Chapter 4

Prince Elfangor and I explained to the humans about the Yeerks, giving them all the information we could in the little time he had left. I felt for him. His wounds would kill him, while I had suffered minor wounds. There would be nothing I could do to save my prince from certain death.

The humans were having a hard time accepting the fact that Elfangor was dying. They wanted to save him, no matter what it took. But both he and I knew it was futile. Even if they could save him...Visser Three would eventually track us down and destroy us.

Then, Prince Elfangor did something I never expected him to do. He sent the second brown-haired human into our fighter to retrieve the Escafil device...and gave these five human children the morphing technology.

I felt that cold, sick feeling again, and looked up to the sky with my main eyes. Even though I couldn't see it, I knew...the Blade ship was up there.

"Visser Three!" Prince Elfangor cried. I "He comes!"

"What?" the human who had gone into our ship, who appeared to be the leader of this small group, asked. His voice was shaking. "What's a Visser? Who's a Visser?"

"Go now. Run! Visser Three is here. He is the most deadly of your enemies. Of all Yeerks he alone has the power to morph. The same power you now have. Run!"

"No, we'll stay with you," the light-haired female said firmly. "Maybe we can help.

Elfangor smiled again at him with his eyes. "No. You must save yourselves. Save yourselves and save your planet! The Yeerks are here."

The humans looked up, craning their necks. Two red lights from the Bug fighters were sinking toward us. And they had been joined by the Blade ship.

"But how are we supposed to fight these...these Controllers?" the female demanded.

"You must find a way. Now run!"

The leader of the five humans jerked. "He's right. Run!"

Four of the young humans ran, as Prince Elfangor has instructed. The one who had spoken to us first, called Tobias, remained with us for a few more minutes. He knelt next to us, gently taking Elfangor's hand in one of his own strong human hands.

"Your mother..." Elfangor said quietly, focusing all four eyes on the young human. "Tell me about your mother, Tobias. Your family."

I was nearly as surprised as the human child when my prince made this request, but I instantly knew why he had made it. Everything was beginning to make sense. This human child was...he must have been Elfangor's son!

I had little to no experience reading human facial expressions, but I could tell Tobias was troubled.

"She...disappeared. When I was just little. I don't know what happened. I guess she died. People say she just left because she was messed up. They said she never got over my father. I don't know. But I know she has to be dead because she'd never have just left me. No matter what. But maybe that's just what I told myself. I don't exactly have a family."

At that moment, I felt a great swell of compassion for this young human. I do not know what made me do it, but I hesitantly wrapped an arm around his broad shoulders. He turned him head to look at me, shocked, but smiled at me gratefully. His free hand grasped mine that was on his shoulder, and I saw what Elfangor had described to me as "tears" in his eyes.

"Go to your friends, Tobias," Prince Elfangor said quietly, touching the side of the boy's face with a smile in his eyes. "They are your family now."

Still, the young human hesitated. His gaze shifted from Prince Elfangor to me. I nodded slowly.

"You should go quickly," I said quietly. "Save yourself and your friends."

"I don't want to let you die." Tobias's voice was firm, but not quite as demanding as I would have expected. I locked all four of my eyes on his two. It was amazing. Although he didn't know that Elfangor was his father, and although he didn't know of his Andalite heritage, he felt a very strong connection to us. And he refused to let us die as long as there was something he could do to stop it.

"Fear not, young Tobias," I assured him soothingly, reaching a hand up to run my palm gently along his cheek. "There will be others like us. More Andalites will come."

He reached up and wrapped his fingers carefully around my own, which still rested on his cheek. "You're going to die, and I don't even know your name..."

I twisted my hand around to gently grip his. "Saria-Semitur-Darcon, daughter of Alloran-Semitur-Corrass and Jahar-Escarn-Darrath. Warrior of the Andalite fleet." I bowed my head slightly, closing my main eyes and lowering my tail. I focused my stalk eyes on his eyes and spoke to him in private thought-speak. "Go. Protect your friends. I will do everything in my power to in turn protect my prince."

The young human's eyes shifted to my right foreleg. A chunk of metal from the small fighter was protruding from just above my hoof, blood caked around the wound. Ripping a long strip from his artificial skin, Tobias looked up to meet my main eyes.

"This might hurt a bit..."

