I really, really, really didn't want to kill Myscha. However, his time came and went. And we've lost Miss 849 to insanity. Also, I've been spelling 'Rrajigar' wrong this whole time. I'll go back and fix it later.
Chapter Ten: Action
Norianna paced up and down the length of the walled-off cemetery. The hood of her ankle-length hooded cloak was pulled so far down over her forehead that she had trouble seeing where she was going in the inky gloom of a Na Palian midnight. She couldn't risk even the slightest chance of her pale face being seen by any of the Skaarj war party that had brought her and Happy to the village. Technically, she was supposed to be searching for more violations of Skaarj code—possession of weapons being the most serious—but her discussion with the Nali had given her a strange sense of unrest, and she had managed to relay a message to Happy, asking her to meet in the cemetery whenever she could so she could give voice to her fears, and perhaps formulate a plan to escape—or at least give the Nali a fighting chance. They didn't have much time, however—the Skaarj were currently finishing their sweep of the catacombs deep beneath the Chapel, and would surface soon to make their final decisions on whether or not to destroy Harobed. They probably would, given the item that they had found in the bell tower earlier that morning.
The Terran arrested her step when she heard rustling near the wall that separated the cemetery from the rest of the Chapel grounds. "Happy?"
Another cloaked figure slipped through the barely-open iron gates. "We have to make this quick," Happy said hoarsely, her breath cloudy in the near-freezing air. "The Nali woman who's housing me has a sixth sense about me being there. I swear I can't go outside to take a piss without her being upset that I'm gone."
"I don't envy you." Norianna stepped closer and enveloped Happy in a tight embrace. "How are you holding up?" She could feel the girl wince at the contact.
"Not so hot, but at least the cold numbs the pain." Happy gently extricated herself from Norianna and stamped her bare feet. "Now what did you want to talk to me about?"
Norianna paused, seeming to listen. "The Skaarj found an entire cache of weapons in the belfry," she said heavily, pulling the collar of her garb up around her neck. "The biggest thing they're pissed about is that they found a flak cannon—the thing is rusty as fuck, but it works, and it's got ammunition enough to last a while." She paused, resting her cheek in her hand and exhaling loudly. Her eyeballs felt like they were freezing. She'd have to hurry it up.
"So they're definitely going to strike, then," Happy mused through chattering teeth.
Norianna nodded shortly. "Definitely, but I don't know when, and that's the thing. I think we can evacuate the village before they make their move."
The darkness hid Happy's look of disbelief. "You're kidding," she said. "Us? Evacuate an entire village full of Nali? We can't even speak their language!" She turned on her heel as Norianna brushed past her and peeked out of the cemetery gates, humming a nervous little tune.
"I know, I know," Norianna interrupted. Happy was amazed to hear a thread of fear in the other woman's voice. It was the first time that her cellmate had shown her any other emotion except cheerfulness. "But I just got a really crazy idea."
"I do not wish to discuss this with you any further."
Baran knelt on a carpet in front of a well-stocked fire, facing an ancient priestess Nali seated on a low chair close to the ruddy blaze. Her face was turned towards the hearth, a pensive look on her features. She had been reading when he had burst into her chambers; the book was now resting on her lap and she was drumming her fingertips on its hard cover. Baran had reached her before Diaba could blow his credibility, but as soon as he mentioned the Terran's presence in the village, the Mother had become stony and unwilling to answer his questions.
"But, Mother," he said, trying not to sound like he was whining. "We have to make a decision, somehow. We can't just let her stay here."
"Why can't we?" For an old woman, her voice was extremely powerful. "She is of the Sacred Race, is she not? It is not for us to decide whether she is or is not the Messiah. We have been commanded to give sanctuary to any Terran being that asks it of us. That is all the reason I need to keep her here."
Baran could not keep the exasperation out of his voice. "But it's dangerous!"
The Mother's fingers drummed more forcefully on the cover of her book. "We are in very grave danger whether we have a Terran in our midst or not. We must do what we can and live our lives how we choose, and if the villagers choose Velora's will over their own, then it can't be helped." She sighed when she saw Baran's face fall. "Baran, be at peace. If it eases your mind at all, I do not believe that this girl is our savior, either. However I do think that there aren't going to be any catastrophic repercussions if we harbor a Terran for a little while."
