The Dawning of Fate

No one spoke. No one moved. Voices still floated up from within the crevice, but none held the same weight as the man before.

"I can not tell you not to be afraid. I know that they are words much easier to speak. However, I can promise to always protect you. I will make you one vow more. For as long as there is life in my veins, I will seek to ensure that there is none left in those who seek to harm you."

Kyrin crept forward, motioning with his hand for us to stay put as h counted ahead. He was the least likely of our merry band to be killed or captured on sight. Our timeline for getting off this planet had just become that much more urgent. I couldn't help but feel sort of guilty that we'd dragged Kyrin into our fiasco but he also volunteered himself to stay so I guess I couldn't feel too bad. My skin started to feel itchy with this dirt and decay on it. There was literally no telling what else was mixed in with it and now it was sitting on my face. Acne was just waiting around the corner. I would pay Zan back for this as soon as we were off this damn planet.

Kyrin returned only moments later and gestured for us to stand. When we did, he made a bunch of hand signals that everyone else seemed to understand. I waited patiently for Zan to fill me in, but instead, he just picked me up and took off running. I looked back and saw that none of the others were following us. They each had gone off in their own directions.

"We're splitting up?"

"Yes, this lowers the chances of us all being caught at once. It is far easier to hide as pairs than as many," he responded. That made sense, a lot of sense actually, but something about it made me uneasy. "We will gather once more at the port, but we must first remove your tracker."

"How are we going to do that?"

"You ask many questions, my little Terran. I ask that you trust me for now."

"So basically," I grinned. "You don't know yet."

Azandum huffed. "I am eager to get off this rock so that I may fill your beautiful mouth with something other than sharp words."

My lower belly fluttered in anticipation. It had been too long since we had felt each other's embrace. We were of the same mind. Before any of that though, a nice, hot, long shower was in order.

Zan stood on the edge with his wings spread but he hadn't taken off yet. He turned his mud-caked face down to me. "Once we land, it will be a race against time. They will know exactly where we are until we can find a way to remove the nanu."

"Leave that part to me. I've done it before so I know what I need. You just focus on getting us to the port."

He faced the city beyond once more and adjusted me in his grip. "If I haven't told you before, I am glad your ship crashed on Icturi." Zan bent his knees and took flight with a mighty flap of his large wings.

"Despite all that has transpired recently, I am sort of glad Dronan decided to kidnap me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have met you."

Azandum's grip tightened as his chest rumbled softly. "I will present his head to you as a trophy, my little mate."

"We'll feed it to Thunder when we get back home."

Laughter filled my head from Zan's drakul. "Ruthless! You are perfect indeed."

Azandum landed on a rooftop and within seconds the metal snake around my calf began to warm up. Reaching down to lift my pant leg, I saw a tiny red light blinking in the place where the eyes would be. Fucking aliens. We set off with Zan floating from rusted rooftop to rooftop. I kept my eyes peeled for anything that I could use that had electricity. There were hardly any lights and the few that I spotted were firelit lamps. Even though we didn't see anyone yet, I knew that Dronan's men were converging on us at this very moment.

Zan took us on a staggering path that didn't make much sense to me. We went from the rooftop to a dead-end alley and back again. That was when I realized that he was trying to confuse our pursuers. If they went down an alleyway it would stall them because while Zan could fly, they could not. Of course, that wouldn't stop their hovertram for long but it was a start.

Zan kept his pace but that did not stop them from catching up. As soon as we exited the last alley, a hovertram obscured our path. My heart stilled. I couldn't see how many were inside but only one stood on the hood of the vehicle.

"Cease your futile running. Lord Dronan will have what is owed to him, Tumerian." There were no obvious outside markers but the voice was definitely feminine. She looked almost identical to the males of her species with cyan and beige skin. Now that I looked closer though, her arms and legs weren't as bulky as her -now dead- male counterparts from earlier in our journey. Her eyes zeroed in on the hand that Zan had wrapped around my arms.

"Release her to me and your death will be quick."

"Run."

"No."

"I will stall them well enough. You must find a way to remove your tracker."

"This is a stupid plan, Azandum."

His lips curved in a grim smile. "That it is. You have your short sword. Do not hesitate to use it. I will be with you shortly."

"I hate this fucking planet."

"I'm glad you share my sentiment," he responded dryly.

"She could just as easily send the rest of them after me while you fight her."

"Yes, I am aware. Do you have another suggestion?"

I thought really hard. "Let them think we've surrendered."

"I doubt they are so gullible, little one. We have not time for this. Go." He pushed me and took a leap toward the female.

I stumbled a bit but caught my footing and ran like hell hounds were on my heels. I was getting really sick of this 'run for your life' bit. It was old now. I could hear the sounds of growls and clashing in the distance but did not let it stop me. There were others. She wasn't the same as the man who spoke with Dronan. For one, she mentioned killing Zan when Dronan explicitly stated that he wanted Zan to remain alive.

