Chapter 20

Alex lay in the snow with Elexis in his arms. The physical and emotional pain from the battle had weakened him greatly. Alex felt a sudden agony in his belly and he reached down to locate the source, it was the shrapnel that was still stuck in his upper abdomen. Alex gripped the end that protruded from his body and pulled. A shot of pain ran through his beaten body as the metal came out, followed by a spurt of hot blood. Alex winced in pain for a moment and then fell back into the comfort of the snow where he stayed until he fell asleep.

Alex awoke to a sweet and soothing voice, his vision was blurred from the sun but he was able to make out the gentle silhouette of a woman.

Alex tried to reach out to the woman. "Elexis," He whispered. Then his vision cleared and Alex found that the woman was not Elexis, but someone else. She had soft blonde hair and she wore a pilot's uniform.

"It's okay, I'm here to help." She told him as she knelt down beside him and placed a worn cloth over his bleeding shrapnel wound. Using fabric from her shirt she bandaged the wound, and after that Alex slipped back into unconsciousness.

When Alex awoke again he was warm, and was lying on a soft mattress. Feeling confused, Alex sat up but scowled and fell down again as pain shot through his entire body. He placed his hand over the wound, and it was clean and properly bandaged. As well as that there was a bandage tied around his head that covered his left eye.

"You were burnt pretty bad." The girl said kindly, she was sitting on a rocking chair in the centre of the cabin, with her arms resting on her knees. "My name is Carolyn, I piloted Cordatis' ship. I found you out there in the snow so I brought you here and tended to your wounds."

"Where is Elexis?" Alex asked despairingly.

Carolyn gave a look as if she had done something wrong. "The girl?" She said bleakly, "You killed her. I put her body next to your masters, just outside the cabin."

Alex tried to sit up again, "They deserve a proper burial." He said, "I need to get up."

"You don't need to do anything other than resting." Carolyn ordered. "I will take care of it for you."

Alex tried to resist but he was still too weak to even try. Carolyn returned in the afternoon and helped Alex to walk outside. To the left of the cabin entrance were two graves, one for Cordatis and one for Elexis. Carolyn left Alex alone so that he could mourn his lost loved ones in silence. As she watched him weep over Elexis' grave she truly felt sorry for him. When Alex returned to the cabin Carolyn spoke, "You loved her, didn't you?"

"Yes," Alex answered, "And that is why she had to die."

That night Carolyn loaded her ship with whatever supplies she could find and then went to Alex, "The emperor knows where we are, and we will have to move out before more clones arrive."

By now Alex could walk alone using a homemade walking stick, and together he and Carolyn boarded the ship and left Arkania behind them with all its dark memories.

"Where will we hide?" Carolyn asked.

Alex noticed that she said 'we,' so he assumed that she was staying with him. "We will go to the planet Lok, on the outer rim." He said. "The planet has no government and for now it will be secured from the empire, we can stay there."

Carolyn searched for the planet on her navigation system and then prepared the ship for hyper drive. "Then to Lok we will go."