Chapter 15
JD and Josiah awoke at the same
time. Their spaces designated by Aldar
were in close proximity, so they both ended up walking to the main area
together.
“Good mornin’, Josiah.”
“Good morning, JD,” replied Josiah stifling
a yawn that was trying to come out. “Did
you sleep well?”
“Better than the past three weeks,”
answered JD as he followed the old priest towards the main area.
They had both entered the area at the
same time and found Sharana busily setting up food in the middle of the circle
where they had dinner the night before.
She looked up from what she was doing
and said, “Blessed are the light givers, Josiah, JD. Please sit. We will break our fast soon.” She motioned for them to take their places
at the circle.
Josiah and JD sat down next to each
other, smiling gracefully at the young woman.
“She’s real pretty,” said JD softly to
Josiah.
Josiah nodded his agreement. It seemed that Vin was a lucky man. “Yes, she is, JD.” Then a thought came to Josiah about what JD had said
recently. “JD?”
“Hmmm?”
“You said you slept better than the
past three weeks. What did you mean by that?”
“Oh, nothin’,” responded JD, picking up
a piece of the bread that Sharana had laid out and breaking off a piece. He then put the piece in his mouth, chewing
and trying to ignore Josiah’s question.
Josiah was not ignorant to the fact
that JD was being elusive. There was
something in that statement that JD made that was nudging Josiah instincts to
say that something was wrong, but he could not put his finger on it and it
seems that JD was not willing to share.
He would have to find a way to the gain the young man’s trust and then
maybe he just might open up about his statement.
Just then, Josiah was taken from his
thoughts as Buck and Ezra walked in, bedraggled and bleary-eyed.
“What happened to you two?” asked
Josiah quirking his eyebrows at them.
Buck and Ezra ambled towards two
cushions on the other side of Josiah and JD and both sat down tiredly.
“Nothin’,” grumbled Buck as he closed
his eyes in pain. “Just don’t gamble with this here idiot.”
“You must be referring to yourself, Mr.
Wilmington. I do not recall forcing you
to into the game,” responded Ezra indignantly.
“But ya didn’t try to stop me either,”
said Buck raising his voice and then wincing in pain as he did.
To Josiah, it looked like Buck was
trying to get over a hangover. Buck and
Ezra were still awake when he, JD and Nathan decided to go to bed. What they were doing after he left, he could
not tell, but now it seems that they were gambling. At what, who could say when it came to Ezra. The man would bet on anything to alleviate
his boredom.
Josiah was about to ask what they were
gambling on when Nathan walked into the area.
“Good mornin’ all,” he said slightly
bowing at the others already seated and the taking a seat next to Josiah. “So what time did you go to bed last night?”
he asked eyeing Buck and Ezra.
“None of ya damn business!” exclaimed
Buck annoyed. He did not want anyone to know that he and Ezra had spent the
night betting on whether or not he could get any of the single women in his
bed. Unfortunately, Buck had lost and
he was not about to advertise it to the men there and he would not let Ezra do
it either.
Ezra on the other hand cared less about
the prowess with the women Wilmington had.
As far as he was concerned he had gotten what he wanted. The coins
clinked heavily in his side pocket as Ezra padded them to make sure they had
not moved in the past few hours while he slept.
At that moment, Vin walked in,
stretching his arms above his head. He
wore only his pants and Sharana eyes raked his body up and down. His strong
muscles bulged as he stretched the kinks out of his body. It was like looking at a cat, languishing
striding over to her, just after having a catnap.
Although she was in bed with that body
just a few minutes ago, the need to be near him again was there. If it was any other time, she would have ran
over there and pulled the man back to her bed, but she knew the time was not
right. Things were going on with
Vincenzo and his new friends and she knew it was not good.
Vin caught Sharana by the waist and
twirled her around. She giggled at his
touch and tried to swat him away. “Stop, Vin,” she said playfully.
Vin then grabbed her and kissed,
Sharana not resisting. When it was
done, he released her gently and took a seat next to Buck.
“Where’s the food, woman?’ he asked
jokingly.
Sharana smiled widely and retorted, “Ya
always hungry. What ya got? A worm or something?”
He laughed and tried to grab at her
skirt as she walked by.
Sharana bent down close to his ear and
whispered, “Ya awful playful t’day.
Wouldn’a thought ya had that much energy left after last night.”
Vin did not look at her, but glanced at
the others sitting around the circle and blushed. He knew they had heard her words.
“Sharana!” exclaimed Vin warningly.
Sharana laughed and walked away to
retrieve the food.
“That’s quite a woman ya got there,
Pard,” piped in Buck smiling wickedly.
“Yeah and she’s all mine, Buck, so keep
ya hands off,” said Vin threateningly.
Buck held up his hands as if fending
off a blow from the young bounty hunter.
“Wouldn’t think of it, Pard,” replied Buck smirking.
“Awh, Buck, leave ‘im alone,” interjected
JD.
“Shut up, JD,” said Buck eyeing the
young man in jest.
JD knew Buck did not mean what he said
and turned to Vin. “He’s just tryin’ to
pull ya chain, Vin.”
Vin snorted, but choose not to
answer. He grabbed a piece of bread and
stuffed it quickly into his mouth chewing when suddenly he realized that
something was missing.
Vin looked around the circle, taking in
the faces of his companions. Not
something, someone. “Where’s Chris?” he
asked looking at the others in concern.
“I guess he’s still sleep,” said
Josiah.
“Did anyone check?” asked Vin.