That thought stopped me in my tracks. If they didn't know that Dronan wanted him alive then that meant that all of Dronan's soldiers weren't on one accord. There was an obvious lack of communication between the parties involved and I was going to use that to my advantage. It's possible that they haven't told any of the others that I had been located. That still didn't mean I wasn't being tracked just because one group has found me. It was a big 'if ' but it was a risk I was willing to take.

I ran back the way I came but this time, I took the roundabout direction that my pursuers must have taken to cut us off. I had to backtrack once or twice before I actually found the right path. The sounds of weapons clashing reached my ears first. Peeking around the building, I saw scorched marks and fallen debris everywhere. The woman from earlier lay motionless in a pool of her own blood. Her throat has been ripped out. Zan was in the middle of a battle between two others. I had to trust that he could handle himself.

Slowly, I slide my blade from my boot and crept toward the hovertram. I was hoping that it was empty but I was never that lucky. Rounding the side, I peered within the opening and saw only one of the aliens left but its back was turned to me. He appeared to be typing frantically on a screen.

"She's dead. She's dead! I can't believe she talked us into this and then went and got herself killed! I knew we should've waited for the commander. I told her! And all for some stupid Terran!"

The man continued to ramble oblivious to my presence. He appeared to be having a mental break. My heart pounded in my chest with what I was about to do. I had no other choice. It was him or it was me. I stepped into the vehicle as softly as I could and crept toward him.

Strength and comfort washed over me as I felt his presence make itself known in my mind. "I am with you, my reckless one. Do what must be done."

His presence calmed me as I drew closer to the man. I was standing right behind him when he glanced at a map with a green dot.

"That doesn't make any sense. It says she's right-"

He spun in his chair at the same time that I swung the blade down and it plunged right through his stomach. He sucked in a choked breath.

"Finish the kill."

I yanked the blade out and the man groaned, clutched his abdomen, and rushed into me. I fell back, struggling under his weight. The hand holding the blade was trapped between us. I used my freehand to pound into his head but it wasn't doing much. Panic gripped me.

"...going to...kill you," he ground out, blood leaking from his mouth onto my face as he wrapped his large hand around my throat and squeezed.

I searched frantically above my head, not bothering to try to pry his hand off. I would never be able to. My vision was starting to fade when I spotted the bottle. I reached, my fingers barely scrapping it, but it was enough to send it tilting and rolling. Grasping the neck, I smashed the glass into his head. It shattered. I used the jagged edge and rammed it into his neck.

He made a gurgling sound and I sucked in a deep breath as his hand loosen on my throat. Bucking my hips and wriggling my body, I was finally able to free myself now that there was no resistance from him. Scrambling to my feet, I shoved the blade into where I thought his heart would be.

Knowing I had no time to waste, I rushed to the monitor he was staring at before. The screen itself was glass but there had to be controls somewhere. The hovertram was sort of like a tiny spaceship with its own control center except everything was digital. There were no handles and buttons like I'd seen on the ship. I wasn't sure of all the specifics but what I did know was that it's electrically wired and that was exactly what I needed.

The hovertram jolted from the side and my heart lurched at the same time. I jerked my head to the side and saw that it was only my lover. My hand was pressed to my chest as I breathed in relief. Approaching him, I ran my hands over his body finding a few cuts and wounds.

"Are you okay?" I asked, turning my face up to him.

His golden eyes were blazing with anger. He lifted his hand and ran it across my cheek. It came back coated in mud and black blood. "I told you to run."

"I did...until I didn't. That's not important right now." I turned away knowing that his wounds were healing already and went back to the controls. "I need you to rip this open. I need the wiring. Anything that's not paramount to the hovertram remaining operational. "

I felt his approach. He reached around me and punched a hole under the base of the command center, exposing the mechanics. I crouched down, searching amongst all the metal bits until I saw a pair of wires. Reaching in, I snatched them out. Zan used his claws to sever them and I brought the exposed ends to the device around my leg. I burned hot in response letting out a mechanical beeping before uncoiling itself. It tried to slither away but I stopped it with my foot.

"What are you doing, Echo?" I ignored the barely restrained anger that lingered in his voice.

"Creating a decoy."

I picked up the little beast carefully and brought it over to the man I'd killed. I'm pretty sure the trauma from that would hit me later. Thankfully though, adrenaline was keeping the emotions at bay.

The metal did exactly what I wanted it to and coiled itself around the man's arm. I turned to ask Zan about the autopilot but he was already tapping away on the screens. Once he was done, he approached and gripped me by the arm. I glared at him but he ignored me entirely. I snatched my sword back out of the dead body and that only seemed to piss him off more.

"We have much to discuss." We exited the hovertam and Zan gave it a push in the opposite direction that we took.

"That we do."