Chapter 31: Last One Standing.
As soon as she heard the scream Sela eleth was already moving, bursting out of the cave with her weapons drawn the first thing she saw was Shena on the ground trying desperately to move, her hands were stretched out in the direction of the forest and there was no sign of her brother anywhere.
Dashing to Shena's side the first thing she saw was the dart on the floor next to her, the second thing she saw was the tears streaming down her face as well of the look of pure rage in her eyes, "What happened? Where's Ryan?" she asked grabbing Shena's shoulders and lifting her up to face her,
"He took him" Shena said in a distraught sounding voice,
"Who took him? The bad bloods?" Sela asked her heart already sinking, Shena looked at her and tried to shake her head but it came off as limp wobble thanks to the paralysis toxin,
"No" she said,
"Then who? Who took my brother!?" Shena asked her voice filling with desperation now,
"An Arbiter of my clan" Shena said her voice sounding pretty confused,
"The Shadow Claw clan are here!?" Sela exclaimed,
"He exiled me and took Ryan" Shena said, Shena's heart really sank now, but there was still a chance, the Shadow Claw clan were an honorable clan so there was a chance for them to get him back,
"Where did he take him?" Sela asked quickly,
"To face trial" Shena responded, this confused Sela eleth what had he done wrong?
"Trial? Trial for what?" she asked,
"For being an abomination and for courting me" Shena replied her voice choking up on her tears, Shena was filled with rage now, how dare they judge her beloved brother for merely existing, who the hell did they think they were passing judgement on people for simply being alive and for daring to develop feelings for another, especially when those feelings were being returned in equal measure.
"Which way did he go?" she asked in a sharp voice looking at the tearful Shena, she tried to point but her arm refused to move, in the end she ended up just gesturing with her head in a sort of wobbly nod, Sela's first instinct was to go racing off to find her beloved brother, but she couldn't run out into the forest at night leaving Shena here helpless, she'd be defenseless if anything like the bad bloods came her way, she had to clear this toxin out of her body and get her moving then they could both go after her brother and seeing the seething rage in Shena's eyes Sela was sure she wanted a chance to get her own back, so turning she quickly dragged the paralyzed huntress back into the cave and placed her on the bed, then she turned and immediately started rummaging through all the powdered herbs and medicines her matriarch had left behind when she'd lived here.
It took an hour and quite a potent mixture of herbs and detoxifiers to purge Shena's body of the paralyzing toxin, it wasn't a pleasant process for her and most of the time she'd spent being sick or shaking uncontrollably while her body sweated out the toxin, Sela was just glad she'd paid attention to her Matriarch when she'd taught her the uses of local fauna for medicinal purposes, but now Shena although far from being at a hundred percent was up and raring to go after Ryan.
The pair of them armed up taking all the weapons they could find including some that her Matriarch had left behind in the cave, with her AS50 in the shoulder and scanning ahead of them Sela followed as Shena led.
Shena was following the signs in the trees of which direction the Arbiter had taken, normally a hunter as skilled as an Arbiter would be almost impossible to track, but while he was carrying an unconscious male on his shoulder he would be impaired, there were subtle signs for her to follow like a trail of bread crumbs, a gouge in the tree bark where his boots had scuffed it after a heavy jump, a claw mark from having to grab onto a branch to steady himself, broken branches here and there where he'd sacrificed stealth for speed, each of them read like a map to Shena's eyes and she followed it with a cold seething determination, after a life of scorn and ridicule this had been the final straw, not only had this Arbiter not even bothered to kill her and grant her an honorable death choosing instead to exile and shame her, but he'd also taken the only thing in her life that had meant anything to her, it was now that she realized the truth behind Tik eleth's words in her diary, her clan although considered honorable and exalted among other clans, treated anyone that didn't fit their ideal of a Yaujta like dirt and punished them for it, whether it was for something they could control or not.
Now they had over stepped the line, they had taken this innocent male who had committed no crime other than existing and developing feelings for her and daring to express them, outside of her immediate family he was only person who had treated her honorably and as an equal, despite the fact that when she had found out what he was she had scorned him, this wonderful beautiful special male had proved to her his honor and his intentions in doing what he had done for her, now it was her turn to prove hers to him, not only was she going to get him back she was going to spit in the face of her clan in the process, just like Tik eleth before her, she knew now that there was another way and given the chance she was going to take it.