I nodded, taking a deep breath and closing my eyes. At first, I could only hear Tobias mumbling something under his breath. Then, I felt tension on the shard of metal and, in another few seconds, intense pain. My eyes snapped open and my tail twitched involuntarily, but I stopped it half a foot from removing Tobias's head from his shoulders. I relaxed my tail, forcing myself to keep from screaming in pain.

Tobias carefully, tightly wrapped the strip of his artificial skin around the gaping wound, somehow managing to stop the bleeding. I looked down at him with all four eyes, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"That will do, Tobias," I said quietly. "Thank you. But now, you should go. Save yourself."

His eyes filled with tears again, and he wrapped his broad arms around my torso in what I believe is called a hug. I was surprised, but I returned the gesture. With one of his hands, he pressed my face against his shoulder and whispered into my ear.

"Be careful...and..." He broke off, and I felt him start to shake slightly. I pulled away from him, my eyes smiling at him.

"Go, Tobias. Your friends need you."

He backed away from me, looked at Prince Elfangor and took his hand, giving it a slight squeeze. Elfangor nodded, smiling at him as well. Then, Tobias was up and running, stumbling over the debris of the construction site.

A beam of red light snapped on, lighting Elfangor and I up, as well as our small fighter. A spotlight from a second Bug fighter joined the first, and they slowly started to descend. The Bug fighters, slightly larger than our own fighter, touched down on either side of our ship. I climbed shakily to my feet, my main eyes on Elfangor while my stalk eyes burned into the Bug fighters warily.

"Run, Saria."

I jumped in surprise at his command. "Prince Elfangor?"

"Run. Save yourself. I will die—that is inevitable. But you have a chance to survive. Run."

"I refuse to leave you, my prince."

"That is an order, Warrior Saria. Run."

Even if I had wanted to leave, at that moment I would not have been able to. My stalk eyes swung toward the sky as the Blade ship settled toward the ground. A large, mechanical Earth device disintegrated as the huge Yeerk vessel descended.

The hatch opened slowly, and then the Hork-Bajir-Controllers leaped from the ship. My main eyes remained fixed on my prince. He was concentrating, and I realized he must have been explaining what was happening to the human children.

Taxxon-Controllers poured from the ship next, their ten-foot-long bodies slithering like some sickening worm. Their rows of hundreds of teeth ringing the round mouths made my hearts beat faster. The Taxxons and Hork-Bajir spread out around the area, holding Dracon weapons tightly in their hands. I found myself praying that the humans would not be found out.

Then I felt it. I could feel his presence before he even took a step from the Blade ship. My stalk eyes swiveled to the opening in the Blade ship at the sound of hooves clanking on the metal ramp. The Hork-Bajir and Taxxon-Controllers all turned toward the ramp, alert and at attention. Then...he appeared.

"Visser Three," Elfangor said quietly, for both the human children and me. I knew he was elaborating for the humans, but I couldn't hear anything anymore. I couldn't even blink, holding my breath as Visser Three walked confidently toward us.

"Well, well," the Visser said. I positioned myself in front of Elfangor, my tail raised defiantly. "What have we here? A pair of meddling Andalites?" He looked more closely at our fighter. "Ah, but no ordinary Andalite warriors. Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, if I am not mistaken. And the young Saria-Semitur-Darcon. Two living legends. How many of our fighters did you two destroy up there? Seven, or was it eight by the time the battle ended? The very last Andalites in this sector of space. Yes, I'm afraid your Dome ship was completely destroyed."

"There will be others," Elfangor said defiantly.

Visser Three took a step closer to us. "Yes. And when they come it will be too late. This world will be mine, our greatest conquest, and I will be Visser One."

"What do you want with these Humans?" Elfangor demanded. "You have your Taxxon allies, your Hork-Bajir slaves, and other slaves from other worlds. Why these people?"

"Because there are so many, and they are so weak," Visser Three sneered. "Billions of bodies! And they have no idea what's happening. Our empire will grow as never before! Face it, Andalites, you have fought well and bravely. But you have lost."

My tail whipped forward and rested against his throat. The Hork-Bajir-Controllers and Taxxon-Controllers aimed their weapons at me, but Visser Three raised a hand, telling them to relax.

"Come now, young female," he mocked me, slowly raising his own tail. "I am a full-grown Andalite War-prince. You are nothing but a lowly Warrior. And a female, at that. You don't stand a chance against me."

"You know who I am, Visser," I snapped, my eyes narrowing. "You know what I am capable of."

His eyes widened. "Well, despite that fact, you'll still lose in a tail-fight."

