Chapter Twenty Nine

The frazzled forest really did live up to its name. It looked sad and starving. Beverly wondered how long it had been starved of vital nutrients to look so barren.

"You know, there's a small area of the south known as Flintfall," Doone began. "It's a scorched area of land between a woodland and desert. Thousands of years ago, it was ravaged by an unknown fire. Many attempts have been made to replant trees and encourage re-growth, of anything really, but every time we attempt to do anything, a new fire takes hold. It's now a completely barren and essentially useless part of our land."

"That is fascinating," remarked Deanna as she walked hand in hand with Riker. "How is that possible?"

"We assumed it is a curse of sorts, not necessarily a malicious one, possibly a joke, possibly accidental. In order to discover new spells, or enchantments, you have to experiment. I assume someone at some point was trying to gain control over fire and succeeded to a certain extent. Whether they meant to create a curse is unknown. As I said, it could have been a joke, or it could have been done on purpose."

"Why would someone do that on purpose?" Queried Beverly.

"To simply irritate people and have them look for the antidote for centuries, we have been known to be that childish, though this was a rather extreme example."

"So that's what you get up to when you have such a long lifespan," chuckled Riker.

"What can I say, some days are slow, others, not so."

"And it seems today will not be so slow, be quiet!" Tarya turned to face the rear.

"Yep, that will the hum of an approaching army," added Doone.

"I can't hear anything," queried Picard.

"Our hearing is far superior to yours, as is our speed and sight, well most of us anyway. Mine is pretty poor now, but my hearing… we need to move faster, much faster, see if we can keep a large enough gap between us and them to have the time required to get out of here." She upped the pace dramatically.

"Damn she's right, they are fast," puffed Riker as he struggled at the rear with Picard.

"I will not be able to keep this up for long Number One," Picard shared.

"I told you," Beverly threw back at them. They were grateful when they'd reached the rocks and finally caught up with Tarya and Doone.

"Makes a nice change for me," sniped Doone. "It's usually me bringing up the rear."

"Come on the beach isn't far, no-one is allowed to break any bones." Ordered Tarya.

"Here, here," confirmed Beverly as they all scrambled across the rock assault course.

"I think I can hear them too now," said Picard as Riker helped him jump from the last rock.

"That must mean they are super close," teased Beverly as she placed her arm around his shoulder.

"It won't be long before they are here. We need to set things into motion," suggested Tarya.

"Agreed," said Picard.

"Picard to Enterprise, we are on the beach. We need you to try and break down the barrier and get us out of here as soon as you can."

"Understood."

"Bridge to Engineering."

"Geordi here."

"Begin firing the adapted phaser at the barrier."

"Aye ma'am." After only a few moments the Admiral could see the Enterprise release the blue stream of energy towards the planet. When it made its mark, it seemed to disperse into nothing.

"Lieutenant La Forge, sustain the beam as long as you can, divert power if you need too."

"Understood Admiral."


Tarya had removed the wardrobes again. "You'll want to find something more appropriate to wear," she suggested to a grateful Beverly and Deanna. "I've also a few… here you go, just in case." Between the sea and the group materialised a small assortment of weaponry. Mainly swords and shields, but also a few things they didn't recognise.

"You think this will be necessary?" Asked a worried Beverly.

"I'd like to think not," offered Tarya, "but if the worst comes to the worst and someone gets too close, do you really want to be unarmed?"

"I guess not," she said picking up a sword and shield.

"Not that one!" Said Doone as Riker picked up a very long sword. "That would be a standard issue one given to the warriors of Cray Academy who complete their dedicated course."

"Oh," Said Riker, opting for another sword.

"Don't get me wrong, you're probably more than worthy, it's just they are a pain to get used to. My Doris is one of them. Don't think I earned it traditionally though; I won it at a game of feathers. Sodding thing took me years to master. They've an emerald cast into the pommel. It has the property of weightlessness - feels like you're fighting with a feather. It's great for agility but too easy to do yourself more damage than another if you're not used to it."

"Duly noted. I will look for something plain and heavy." Doone patted him on the back before inspecting what the women were arming themselves with.

"His swords name is Doris?" Remarked Riker to Tarya as she sat, polishing her own sword.

"Aye, I think it was an old flame of his, his first love. Think of it akin to a password you've had since you were young and can't bare to change, like a first pet's name or place of birth." Riker laughed, understanding her meaning completely.

"Does yours have a name and pretty but practical stone too?"

"Her names Adara, she has a Tomainen stone in her pommel. It offers protection; it's why she still looks brand new. Without it I'm sure she'd have broken by now."

"Sorry to interrupt," sounded a frazzled Deanna. "Is this all we are going to do before we are potentially attacked in what could be mere moments?"

"What would you have us do"? Asked a bemused Tarya.

"I don't know, strategize, plan, hide… hide seems a good plan to me."

"The only real place to hide here would be the cave. If they Enterprise manages to break the barrier, they wouldn't be able to lock onto you."

"That is a good point. What about a plan then?"

"I can't honestly imagine they'd have had time to gather an entire army. Captain," she said whilst standing to address everyone. "I suggest you and your crew stay near the sea and keep monitoring the barrier. Doone and I will try and keep whoever is approaching at bay."