They followed the trail through the trees and on the ground for at least two hours, it eventually led them to a ridge overlooking a massive valley, Shena stopped in a tree on the ridge line that looked right down into the valley and was swiftly joined by Sela who had been running along the forest floor but now jumped up into the tree, "He's down there somewhere I know it" Shena said quietly, Sela scanned the valley with the scope of her powerful rifle from left to right, then something drew her attention and Shena noticed her track it back and refocus the scope, "What do you see?" she asked, Sela glanced away from her scope at her new friend,
"Take a look" she said holding out he rifle to her, Shena took the massive rifle from her and she looked through the scope which took a little getting used to while wearing a hunting mask, but she soon got the hang of it and was instantly impressed by the level of magnification these ooman weapons provided, "On the other side of the valley do you see the small lake on the plateau?" Sela asked, Shena scanned the scope back and forth till she had it lined up,
"Got it" she said,
"Look to the left of the water" Sela said, Shena did as she was told but saw nothing, "Look at the way the trees are leaning" Sela clarified seeing that her friend blatantly saw nothing, Shena looked and at first she was about to say that there was nothing there, that was till she saw a frond drop from a tree and slide down something that wasn't there, that's when she noticed that four of the trees were being forced over at an odd angle,
"A cloaked ship!" she exclaimed,
"Bingo" Sela said, Shena glanced at her,
"What the pauking hell is a bingo?" she asked, Sela shrugged,
"No idea but it's something that my father says when he finds something he's lost, figured it was appropriate" she said with a grin under mask,
"Right then what the pauk are we waiting for let's get over there and get my male back" Shena said the anger and impatience obvious in her voice, Sela snorted a laugh at the fact that Shena was already describing Ryan as her male after only two days but then her father and Matriarch had been the same way, maybe it was a Shadow Claw clan thing, then she saw Shena eyeing her,
"What's so funny?" she asked turning to face her,
"Nothing but we can't go charging over there without a plan of attack, this is an Arbiter we're dealing with and if the stories my Matriarch told me about them then they're a lot like my father" Sela said,
"So?" Shena said,
"That means that they are someone to really worry about and to take rather pauking seriously, so if we go charging in unprepared then we both end up dead and he still takes Ryan" Sela said, now it was Shena's turn to huff, but it was a huff of agreement, the Arbiters really were people to e feared, they were among the most fearless and exalted Yaujta warriors and they were certainly not fools, lowering the rifle and handing it back to Sela she looked a little chastised,
"Any ideas? She asked, Sela smiled slyly below her mask,
"Just one, it's a long shot but it might just work" she said.
As she moved through the trees towards the lake Shena found herself wondering why the Arbiter had not left yet, she figured that he must be sending a report to the clan ship of what had occurred, maybe he was even in direct contact with them right at this very moment.
Then her thought's wandered to Ryan and her heart started to beat faster, a mixture of loss and rage boiled in her blood, it was true that they hadn't known each other very long at all, but did that make their feelings any less valid? She herself couldn't believe that in this very short period of time this whirlwind of feelings and emotions had blown through her and turned everything that she'd ever known and believed on its head, she'd always been taught that love was something that had to be developed and nurtured, that it didn't just develop on its own and a lot of time was required for it to happen, in fact she remembered something her own Matriarch had said to her when she was small when she'd asked her how she and father had met, that she and her father hadn't fallen in love till years after knowing each other, in fact when they were first introduced they couldn't stand each other, but over time and after rutting together the feelings had just happened so slowly that neither of them had even properly noticed till it was too late, but then there were others who had just had took look at one another to know that they were going to be together forever. In fact, this caused her to remember something that had been written in Tik eleth's diary, it was something Jack had said when Tik had been talking to him about it when she was trying to understand how quickly had she not only fallen in love with him but had abandoned all her taught principles for him, apparently oomans called it love at first sight and that it was rare but it usually happened when you met your true soul mate, it seemed that Tik eleth had met her one and only true soul mate in the ooman called Jack and they had just clicked into place with one another right away, it was those words that fit how she felt about Ryan so perfectly, she had no doubt in her mind that he was her soul mate and she didn't care how long she had known him, to her it felt like she'd known him her entire life, like he'd always been there somewhere in her soul calling out to her and now she'd finally met who that voice had belonged to, when they'd linked she'd felt her own feelings for him mirrored back to her from him and she'd known right at that moment that it was meant to be, but now he'd been taken from her and she now knew that she'd do anything to get him back.
Upon reaching the edge of the lake where the cloaked ship was located Shena activated her cloaking device and began he circle around the edge of the lake, even though it was cloaked Shena could hear the soft thrum of the engines, that meant that the Arbiter was already on board with Ryan and had powered the ship up, this meant that she had to move quickly if this plan was going to have a chance to succeed, the grass around the lake was long and she had to watch that she wasn't making too obvious a trail through it as she approached where the ship was parked, when she was close she took one of the device's that Sela had given her, she looked at it and turned it over in her hands, for some reason she didn't trust this ooman technology, despite the fact she'd seen with her own eyes how powerful one of their rifles was and even then Sela had said that that one was a piece of junk compare to one of her fathers upgraded models, she'd have still rather had a plasma caster any day, but in its absence this would have to do, then taking a deep breath she pulled the small metallic pin out of it and a small leaver had flicked off, then she pitched it hard, but not at the cloaked ship but into the water right next to it.
