Enneagon
Chapter 13: The Boarding
Hiiiiii I'm back :)
[Brioxian Air Space]
[10.4.2065]
The ship was rocking, and Echosong was grateful. The shuttle's soft dips from side to side as it rode the air currents were a distraction, and a welcome one at that. She had found a comfortable spot in the back of the shuttle, on a soft bit of cushion by one of the windows, and was watching the pass of the clouds with her duffle bag beside her.
She missed her classmates. Why couldn't any other Skys be on the soccer team with her?
Instead, she was stuck with the rest of the team: with the vulgar Toadstep and the self-righteous Ivypool. Then there was Berrynose, who couldn't go five minutes without vainly checking his appearance in the window's reflection. He sat there now as she watched, smoothing his flawless hair and patting imaginary dust off his shirt.
Cinderheart was alright, she supposed. She was reserved, rarely participating in arguments and seeming to never have any sort of a problem with anyone. If anything, she came across as being a bit of a doormat.
Lionblaze's devil-may-cry attitude grated on Echosong in particular. His flagrant disregard for rules violated everything she'd been raised on. She remembered with some anger, how he'd been perfectly happy to kick her off the team for Icecloud, not caring that it was unfair.
But worst of all was Icecloud. Damningly attractive as she was, she had the personality of a rabid possum and behaved like an out-of-control dumpster fire.
Echosong caught a glimpse of Icecloud's face in the window's reflection and scowled. Ice-face was among her friends, sandwiched between Lionblaze and Hollyleaf, laughing uproariously as Foxleap belted out the chorus of "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall".
It wasn't fair.
Why couldn't she have brought a friend like everyone else, Echosong thought bitterly, remembering how Leafstar had flat out refused the request. Her mother's doing?
It was with her mother in her mind that the shuttle suddenly jerked to a stop.
It wasn't a slow, graceful, sliding stop like she was accustomed to. No, it was harsh and abrupt and immediately gave away that something had to be horribly wrong.
The others had noticed too. The laughter from the other end of the shuttle had stopped as though cut off. Thoughts immediately began to race in Echosong's mind, a dozen at once, each some degree of terrible. Engine failure, in the middle of the Brioxian airspace? Had the pilot become ill? Had they hit something?
Ashfur had gotten swiftly up out of his seat and had already disappeared into the cockpit, clearly going to check on the pilot. Everyone else was swarming to the windows, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever had caused the stop outside.
It was Foxleap of all people who saw it first.
There was another ship pulled up next to ours, a junkyard-ripe cargo freighter with a rust-streaked exterior and rickety wings. Strange.
A hushed debate broke out among the team then, their voices lined with worried undertones and forced calm.
"Maybe they're out of fuel and need to be towed", Hollyleaf suggested placatingly. "Or maybe they have someone on board who needs help."
Hollyleaf could have spared herself the effort, because it was at that moment that the cockpit door slid open and the smell of blood hit the air immediately.
Echosong recoiled the second it reached her nose, instantly recognizing it for what it was. How long had it been since she'd smelled it last? A few months, maybe, when she'd been back at Sky?
Its salty, metallic tang was so heavy it seemed to coat her tongue. Someone was bleeding. Heavily, judging by the thickness of the smell. Between Ashfur and the pilot, someone was dying.
As if to answer her question, Ashfur shuffled slowly out of the cockpit and into the passenger area, his hands raised tremulously into the air. He looked about a second away from wetting himself but didn't seem to be injured.
His pale blue eyes were wide, stretched out so far that the scleras gleamed a visible white.
There were two men behind him. Both were dressed in black from head to foot, their hair and faces lost under heavy masks. Each one, heavily armed, cradling a cruel-looking gun in his arms.
"We've….been boarded", Ashfur croaked. As though he needed to say it. The proof was right before them, armed to the teeth and surveying the students like a pair of wolves scouting out a herd of sheep.
"Coach", one of them rumbled, gesturing to Ashfur. "Sit down."
Ashfur scurried to do as he was told, clearly wanting to put as much distance between him and the men as possible. Echosong couldn't fault him for it. She would have, had done the same.
The other man- a redhead, Echosong noted, as his mask had slipped slightly to the side- turned his attention on the students.
"Alright, brats."
The assembled students collectively froze up.
"Get in a line. All of you. Shoulder to shoulder, if you will."
There was some shuffling as the team hurried to do as he asked. None of them seemed to be particularly interested in inspiring the mens' anger, shuffling hurriedly to fulfill their demands. Echosong found herself pressed between Scorchfur and Bumblestripe. She could hear each one of their panicky, gasping breaths, and pitied them.
"Stand still", she muttered. "Keep quiet, and they won't look twice at you."
