Chapter 25: I am Here
There was a slight pause; the calm before the storm.
Riddick and the group of men sized each other up. Kyra stepped around Riddick, standing just to his left holding her own set of knives: Together they waited.
One of the men flipped the safety off on his gun, breaking the silence and making the group jump and shift uneasily. In that slight waver of concentration Riddick struck, Kyra following just behind his shoulder. They moved as a team smoothly, effortlessly through the inexperienced captors; barely a sound had a chance to be uttered before the men were cut down. Riddick came to the last man and with a final thrust and slash the man fell. His eyes met Riddick's blank goggles for a moment as he crumpled; his eyes wide and mouth opened in a silent scream.
Riddick looked over to Kyra as the man's eyes turned glassy, making sure she was alright. Her hair was wild around her face and her chest was heaving from the fight. She met his gaze and nodded slightly, letting him know she was okay. They turned to the small group of citizens they had rescued; all of whom were staring at them in shock, huddled together; all except for the father, who had crawled over to his daughter and was now kneeling down in the street holding onto his sobbing little girl as though he would never let her go. He looked up at Riddick and Kyra and with tears in his eyes and a smile on his lips he whispered, "Thank you."
The moment of relief was destroyed, suddenly, by the sound of many pounding feet coming from all directions. Raising his head, Riddick slowly looked around him; his grasp tightening on his knives. Soldiers were coming at them from all four sides: Thirty or forty at least. As they came to the intersection they stopped, surrounding the six standing in the center; cutting off all routes of escape.
Quickly Riddick glanced around and spotted a large arched doorway. Looking back at the ragged little group he pointed towards the door way, "MOVE!" he yelled.
The men charged into the intersection.
Riddick sprinted towards the group of peasants, wrapped his arms around the two elderly women and ran towards the arched doorway, pushing them along in front of him. As he shoved the two women into the doorway, he reached out and grabbed the little girl from her father who had followed Riddick with her in his arms, and handed her to one of the women.
Riddick, Kyra, and the two ragged peasant men, the youngest of whom seemed to be in his late fifties, turned their backs on the door way, creating a wall. Riddick and Kyra tossed each of the men a knife and they all stood tensed as the mob ran toward them, weapons drawn.
As the men drew nearer Riddick said softly to Kyra, his eyes remaining on the charging men, "Let's play." and with that Riddick dove into them; slashing the first one down.
Kyra and the two men joined him and soon the air was full of the sounds of battle and the screams of the wounded and dying. Time seemed to drag on as they fought, men falling, dying; their curses and gasps filling the air. The old man fighting with Riddick on his left fell, cut down by two young soldiers hardly out of their teens.
Riddick fought on. He had cut a huge swath through the mob and had reached a slight lull. As he looked around he saw that Kyra had stopped all forward progression. A large group of men had almost surrounded her, believing her to be the weakest link in the group. Many had died for that lack of judgment already, but they were being replaced over and over again; Riddick could see by Kyra's movements that she was beginning to fatigue. Quickly he turned and slashed his way to her side. Together they broke through, fighting side by side; a perfect, deadly team.
Finally the tides turned; men were scattered over the ground, blood pooled in the many potholes and coated the road, making it slick. Men began to turn and run, trying to get away from the apparently indestructible pair that had almost single handedly wiped out well over ten times their number. The few that didn't run died quickly and joined their brothers on the ground. Kyra slashed the throat of one more man and the three of them turned, looking for their next victim.
No one was left; there were only a few of the men still visible, running away down the street.
With impossible swiftness Riddick grabbed one of the whips off the be-headed man's belt and flicked it out, catching one of the fleeing men around the neck and jerking him back violently. The soldier came to an instant stop and flew several feet backward, clawing at the whip biting into his neck. Riddick walked up to the choking man and yanked him to his feet by the front of his shirt, spun him around and clamped him against his chest in one smooth movement. With a tiny flick of his wrist, Riddick cut the whip from around the man's neck, allowing him to gasp for breath.
Laying his blade against the man's throat Riddick asked, "Do you want to live?" The man quickly contemplated his chances of escape without answering, and finding them not in his favor, he nodded vigorously.
"Then you tell me who you work for." Riddick said softly, coldly.
The young man hesitated and glanced around quickly as though looking for help. "Tell me. Now." Riddick stated and pressed the knife against the skin so that a tiny trickle of blood ran down the man's neck.
"El…Elder Declan." The man answered, lowering his eyes and freezing all movement.
"Why all this?" Riddick demanded, glancing around the intersection at the smashed food and broken crates; looking at the starved peasants.