After a few seconds there was a loud but dull thud from under the water and a massive plume of it shot into the air drenching everything around the area, as soon as the water made contact with the ship the cloak started sparking and shorting, Sela had been right when she'd said that Yaujta cloaking tech really didn't like water, a second later there was a massive crack followed by a boom from the direction of the tree where Sela was camped, the massive projectile bounced off the armored hull of the ship but it did further disrupt the cloak causing large parts of the ship to become visible temporarily, more booms and more round pinged off the ship's armored hull, just as she was grinning at how well the plan was working Shena noticed the large twin guns on top of the ship start to turn as the Arbiter tried to zero on where the shots were coming from, Sela must have noticed as well because the bullets started pinging off the gun's themselves as they turned, Shena chose that moment to break cover and run to the ship and straight up to the hatch, she pressed the button for it to open and there was a series of whirring noises from behind the metal and then the large dark metal hatch began to roll open, quick as a flash she stepped inside and pressed another button on the far wall to close the outer hatch and cycle the air lock, as soon as she did a klaxon started sounding and the outer hatch sealed but the other one didn't open, she began to punch the button over and over again, "Come on!" she said desperately as she pounded the button,
"You are resourceful little one I have to give you that, but did you seriously think that I'd have a ship with no counter measures for intrusion?" the Arbiters voice boomed through a speaker, Shena banged her fist against the inner door in frustration, then from above her she heard the ship's cannons loose off a set of shots and she prayed that Sela eleth had managed to get the pauk out of the way of it, then the whole ship shook and she was thrown painfully against the wall and she realized that they were lifting off, then the whole ship banked over and she was thrown against the outer door with a thud that knocked the air out of her, "This is where you get off" the Arbiter's voice said through the speaker and with a whoosh the outer door shot open with incredible speed and suddenly she was flying, or rather falling straight down towards the lake.
As soon as she'd seen those big cannons line up on her hide Sela eleth had jumped from the tree and set off running through the forest, it had proved to be a well-timed move as only seconds later the entire area where she had been was vaporized by the blast from the massive guns, then she watched the ship take off and bank violently over to the left and as she watched she saw the outer door fly open and a small figure was ejected into the air, "Oh pauk Shena!" she exclaimed as she saw her new friend falling from the ship towards the lake, the plan had failed but she had to reach her friend, she turned to look for a path down the valley but as she did she was surprised to see a figure dressed all in black stood to her left, her initial thought was that it was a bad blood but as she moved to level her rifle and fire it she was hit in the chest by something that sent a huge shock through her body causing all muscles to spasm uncontrollably, she instantly lost control of herself and dropped the massive gun before falling on her face, then she felt something sharp being jabbed into her upper shoulder and her head began to feel all swimmy and fuzzy, "Who are you?" she slurred trying to not only control her spasming mandibles but whatever was just pumped into her fuzzed her head and made her tongue feel numb, it was at that this point through the fuzzy she realized that this person was way too small to be a Yaujta not unless they were her age anyway and that was the last thought that hit her brain before it all went black.
Shena felt really strange, she felt like she was floating back in her Matriarch's womb, it was such a comfortable feeling that she felt like she could just curl up and there would be nothing to worry about anymore, then as she was contemplating doing just that a voice spoke to her in the darkness, "Don't you dare give up! Don't you dare go into the darkness! You are Shena Black Crest full blooded huntress, you stand up and you fight! Now FIGHT!" it yelled in her head, t sounded oddly familiar and then a face flashed into the darkness, it was a handsome young Yaujta male and for some reason she felt connected to this person somehow, "I am waiting for you, if you want me you're going to have to fight for me, now FIGHT!" the voice roared again, then a name swam into her dark void, Ryan it whispered and suddenly her mind flashed with blinding white light and the male was back this time surrounded by a roaring white fire that swirled around him, that's when it all came flooding back to her.
Shena took a huge gasping breath and opened her eyes, in a panic she looked around herself and everything was blurry, there seemed to be large wavy plants all around her and she realized that she was under water, luckily for her the hunting mask she was wearing doubled as a rebreather, quickly trying to orientate herself she swam upwards and burst her head out of the water, she was in the middle of the lake that the Arbiter's ship had been parked next to, she painfully swam over to the shore nearest to her and she flopped onto her back breathing heavily as she looked into the sky in the direction that the ship had gone. She felt so completely useless and like a complete failure Ryan was long gone she had been thrown out of an air lock and Sela could have been incinerated for all she knew, "Oh pauk Sela!" she said sitting up sudden enough that it caused spots to flash into her vision, looking over to the area where the ship had fired there was nothing, no tree and no fire, what's more it was perfectly visible due to the daylight, "Daylight! How pauking long was I out!" she yelled as she flipped over onto her hands and knees and went to get to her feet, as she did she saw two sets of boots stood right in front of her and she became aware of a long blade inches from her face.