Bumblestripe next to her gave a miserable little hiccup.
The men were going down the line now, and Echosong felt her heart stutter to a painful stop in her chest.
They were asking for names.
It wasn't far down that she heard them speak, stopping at each person in line and gruffly snapping, "Name?" Then, the quiet, terrified squeaks of her fellow students in response:
"Tigerheart"
"Sedgewhisker"
"Shrewfoot"
"Hollyleaf"
They were almost at her now. The redheaded one came to a stop in front of Bumblestripe, before moving on to her.
Echosong stared him in the face. There was something strangely familiar about him, from the shape of his face to the color of his hair. He was staring right back at her, as though looking at every detail of her appearance with careful scrutiny. Then, just as he did with everyone else, he snapped, "Name?"
Echosong's breath caught in her throat, her heart sinking down to her knees. Then, through unwilling lips, she hissed, "Echosong."
His eyes widened and the cloth around his mouth rippled, as though it had curved into a triumphant smile. It was then that Echosong was certain.
They were here for her.
She watched as they continued down the line as though she hadn't said anything remarkable at all, finally reaching Mallownose at the very end of the line.
Then the two men turned to stand in front of them.
"Don't worry children, nothing will happen to you", the first man said mockingly. "But…I think we'll take just a few of you with us." Again, the fabric over his mouth twitched upward, hiding a grin. "You'll all be perfectly safe, no worries."
It was then that the first man turned to his ginger partner, putting a finger over his masked mouth as he pretended to think. "Two girls, two boys. How about that?"
As if in response, the ginger man directed a finger onto Tigerheart, who was wide-eyed in fright at the other end of the line. "You. Tigerheart. Kid with the blue t-shirt. Come here."
Knees knocking in fear, Tigerheart practically stumbled out of line and shuffled his way over to the two men. They didn't say anything to him after that, letting him tremble in front of them.
To her pity, it was Bumblestripe they picked out next.
Then, of course, it was her.
Echosong knew it was coming, but it didn't make it any easier. When they pointed their fingers at her and called her name, pretending it was a coincidence, she knew better.
The fear reared up into a hissing boil in her stomach as she dragged herself out of the comparative safety of her classmates' company. Then she stood next to Tigerheart and Bumblestripe in front of their soon-to-be kidnappers, awaiting with bated breath who the final victim would be.
"You."
Echosong's head jerked up, her eyes darting to see where the fateful finger was pointed. She didn't know what she expected. But she didn't expect to see the blood drain out of Icecloud's face as she stared down the black-clad finger.
"Yeah, you. Blond chick. Frostcloud, or whatever your name was."
"It's Icecloud."
There was a moment of horrible silence where the rest of the room just stared. Echosong wanted to spring out from behind the men at Icecloud. She wasn't sure if it was to give her a congratulatory pat for her bravery or to slap her for her stupidity.
The first kidnapper raised an eyebrow, as if evaluating her.
"I don't care", he said.
Icecloud, glaring, stalked out from the line and joined Echosong and the others. Echosong didn't miss the opportunity to shove a well-aimed elbow into Icecloud's ribs.
"Well, then!", the ginger kidnapper said, faux-jovially. "We'll be going. You'll hear from us soon."
And then, Echosong and the other miserable three were herded out into the cockpit, guns at their backs.
It didn't take much effort to determine the source of the smell of blood. It lay slick over the floor, squelching nastily under their shoes, a red trail leading all the way up to the unfortunate victim. The pilot.
He lay collapsed onto the control board, his throat slashed and his eyes staring blankly into space. Bumblestripe next to her gave a horrified little noise.
It was here that the two kidnappers decided to stop.
"Do you see him?", the ginger one said mockingly, pointing at the corpse. "Not a toe out of line. Or that'll be you."
Echosong knew that for the others, that was no empty threat. For her? Well.
"You said you wouldn't hurt us."
Echosong's patience, which had already been frayed after Icecloud's first foolish attempt at rebellion, loosened yet another snag. She turned to see Ice-face standing next to her, shaking but clearly attempting to be brave.
The first part of her hissed, "Idiot."
The second, smaller part, couldn't help but be the slightest bit admiring.
The ginger kidnapper was less amused as he bent down into Icecloud's face, his piggish eyes level with hers.
"Guess what, Frostcloud. I lied."
End Chapter 13
So this story isn't abandoned! Hi people!
I've had a plot planned for this story for ages, it feels like such a waste to leave it here. If all goes according to plan, I'll be able to tell my story how I want to :D
However, I did condense the story down somewhat. Mostly because I'm not interested in writing another MEGACHONKK fic, so it's not going to have like 30 chapters of other stuff like Hexagon did.
Love you guys, and hope you enjoy :)
Azra out!