Title: Song of the Hork-Bajir
Author: weetzybat
Description: An Andalite Aristh and a Hork-Bajir really can learn something from each other!
*A/N* Ack! Corny-ness ensues! I couldn't prevent it, no matter how hard I tried. Enjoy! Sorry no personal answers to reviews on this one...I can't remember what all was said...it's been since when...october!
Summary of Previous Chapter: Dakor is in the midst of a battle with the Yeerks. He is not making a big contribution, except to draw a lone bug fighter out on a chase. The Blade ship makes it's appearance, frying all the Andalite fighters...the only reason Dakor is spared is because he was too busy fleeing in terror. Knowing that the Dome ship has no time to ready itself for the attack, he decides to fire on the Blade ship, if only to distract it. He scores a satisfactory hit, but the ship turns, and fires back...
~
~
~
*~*~* Chapter Four...where Dakor ended up...
The first thing I realized when I regained consciousness was that I was no longer in my fighter. Although my eyes remained tightly closed, I could feel that the ground beneath me was rocky and uneven, and my hooves tasted a strange type of grass and dirt. My ears could pick up the faint whispering of wind through leaves, but other that, it was eerily quiet.
Am I dead? I wondered, keeping my eyes shut. I had a few ideas about the hereafter, and none of them involved a forest. Perhaps if I did not look, it would not exist, and I could wake up in my quarters like any other day. If I did not acknowledge it, it would not be real...
IS THAT WHAT YOU THINK THIS IS, YOUNG ANDALITE? AN ILLUSION? In a matter of seconds, I was on my feet, all four eyes open, despite my previous theory, scanning the area, although the voice had not been external, not much of a voice at all, really, more like my thoughts speaking to each other.
I had been right, it was a forest, exactly the kind we Andalites despise: the trees so close together that they blotted out all light. They were not normal trees either; they were monstrous, extending upward forever, it seemed, or at least so that I could not see the tops. I only knew of one planet that looked like this.
Is this a joke? I shouted to the trees, as there was no one else there. The outside world was silent, while inside my head my thoughts seemed to answer each other.
YOU ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER. I did not completely trust my physical senses, as they are easily manipulated, but they all told me that this was real. So what did I do now? I was trapped on the Hork-Bajir homeworld, the species I despised the most, without a clue as to how I got here and no means of escape. Perhaps the secret was here, in this clearing. Perhaps I would be as mysteriously transported back to---SAFETY? A sudden image flickered through my head of the blade ship turning, firing...
IS THAT YOUR SAFETY, ANDALITE? WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE RETURNED?
Who are you? I had an idea, but it was ridiculous. There were tales of all-powerful beings who interfered in mortal lives for a thrill, but for the life of me I could not remember what they were called. I had never had much interest in children's stories.
TYPICAL ANDALITE, ALWAYS ASKING THE WRONG QUESTIONS. IT SHOULD NOT BE WHO, BUT WHY. SURELY YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU WERE BROUGHT HERE.
Yes, I said cautiously. Now that the initial shock had passed, his impressive tone seemed a bit overdone.
THERE IS SOMEONE'S LIFE AT STAKE.
Who? my interest was peaked, but I felt as though he was making me jump through hoops.
HIS NAME IS FEN TALGOR. HE IS--
A Hork-Bajir, I hissed in disgust.
YES, AND THE LAST HOPE FOR HIS RACE ON THIS PLANET.
You have the wrong Andalite. They can all die as far as I am concerned.
THEY WILL NOT DIE. THEY WILL BE SLAVES OF THE YEERKS. WOULD YOU ALLOW THAT, DAKOR-SERINIAL-CORAN? He had found the Andalite code of honor that forbade us to let a race fall to the Yeerks if we could help it. I could not answer the question.
A faraway rustling made me aware of how quiet it had been up to this point. There were no animals, and except for the receding wind, no sound. Now a noise that had to be a long way off was coming to me with perfect clarity.
The strange presence that had been in my mind was momentarily forgotten as my curiosity overcame my fear. Cautiously, I stepped amongst the towering trees in an effort to pinpoint the exact location of the sound, which proved to be a challenge as it bounced off the trees, making it appear to come from everywhere.
It steadily grew louder, although I seemed to be moving in circles, until we both emerged into a clearing at the same time. On one side there was me, and on the other...three large Hork-Bajir chasing another. I felt my knees weaken beneath me. I had never actually seen a Hork-Bajir this close, and here was a whole herd of them!
Upon seeing me, they all skidded to a surprised stop. We stood motionless, staring at one another. The silence engulfed us, broken only by the rasping gasps of the Hork-Bajir in the lead. He looked terrible. Not only was he covered in dirt and undergrowth, but his skin bubbled under burns that could only be from dracon fire.
So this is the all-important one, I thought critically. He looked as thought he could keel over at any moment.
The controllers had recovered themselves, and were stirring to action. Three of them, armed, against a dying Hork-Bajir, and an Andalite aristh who had about as much skill in tail-fighting as a Taxxon. I could not have gotten worse odds if I had been female, but they were not getting any better the longer I stood there. And I would cut off my tail before I would die on account of a Hork-Bajir.
*A/N* Grr, I give up, there is just no way to end this chapter gracefully! So there you have it. Don't know when I'm gonna get a chance to write another chapter, but I'll try to make it soon.
