Tomorrow's Yet to Come

Chapter Thirty – Liz is on a Mission

"She should be back by now," Liz whispered to Maria.

"You think I don't know that?" Maria whispered back. "Something must have gone wrong. We need to go find her."

"No we don't," whispered Liz. "Look." She nodded her head in the direction of the door, and Maria turned around to see Ava standing in the doorway, a triumphant smile playing around her mouth.

"Sorry I took so long," she said, quietly. "I ran into someone. Don't worry; everything is fine. I'll tell you about it later on." She stopped talking when Jara Kobodi entered the room.

"Natural healers, you will come with me," she commanded imperiously."

"Wait!" Liz whispered. "I need a sample of your blood." She slipped two vials out of her pouch, and quickly filled them with samples of Maria and Ava's blood. "I'm so glad Isabel taught me that trick," she murmured, thinking back to the time they substituted Alex's blood for Max's.

"Thanks a lot, Vampira," Maria said. Liz watched as her two friends followed the rest of the natural healers out of the room. She turned her attention to what Plash Nevenia was saying, but she couldn't focus. Her mind kept wandering between her findings in her experiments, Ava's cryptic comments, and the hatred, which emanated off of Jara Kobodi whenever she was around Maria and Ava. She'd never seen any teacher hate a student as much, not even Michael when he deigned to show up for classes.

"You are dismissed Elandria," Plash Nevenia said, standing in front of her. Liz shook her head, and focused on the now empty classroom.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I was thinking about something."

"Yes, that is obvious," said the instructor. "If you have a moment, I'd like to discuss the compound you and your co-workers created. What is its purpose?"

"Um, to eradicate infection," said Liz. "I just need to find some infected cells to test it on."

"Excellent," said the instructor. "You are excused from the rest of your classes. You are to go to this address," she wrote something down on a slip of paper. They will have everything that you need. Go, now, quickly, but be back in time for the evening meal. Bring your purchases to class tomorrow, and you can begin your tests."

"Thank you," said Liz. She quickly gathered her belongings and exited the classroom. She was very wary of Plash Nevenia. Experience had taught her that there were very few people on their side, and the fewer people they trusted, the better.

Liz ran up to her living quarters, and deposited her school things, and ran back down stairs. She slipped out a side door, and began to walk away from the Training Academy. Seeing the city on market day had been like seeing a carnival, but seeing it like this was even more exciting. The market place was less crowded, and Liz was able to engage in people watching. Everywhere she looked, she saw Antarians going about their business, but none of them were happy. There was a solemn feeling in the market place that she couldn't begin to explain.

Liz paused before the restaurant where they had found Che'koth the first time they went into town, but she did not see him anywhere. She sighed, but continued on her way. A little bit of company would have been nice, but she wasn't going to let a lack of it ruin her day. A crowd of people rushed past her, and Liz jumped out of the way to avoid being trampled. She stood to one side as more and more people began to rush down the street to the markets center. She continued walking down the winding street until it opened up to the giant market center. There, a large crowd gathered, listening to a man standing on a platform, making a speech.

"We must overthrow the tyrannical ropes that bind us!" screamed the man. We must free ourselves of the oppressor who has overthrown the one true king, Zan. Brothers, stand with me and fight for freedom. Fight for King Zan!" The crowd took up his cry, and soon the market entered with the roar of the crowd. "Fight for King Zan! Fight for King Zan!"

Liz tried to extricate herself from the chanting crowd, but found herself hemmed in on all sides. She fought harder as the chants turned to screams of pain. She looked toward the platform, and saw the man being dragged down by the Aberjani. She watched in horror as they began to beat him, and yet he still called out to the crowd to fight for King Zan, with his last breath.

"Let me out of here," she cried as she tried to push her way through the throng of stampeding people. She was just about to break through the crowd, when a hand reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Not so fast, rebel," crowed the Aberjani who had captured her. "You will join the other rebel scum we have captured to go on trial for treason against Lord Kivar."

"I am not a rebel, you simple minded idiot," shouted Liz as she struggled to break free from his grasp. "I got caught in the crowd. Now let me go."

"Coward," said the Aberjani. "You are willing to speak out against Kivar when you are but one of the faceless crowd, but how quickly you throw down your beliefs when you are confronted.

"I said let me go," said Liz. She twisted her body so that she was facing her captor, and, using her free hand, grabbed the back of the hand, which held her arm. She applied pressure to the back of the hand the way Sheriff Valenti had shown her, and twisted his wrist, causing the Aberjani to drop to his knees in agony.

"What have we here?" said a loud voice behind her. "One of the rebel scum has brought one of my Aberjani to his knees?"

"If you please, Sir," said Liz. "I am not a rebel. My instructor sent me to the market place to get some materials I will need for a project tomorrow. I got caught up in the crowd. I tried to free myself from the mob, but there were too many of them. See, I have a note from my instructor, telling me where to go, and what to purchase." She passed the man the note given to her by Plash Nevenia, and held her breath.

The man took the note and read it. He looked at Liz, and at the Aberjani who was still on his knees.

"What did you do to my soldier?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, sir, but he was hurting me, and he wouldn't listen. I tried to explain to him, really I did. But he wouldn't let me go, and I just reacted or something, and he ended up on the ground."

"Do you know who I am, little girl?" asked the man. Liz shook her head, and caught her lower lip between her teeth. "I am General Kobodi, head of the Aberjani, and second in command to Lord Kivar, and you, little girl, have shamed one of my warriors. I want to know how you did it!"

"Give me your hand," Liz commanded.

"What?" said the aghast Kobodi. He was the general. Who was this mere snip of a girl giving him orders?

"You said you wanted to know what I did, well, give my your hand, and I'll show you," said Liz. She waited impatiently for a second, then reached out and grabbed the general's hand, pressed her thumb into the pressure point on the back of his wrist and twisted his arm just enough to cause him some pain. She was smart enough to realize this was one person she didn't want to bring to his knees. She relaxed the pressure on his hand, and stepped back and waited.

"Hmm, that's very interesting," blustered Kobodi. He glanced at the note he had taken from Liz earlier and shoved it back into her hand. "Fine, be on your way," he said. "And I advise you to chose your path more carefully next time. You!" he shouted at the Aberjani that Liz had incapacitated. "You are to punished. You let that mere slip of a girl do this to you. You who are supposed to be the pride of the Antarian army!"

"Please General Kobodi, you don't understand," pleaded the other man.

"Silence, I grow weary of the sound of your voice!" shouted the General. He released a bolt of energy in the direction of the man. He screamed in pain. The screams intensified as the general released another bolt in his direction.

Liz stood transfixed in horror at the sight before common sense forced her to turn and run. She ran as if the hounds of hell were chasing her, straight into the arms of Che'koth.