"They…They aren't supposed to buy and sell…They are sup - supposed to eat only their rations. The rest is supposed to go to the treasury! They are stealing from the Elders when they keep some to t-trade." He stuttered nervously.
"So, they're just supposed to starve and die quietly, right?" Kyra said walking up and stopping face to face with the man. "Fuck you." She said and kicked the side of his knee. A sickening crack split the air and the man gave out a pitiful scream as his knee shattered.
Riddick looked over the man's head at Kyra; he saw the same consuming anger and hatred in her eyes as he had seen on Crematoria when she had charged the hatch from the underground tunnels, shooting away, risking her life just to get one more shot off.
He dropped the man where he stood with a last look at the little girl and her father, making sure they were alright and seeing them locked safely in each other's arms, he turned and headed back to the capitol building with a seething Kyra right beside him.
Elder Declan was pacing his chambers; the counsel with Riddick had not gone the way he had planned. The man had showed no respect and had thrown his words back into his face! "How dare he?! Who does he think he is, coming here and speaking to me, ME, that way!" he thought as he did an about face and headed back across the room. "At least he didn't said he wanted the leadership of Furya…That is something at least…But then again, he didn't say he didn't want it either…And was that a threat he had tossed at me on his way out? What did he mean I will never know him?" Jealousy and fear were beginning to take their toll on the Elder, making him angry. "I hope he, the girl, and his priestess just fly away and never come back…We don't need them here!"
A loud gong sounded from the council chamber, calling the seven Elders to the council at once. "Now what?" Elder Declan thought as he stalked out of his room.
He met several of the others in the hallway and they entered the chamber together. They stopped at once, taking in the sight before them: Riddick and Kyra were standing in the center of the room, blood was smeared across their chests and arms; sweat had made streaks through the dirt and grime on their faces, and a matching blue mark burned clearly on their upper chests for all to see. Accusation, anger, disgust were written clearly on both of their faces, and worse; both were holding deadly looking knives in their hands.
As they all stood there, Shirah ran into the chamber followed by the many townsfolk who had heard that something was happening in the council chamber and had come to see what was going on.
Elder Declan quickly assessed the situation and decided that the best action would be to be forceful and direct… "Make everyone see these people for who they are…Imposters!" he thought.
"What have you done!?" he shouted striding forward; the other Elders followed him a little more hesitantly and took their seats, they thought it was rather rash to approach an alpha Furyan in such a manner, so they stayed back.
"We spoke to one of your men, Elder." Riddick said softly, calmly, mockingly. A perfect offset to Elder Declan's bluster.
"My men? You spoke to one of my men?" Declan asked, trying to sound more confident than he felt. Obviously looking them up and down, pointing out the blatant signs of violence, he asked, "What did you do to him?"
"We saw them crashing a little party in the outskirts. They didn't play nice." Riddick drawled. "We stepped in when it got too ugly. We asked one of the men what they were doing and you know what he said, Declan?" Riddick took a step closer.
"He said you sent them."
No sooner had Riddick said these words than there was a disturbance at the door. Several men stumbled in; most of them wounded, tattered, broken and covered in blood. "Make way! Make way!" They yelled, shoving people roughly out of their way.
They stopped dead, however, when they saw who was standing in the middle of the floor. "Elder Declan! It was them! They attacked us out of nowhere when we were breaking up an illegal trade gathering!" One of the men yelled.
Elder Declan turned at looked at Riddick, "Is this true? Is this what you have been going on about? How DARE you attack my men! They are working under MY orders. They were breaking up that trade gathering for the good of all the people of Furya. You have NO RIGHT to be here, and you have NO RIGHT to interfere! Seize them!" He yelled to the guards along the walls; spit flying from his mouth in his rage.
In the blink of an eye, Riddick had a knife to Elder Declan's throat. "Hold!" He yelled at the guards who had run forward towards them. Everyone froze, not a sound was heard as all breathing stopped.
"For the 'good of the people'?" Riddick asked, his voice rang out as cold as ice. "Is it for the 'good of the people' that they are starving? Is it for the 'good of the people' that they are attacked when they are trying to get food to eat?" He stepped forward even farther so that their faces were inches apart. "Is it for the 'good of the people' that your men attack little children? FUCK YOU!" He roared and threw the Elder back against his towering seat.
"You will no longer starve these people for your own gain. You will not take away their freedom. These people will be able to rebuild what was taken away from them. We will settle our past, so there will be a future. You no longer have power over the people, old man. I am here.