"I can't help but feel the odds are not in your favour. It feels wrong to do that." Suggested Picard.

"Look, we can take hits, no offence, but one well-placed slice of a sword and you could bleed to death. Let us try and buy the time needed for the barrier to wane." They couldn't help but relent to her logic and retreated to the edge of the Ocean. Tarya retrieved all of the weaponary and wardrobes and she and Doone braced themselves for their foes arrival. Just as they did so, the defence dome above them began to ripple, very slightly.

"I wonder if it is working?" Doone asked Tarya.

"I hope so." She replied as a garrison of around thirty men came into view. "Here goes nothing."

Dontor walked up to where they stood and stared at them for a few moments.

"Hi!" Tarya eventually said.

"This is why we do not like women. One strong woman arrives on our shore and within two days you are already disrupting our infrastructure. I cannot begin to tell you of the rumours that have begun to circulate. As for my friend... you will never leave this shore. If you will not come with us, make no mistake, this is where you will meet your fate."

With that he unsheathed his sword and lunged towards Tarya which was enough of a signal for his men to follow suit.

Doone and Tarya were already working together covering one another's backs. Dontor had already retreated behind his men. When he tried to attack Tarya, Doone sliced him from behind, they were clearly used to fighting in unison. They instinctually knew where the other one was. This deeply frustrated the northern men who were no match for their southern counterparts. The parrying between them was very one sided and northerner after northerner fell. Whilst they weren't adept at healing, and it did take them far longer to heal than a southerner who was well trained, they did eventually heal. Around twenty men were now on the ground, but as one fell, another regained his footing. Dontor stood back, watching with irritation, but he knew there was only so long they could keep this up.

"If this goes on for two long Tarya, we will have to consider removing heads."

"I know, but let's see how long we can keep this up for, remember that the majority of these folk are just trapped men who have no choice and more than likely families to return too."

"Aye, I just hope this barrier falls soon."


"Picard to Enterprise."

"Enterprise here."

"The barrier is beginning to wane, is there anymore power you can give? Tarya and Doone are fending off a small army single handily." Worf was mightily impressed by these words.

"We will see what we can do Captain."

"Thank you Admiral." She tapped her comm.

"Geordi, divert power from all systems apart from life support and medical. Increase the beam as much as you can."

"Understood."


Picard watched as the barrier began to ripple faster, but it still refused to fail completely. He turned his attention back to the action on the beach. A few of the men they were fighting off had squirmed back to Dontor, the rest either lay there motionless or fought on defiantly.

"I'll be honest, beginning to tire now. I don't have the stamina I used to," panted Doone as he took another swipe at someone's leg, almost severing it completely. The soldier scurried along the ground with anguish on his face, Tarya locked onto it for a moment.

"I really don't want to have to start removing their heads Doone." Doone grunted in reponse and tried to push on further.


"Nechayev to Picard we can't lock onto your signal yet, but the barrier is weakening. We have enough of a lock to send someone through."

"Send someone to us? Admiral what do you mean?" She didn't respond. But within a few seconds Worf appeared not too far ahead of them with strapped phaser, Bat'leth in hand and twenty men at his command, including Starnel and Christoph by his side. Riker instantly ran to his side and Worf threw him his phaser. They charged towards Tarya and Doone.

Christoph ran straight to her side. "I can't tell you how good it is to see you." Said Tarya as both she and Doone relaxed for a moment. The sight of the charge had made the men who could crawl away do so and those who could run, ran away, not even bothering to stop at Dontor's side, instead rushing past and out of view.

Dontor became visibly angry. His eyes shone blue, which neither Tarya or Doone had anticipated. Within a few moments the great beast Salbator arrived with around twenty large eagle-like birds at his side. They charged towards the little army.

Tarya quickly armed herself with a bow, and it was Christoph's weapon of choice. They instantly began to fire.

"Aim for the wings, try and maim them if you can. They can always be healed later!" Shouted Tarya.

The birds were being fairly well fended off. They kept attempting to pick people up, but phasers and arrows were keeping them largely at bay. It was Salbator that was creating the most havoc.

Tarya had reverted back to using Adara as Salbator landed, she Doone and Starnel encircled him, but he was quick, very quick and his wings too adept at batting people away. Their encirclement wasn't working as one after the other they were tossed away.

Starnel made a quick dash back, but Salbator turned just in time, he grabbed him with his claw and with his right wing stabbed his middle and ripped upwards and out of his head. The almost split in two body of Starnel was then casually flung to the floor.

"Noooo!" Cried Worf as he rushed from behind and tried to push his body together in vain. He rested his hand on the corpse, opened his eyes and cried out loud to the sky, before rising and charging for the beast. It was just as well as the others were in devastated shock, to the extent they couldn't even shed a tear. It wasn't long before Tarya and Christoph joined Worf in trying to take the beast down. This time they managed to get in many a hit. The ferocious anger was relentless.

Doone knelt next to his most dear patron and finally shed a tear before carrying his body to the sea.

Picard, Beverly and Deanna watched on mournfully as Doone placed Starnel's body in the Ocean. They sand slowly consumed it. After a few solemn moments, the barrier dispersed entirely and the away team, including Doone, were beamed out.