Chapter 31: Talk

"No." Riddick said quietly, "Kyra didn't leave. First of all, her stuff is still in our room. Second, Kyra doesn't run. She has never run from anything and she won't."

He met Shirah's unbelieving face and stiffened, "You told me once that I was strong where Kyra was weak and she was strong where I was weak. One way we're different is that Kyra doesn't run. I've always run when I could to save my own ass.

"If there was one thing she ever showed me it is that I can't run for the rest of my life, I have to stop and risk it all or else lose it all. She understood that, has always understood that there are things worth risking everything for. She never ran away. She was always chasing something." He paused. "I stopped running and I stayed on this planet because she is worth the risk, now, it's my turn to chase."

His eyes bore into Shirah's and she nodded slightly. She still wasn't convinced that Kyra didn't leave but she knew for certain that no matter what else happened; Riddick would find her. Or die trying.

She was also worried about what his 'chase' could do to the Furyan people: He had freed them from the tyrannical reign of the Elders, Elder Declan in particular, and gave them the time they needed for hope to spark within the people. But could all their work survive without him? She looked out a nearby window and saw people going about their daily business; smiles were on their faces as they greeted each other and Shirah had to answer that yes it could. Thanks to him they were rebuilding and the people had new energy; Shirah knew that even if he was gone they could continue…Slower to be sure, but the rebuilding would go on.

Shirah was distracted from these thoughts by the sudden entrance of two temple guards. Both she and Riddick turned towards them as they placed their hands on their marks in the customary Furyan sign of respect. "We found out what we could about the missing ship." One of the guards said hurriedly, "There was no flight plan submitted by the ship and according to the flight controller it left reporting only five passengers on board who were heading out for a short pleasure cruise. I am sorry but that is all we know, flight control couldn't tell us more." They saluted again and left.

Shirah looked back at Riddick whose face remained unreadable and said with great sympathy, "I am sorry Riddick…Another dead end." She took a deep breath, "It is late – or rather early. Get some sleep and we can begin our search again later." With that she stood, gave him an encouraging smile which he ignored, and left for the temple.

The second moon was just beginning to set as Riddick crept through the door of the aviation headquarters and slid into the shadows. Several guards were making their rounds; one walked so close to Riddick that he could see a tiny, nearly invisible scar on the guard's cheek through his goggles. After the guard walked by, Riddick continued along the wall, silent as a ghost. Finally, staying in the shadows, he made his way past the remaining guards and slipped undetected through the door at the far end of the room.

Without hesitation Riddick continued on until he found the flight control tower and a single man slouched in his chair sleeping. The young man started and fell sideways out of his chair when he awoke and saw the big man standing over him. It took only a moment for Riddick to immobilize and secure him in the old metal chair. Then, with shiv in hand, Riddick pulled a matching chair in front of the pale young man, faced it backwards and sat, straddling the back and making himself comfortable.

"Talk." Riddick ordered quietly breaking the frightened man's focused concentration on the shiv Riddick held casually, comfortably, in his hand and causing him to jump.

"What? Talk about what? What are you doing in here?" The man whimpered loudly.

Riddick lunged forward, knocking his chair out of the way and placed his long, curved shiv threateningly close to the man's groin and hovering over the femoral artery. He didn't have time for this. "TALK!" Riddick roared and predictably the frightened man pressed backwards into his chair and nodded quickly.

"Fine…Fine! You want to know about the flight? I'll tell you anything you need to know!" His words tumbled out of his mouth in a rush. Riddick removed his knife, righted his chair and leaned back against it, tapping his shiv against his own leg as a reminder. The man got the point and hurried on, "They radioed for permission to take off right after I came on shift. I asked how many passengers were on board…They reported five. Um…Four men and a woman. I asked for a flight plan, they said they didn't have one…They just wanted to go for a spin. I let them go… That's all" He said breathlessly.

Riddick stood, "That almost sounded convincing. Now, tell me the real story." The man hesitated so Riddick gave him some encouragement with the back of his fist; smashing the side of the man's face and breaking his nose.

Bloodied and whimpering, the man finally began to speak, blubbering and swearing the whole time. According to the man's story a group of people had set up an involved scheme to kidnap Kyra. The plan as far as the man knew was to go something like this: A woman was to pick a fight with Kyra and lure her into the city; four hired men were going to pick her up and take her to the hanger after the man that they had paid off was on shift…Him. He was to let them go and tell anyone who asked his cover story.

"That's all I know, I swear. I was just supposed to take the money and keep my mouth shut! Please…That's all I know." He said pitifully around his rapidly swelling split lip and fell silent.

Riddick looked impassively into the trembling man's eyes but a threatening and barely concealed energy radiated from him. "You know who did this." It wasn't a question.

"No! No, I don't…I swear." He said panicking and pulling himself as far back into his chair as he could.

Riddick merely stepped closer and silently laid his shiv against the man's throat in a silent promise. "No! Please!" he begged but didn't continue so, slowly, Riddick began pulling the blade across the tender skin right under his jaw drawing a thin, red line with the edge of the knife. Blood slowly began to trickle down the man's neck as he moaned in terror and began to babble, "Fine! Fine…I'll tell you everything! It was the Feore family! Elder Declan set up the whole thing and he had his niece, Louna Feore, taunt the girl into a fight…I heard something went wrong…The girl, Kyra, almost killed Louna but it all worked out anyway…She ran into the city leaving Louna alive… The Elder said something about punishing her for that since Louna is the youngest of that family, th-the 'pride of their family' or something like that he said…I don't know what the punishment was…But…But that's what happened. That's all. Please…" His voice dropped to a defeated whisper, "that's all I know."

He looked up and saw cold fury on Riddick's face: It was like nothing he had ever seen before. To him it was like the face of death and it would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life.

Anger and hatred seemed to radiate off the man before him; he seemed to vibrate with it. Then, with a movement so swift that the man had no time to react, a giant fist flew forward and smashed into his face, knocking him out cold. It would be hours before he awoke.

Shirah awoke shortly before mid-day. She pulled on her priestly robes, tied her long hair back from her freshly washed face and headed out the door toward the capitol building. She walked through the arched doorway and into the council chamber expecting to see Riddick already there but she was surprised to see the chamber empty except for the few guards standing around the room. With a slight shrug she continued on towards Riddick and Kyra's rooms but the loud bang of the chamber door opening caught her attention. Turning quickly back toward the sound she saw several of her temple guards run into the chamber. "Priestess! Priestess" They shouted over each other when they saw her, creating a ruckus that drew several of the Elders and their aids out of their rooms and the halls into the chamber; creating a small audience.

"What is the problem?" Shirah asked, instantly worried.

Now that they had her attention they glanced amongst themselves and then, finally, one of the guards stepped forward; "The Feore's are dead! Every last one of them was slaughtered this morning." Gasps and murmurs spread throughout the chamber and the blood rushed from Shirah's face as she realized that she knew what the guard would say next. He continued, "Another ship is missing from the hanger…And the Riddick is gone."