pull Raf away from the ledge.
Jack dove forward and blocked her path determinedly as Raf called out, his voice cracking slightly, "Optimus, why didn't you come get us? Did we do something wrong?"
The dark shape melted out of the mist and a great hand stretched towards the child, halting at the invisible barrier. The regal tone was troubled.
'Oh, child, is that what you thought?'
Raf scuffed his feet and looked away, nervous or embarrassed. "Je, T'o't," he admitted.
'Is everyone alright?' Optimus asked gently.
Miko wrapped an arm around Raf's shoulders and grinned fiercely. "Yeah, Optimus. Now we are. What now?" she called.
The Prime did not miss the ugly mark on the girl's cheek, nor Raf's disheveled appearance, nor Jack's weakened stance and the way he was favoring his left side. And was that blood? His optics darkened and he leaned down.
'Who harmed you?' he growled in a terrifying rumble.
'The guards, sir. All the ones wearing the violet star are under Tulle's command,' Jack answered.
All around them people gawked at the sight of mere children answering Ar of the Raa Anta in his own language. Their astonishment grew tenfold when Ar spoke sharply to the magistrate in the Common Tongue.
"What right do you have to hold my people captive? To abuse them? They are not under the authority of the magistrates!"
The saccharine woman sputtered and spluttered for several seconds before answering in her high, haughty voice, "Forgive my presumption, O Ar of the Celestial Blade, but are they not of the People of the Lion?"
Jack could have sworn that Optimus rolled his optics, and with good reason.
"Ar of the Celestial Blade?" the boy chuckled weakly. Optimus shot him a stern look, clearly warning him, Don't even start.
He raised his helm and spoke in a voice nearer to a mild earthquake than a displeased Prime.
"Did you think all your deeds could be kept secret forever, Magistrate Adelaide Tulle? Taking the children was a bad move." He held up one hand, fist clenched, and the edge of the Forest came alive with movement.
"You took three of ours. We will take them back."
Even as Optimus stood at the walls of the city, in full battle regalia, Arcee and the Draug slipped quietly through a tunnel they'd carved through the very culvert Raf had hidden in. It didn't take long to discover the body.
Una found it first, having been brought in case of small holes and tight spaces. "Its'a! Its'a! Look!" she cried, "A dead Speaker!"
Arcee stared down at the skeleton with pity. He'd been alive the first few months they'd been there, always helpful, always kind. "Be at peace, Reul," she murmured as they moved past him.
The spider-like femme that Una called "Its'a" scowled and laid a comforting hand on "F'ar"'s arm.
"It doesn't make any sense!" Blackarachnia said mournfully. "Why would anyone want to kill a Speaker?"
"You want my guess?" came the shuddering reply from the front of the line.
Their scout had returned from the low-ceilinged passage ahead. With a brisk shake, the rat transformed into a small, kneeling mech a little shorter than Arcee.
"I'd say it was 'cause he found something he wasn't s'posed ta see! And I don't think we're s'posed ta see it neither!" He pointed grimly behind him to where a sluggish purple light oozed out around the stones.
"Dark Energon!" Arcee gasped, pulling back.
"It's worse than that, F'ar," the rat added apologetically, "I saw the room before the dark stuff forced me out. It ain't a natural deposit."
"Then what is it?"
"A shrine."