"But there are two Terrans—I met another one by the abbey—and they both said that we're in a terrible trap if we don't force Happy to leave immediately! I saw a Skaarj in Harobed Chapel, Mother. We have until tonight to prove that we comply with Skaarj rule or else we'll all be destroyed."
"Since when do Skaarj keep their word?"
Baran paused. The Mother's voice had dropped to a low, emotionless tone. She held his gaze until he had to drop his eyes to stare at the pattern of the carpet on the floor. Touche.
"I don't mean to treat you so harshly, Baran," she said wearily, getting up from her chair and walking closer to the fire to warm her hands. "But you must understand. You have to understand what the Skaarj are like—you were one of their prisoners for most of your adolescent life. Skaarj don't bargain, and they don't spare lives once their rules have been transgressed. As far as they're concerned, the mere fact that we didn't chase the girl out as soon as she entered the village is an excuse enough in their eyes to begin the bloodshed."
Baran felt like a large hand was clamped around his throat, making it almost impossible for him to breathe. Even though he was close to the fire, a cold sweat broke out on his body. The Mother reached over to her shoulder and flicked a bit of fuzz off of a panel on her ceremonial robe.
"Baran, the village is going to be destroyed tonight, whether we keep the girl in our midst or not. All we can hope for is Velora's blessing for following her orders." She smiled sympathetically. "I would rather be dignified and die with the peace of mind that I did something right, than try to placate the scourges of Na Pali and turn my back on my own religious upbringing. I know you're quite against all of this talk of gods and miracles, but…I suppose that just makes you blissfully ignorant."
Horrified, Baran leapt off of the carpet. "You're condemning hundreds of Nali to death!"
The Village Mother returned to her seat, supporting her chin with her folded hands. "I condemn no one. Everyone in this village knows of both edicts—do not harbor Terrans, and do not collect their weapons—and they have chosen their actions accordingly."
"Because they don't know any better! They've put their trust in this sick Terran who can barely even walk because they've been told that the Messiah is a human—but do they know? Do you know? Even Myscha had his doubts—"
"But he still left for Nyleve's Falls," the Mother interrupted. Baran stamped his foot.
"I don't care! The point is, the villagers are protecting this Terran because they think that even if the Skaarj do come, she'll protect them somehow. It's ridiculous. Ridiculous!"
"No one is telling you to stay," snapped the priestess. "If you feel so disgusted by our beliefs, then feel free to leave. I believe you'd be happier that way, rather than dying along with the rest of us."
Baran stood there, shaking, backlit by the fire. "I'll leave, then," he said after a moment.
The Village Mother stared at his back as he stalked away. When the door closed behind him, she reached for her book and opened it back to the page she had marked and continued to read quietly.
Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Baran practically stalked back to his hut and threw open the door with a bang.
He almost fell backwards out of his own threshold when he was greeted with the broad muzzle of a devastating-looking weapon, clutched in the hand of the same cloaked figure he had met at the Chapel. The Terran girl called "Happy" stood directly behind her partner, staring placidly at Baran with a blank expression on her face.
"Call the others," the translator's mechanical voice ordered. "Or I will kill you."
___
Evening over the Sacred Passage bloomed sweet and cool, with a light breeze whipping the sunset-tainted clouds into wispy purple feathers in the sky and causing the palmy leaves of the surrounding foliage to whisper against one another. The Passage was a relatively unknown valley nestled in the midst of a large mountain range that housed the sacred temple of Chizra, the Nali Water God.
A warrior-class Skaarj paced around the deep pool of water that was situated next to the high walls that surrounded the temple, glancing irritably at the gulley that led towards the back entrance of the Rrajigar Mine. Another member of the warrior caste was supposed to have come and relieve him of his post over an hour ago, and it wasn't common for any Skaarj to break rules by being late.
A noise from the gulley that led down to the mine entrance finally alerted the warrior to another presence in the area. It's about time, he thought with an audible snarl, leaving the poolside to give his comrade a thorough tongue-lashing. However, his hurried gait was arrested when he saw that the figure emerging from the metal exit corridor of the mine was not a Skaarj. It was a Terran, of all things.