"I am the one with the upper-hand here, Yeerk. One wrong move, and you will find yourself staring up at your host's headless body."

"You won't," he stated matter-of-factly, but he sounded as if he was trying to convince himself, as well. "You'd kill him, too. And I know you won't do that."

I pressed the blade into his flesh, drawing blood. "Try me, Yeerk. Just try me."

Suddenly, movement out of my right stalk eye. I barely managed to parry the Hork-Bajir's wrist blades with my own tail blade, kicking him away with my back legs. But I had made my mistake. Visser Three lashed out, the dull side of his blade hitting the back of my good knee. I collapsed to my knees, my tail pinned beneath me. The Hork-Bajir that had attacked me quickly ran over and pressed his wrist blade against my throat, and three more hurried over and held me down.

"I win," Visser Three mocked. His stalk eyes swiveled to Prince Elfangor, who was struggling to get to his feet. "I promise you one thing, my dear Andalites—when we have this planet, with its rich harvest of bodies, we will move against the Andalite home world. I will personally hunt down your families. And I will personally oversee the placement of my most faithful lieutenants in their heads. I hope that they will resist, so I can hear their minds scream."

Elfangor struck! His tail whipped up and over, nearly too fast for the eye to see. The Visser twisted his head aside, and Elfangor's tail blade missed it by a bare half-inch. But it sliced into his shoulder. Blood sprayed from the wound. The Visser howled in pain, a sound that held my father's agony in it, as well.

At the same time, a shredder beam shot from our fighter, slicing into the nearest Bug fighter. Hork-Bajir and Taxxons scattered as the Bug fighter sizzled and disappeared.

"Fire!" Visser Three yelled. "Burn the ship! Do it! NOW!"

Red Dracon beams shot from both the Blade ship and the remaining Bug fighter, hitting our small fighter. It glowed, and then slowly disintegrated.

"Take the Andalite," the Visser ordered his soldiers, glaring at Elfangor. "Hold him for me."

Three big Hork-Bajir grabbed my prince and held him down, their wrist blades at his throat.

"No!" I screamed, struggling against the Hork-Bajir holding me. I somehow managed to wriggle my tail free from beneath me and attacked. I slashed my Hork-Bajir captors to shreds, then scrambled to my feet and turned on the ones holding Elfangor.

"Saria, run!" he said to me in private thought-speak. "You still have a chance to escape. Go!"

"I will not leave you, my prince." I struck at the Hork-Bajir restraining him, but they were smarter than their comrades. They blocked my blade with their own, and even lashed out with their own bladed tails every now and then.

When I risked a glance at Visser Three with my stalk eyes, I realized that my frantic attack was hopeless. The Abomination was morphing, and quickly. He rose off the ground, his four legs melting into two and growing sturdier to support his rapidly increasing weight. Within mere minutes, I found myself gaping up at an Antarean Bogg morph.

A huge, muscular hand reached down toward us and ripped Prince Elfangor from the grasp of the Hork-Bajir.

"Prince Elfangor!" I yelled, taking a few steps forward, wincing as my weight shifted to my injured leg. "You monster! Put him DOWN!"

"Saria, stop! You must run! Save yourself while you can!" His plea made me hesitate, but I never took my gaze from him. All four of my eyes were fixed upward. I felt a stab of pain in my hearts. I couldn't let my prince die...

"I must save you, my prince! A Warrior's duty is to her prince!"

"That is correct, Warrior Saria. Now go. Run! That is an order."

"But...Prince Elfangor..."

"Go!"

For a few moments, I just stared up at him. "As you have ordered, my prince," I whispered, closing my main eyes. "So I shall. Please, forgive me for doing my duty..."

I turned and ran. The Controllers standing around me were too fixated on their leader to notice me. The Taxxons swarmed around him, hoping for a piece of meat to fall that they could devour to quiet their raging hunger. The Hork-Bajir began laughing and applauding. The Human-Controllers laughed along with them. And then, I heard the sound that will forever haunt me.

Prince Elfangor's very last cry. He cried out in agony as I heard the Visser's monstrous teeth ripping him apart. And as long as I live, my prince's cry will always be in my mind.

I galloped as fast as my hooves would carry me, going quite fast, despite the pain shooting up through my right foreleg. I ran until I was away from the square, hollow buildings and the bright lights. I ran until I found myself in an alien forest, until I couldn't run anymore. And then, I collapsed on the leaf- and needle-covered ground and faded out of consciousness.