The Skaarj flexed his hand, triggering the mechanism on his wrist to produce the Razik blades from their implanted sheath underneath the scales of his arm. Already stressed because he was late for another assignment in the mine, he figured that it would be wonderful therapy to dispatch this Terran in the most painful way possible.
Its pace was slow and unsteady; more than once it stumbled onto all fours, dropping the pathetically small weapon it clutched in one hand. If it wasn't so funny to watch, the Skaarj would've decapitated the pitiful creature immediately. It raised its head and immediately met his gaze; the Skaarj gave a smug little snarl, expecting the Terran to turn tail and flee.
Surprisingly, his warning went unheeded, as the human did little more than consider him with a blank expression and continue on its drunken path. The Skaarj's anger peaked a little more; if there was anything he hated, it was being ignored—and where did this Terran think it was going to go, anyway? For all the good its so called 'bravery' was doing, it wouldn't stop him from running it through.
Thoroughly aggravated by now, the Skaarj stalked purposefully towards the short creature, making sure he was in its direct path. He stopped less than a foot away from it and barked, louder than necessary. He was close enough to see that, underneath its torn outer clothing, the Terran's pale skin was coated with blood and bits of green scales. Oddly, they looked like Skaarj-hide…but that couldn't be possible. This tiny thing couldn't dispatch a Skaarj of the lowest warrior caste, even if it tried.
The Terran raised its head. There was a large gash on its nearly bald scalp, and a crimson river flowed down its face, rimming its eyes with red. The Skaarj didn't like the look that the Terran was giving him. It was feral, violent. The dark centers of its irises seemed to be ringed with white—
In a second, the Terran had jumped him. Or, rather, jumped on him; one of its hands grabbed a tendril of the spiked crests on the back of his head as its feet planted onto his thighs. He reeled backwards, trying to maneuver his Razik blades to intercept his assailant's body, but it moved again, higher up, driving its knees into his chest, yanking his head back with its arm. Roaring in fury, he grabbed one of its legs with a clawed hand, digging his talons into the flesh of its thigh, trying to tear the creature away. Suddenly the muzzle of something cold and hard was pushed between his jaws and a sound like an explosion filled with ears. Immediately following this assault the Terran shoved its face into his neck, closing its teeth around the vulnerable artery bulging between his shoulder and his jawbone. Choking on the blood that was filling his lungs, the warrior finally managed to tear the human off of his body and staggered to his feet. The softskin landed on its feet but dropped to its knees, one hand closed loosely around the handle of her tiny, insignificant, destructive weapon.
The warrior staggered, unable to feel anything but the warm stream of blood pulsing out of the tear in his throat. The ground rushed up to meet him as the corners of his vision became hazy and finally blanked out.
A Terran attacking a Skaarj. Unbelievable….
849 raised herself back onto her unsteady legs, letting her heart slow down before she made any sudden moves. She was swallowing blood, and there was a strange substance filling her mouth; spitting, she realized she had a chunk of the Skaarj's neck still clenched between her teeth. Gazing absently at the Skaarj's carcass, she gave it a savage kick in the gut verifying that it was dead. She then turned her gaze towards the high, rune-covered walls of the temple perimeter, reaching for the translator at her hip so its image input could scan the area. A map flickered onto the emerald screen.
Sacred Passage, the label at the top read. Entrance to the Temple of Chizra.
She blinked as she read the words. ...Chizra? The name sounded familiar. Perhaps she had heard of its name, many years ago. Yes, she did remember someone telling her about it. She just couldn't remember who.
It didn't look like there was a door anywhere in sight; after patrolling the wall, running one hand over the sides of the entire structure, she couldn't find any means of getting in. She holstered her Enforcer and made her way over to the side of the clear pool that reflected the evening sky above them. After a short pause of staring into the water, she reached into her mouth and wiggled a loose tooth on her bottom jaw. I must have been chewing on something recently, she thought, and yanked the canine out of her gums. She flicked the tooth into the still pool of water and watched it float towards the bottom. After a moment a school of biterfish swam hesitantly up to the bloody piece and began nipping at it curiously.
849 narrowed her eyes.
There was a vent at the bottom of the pool. It looked just large enough for her body to fit through.