They all either shook their head in
negation or shrugged their shoulders.
Vin swiftly got up and walked over to
the flap that led to the other area of Aldar’s home.
When he pulled the flap aside and
looked around, he found his friend was missing along with his cloak and
sunglasses.
He went back to the others who sat the
circle worry plastering his face.
“He ain’t there,” said Vin confused.
“Ain’t there?” repeated Nathan. “Where did he go?”
“I don’t rightly know. And none of ya seen ‘im?”
“Nope,” said JD answering Vin’s
query. “Me and Josiah were the first
here and we didn’t see ‘im.”
At that moment, Sharana entered with
the food and her father, Aldar who was following closely behind carrying more
food.
“Aldar, Chris is missin’,” said Vin
hurriedly.
“Calm, Vincenzo. I am sure he is around here somewhere. He probably woke up and went back to ya
ship. I could feel that he was not comfortable
among us. In fact, I don’t think he is
comfortable around anyone, except ya.”
Vin eyes looked at Aldar
anxiously. He needed to find Larabee.
After what happened last night, he was not assured by Aldar’s words.
“I’m goin’ after ‘im,” said Vin walking
back to Sharana’s room to get the rest of his things.
Aldar eyes rose upward as the brown
haired bounty hunter brushed past him.
He sighed softly to himself. The
young would never learn. He then turned
to follow him.
At this, all the others except Ezra
jumped up from where they were sitting determined to go after the other two men
and their leader.
Sharana stood in front of them, holding
her hands up, stopping them in their tracks.
“Wait!
Stay. Vincenzo and my father
will handle the Larabee,” she said.
Buck rolled his eyes in
exasperation. “No one can handle,
Chris. They’d lose if they tried.”
Nathan nodded agreeing with Buck’s
assessment of the situation. “He’s
right ya know. Connell…I mean Chris
ain’t the type anyone can handle. Not even,
Vin or your pa.”
“Please,” she pleaded. “My father knows what he does and Vin is
more persuasive than ya think.”
“Gentlemen, the lady is correct. We should partake in her delicious cuisine
while we can. I advise you all to sit
and enjoy it. I have a feeling once we
reach the deeper desert vicinity that this might be the last repast we will
have in a very long time,” interrupted Ezra.
They all turned their eyes on stare at
Ezra as if he had lost his mind.
“Do not look at me like that, gentlemen. I have been with Mr. Larabee for several
years and I can tell you that he would not appreciate your interceding upon his
behalf at this time.”
“Well, Ez, I was friends with Chris ‘fore
you! What makes you think you know him
better?” countered Buck.
“I so do believe this, Mr. Wilmington,
because the Christopher Connell Larabee that you know is no longer. He is no
longer the Necromonger Heir. He is Chris Larabee, a gunner, a criminal and an
assassin, a hired killer. The man you
knew back then is dead, Mr. Wilmington and you need to realize that,” explained
Ezra confidently.
Buck stood frozen in his place. He knew Ezra was right. The man that had returned to them was no
longer the best friend that he had known. He had felt it when they met in Travis’
office. He was changed, dramatically.
“Ezra don’t know what he talkin’ about,
Buck,” said JD defiantly.
“No,” came Buck’s soft reply. “He’s right.” And with that, he moved back to the circle and sat dejectedly
back into his seat.
JD gaped with open mouth. He could not believe that Buck would have
given up so easily. But then he saw the
faces of Josiah and Nathan and knew he was the only one who believed
otherwise. Defeated, JD walked to where
Buck was and plumped down next to him in a one of the seats.
Nathan and Josiah followed without
another word and sat back into their seats.
Ezra leaned forward in his seat and
said, “Eat up, gentlmen!” He held his
cup of wine high and took a sip as he watched the others do the same.
**************************************************************************************************************************
Vin and Aldar had reached the ship and
found Chris giving orders to the Necromonger high guards who were putting in
supplies of food store and water.
Vin knew that Chris must have been busy
this morning. There were enough stores
to last them for a few months.
“Chris!” called Vin and watched as his
friend turned from lifting a box into the ship to see him.
Chris acknowledged Vin and Aldar with a
nod, but returned to helping the guards move the supplies into the ship.
Vin approached him quickly, with Aldar
fast on his heels. Both men noticed
that Chris looked somewhat better than last night, but not much.
“Hey, Chris. We missed ya at breakfast.”
Chris turned faced him confused.
Although his eyes were covered with his
dark sunglasses, Vin could see by the expression on his face that Chris was
bewildered by Vin’s concern.
“Yeah, well, we needed supplies so I
went to the market and bargained for some supplies,” said Chris grunting as he
picked up another box and hefting it into the ship.
“Hey, Chris,” said Vin, grabbing him by
the arm and stopping him from putting the next crate into the ship. “Ain’t ya
gon’na have breakfast? We got a long
ride today.”
As Vin touched him, he felt something
like an electric static go through his body.
Vin’s instincts were to release his hold, but something was happening
and Vin found that he could not.
Vin shuddered as images came unbidden
into his mind. He saw Chris beaten and
bleeding, surrounded by Sandmen as they ripped and tore at his body. He watched his friend squirm and writhed in
pain, as each slash from their claws attacked him. Then as suddenly as they came the visions were gone.
Vin released his hold on Chris and
stared into the blonde’s slivery green eyes.
“Chris…Chris, I’m sorry. I…I didn’t know,” apologized Vin.
Chris raised eyebrows in confusion, but
slowly they turned to express surprise once he realized that Vin had knew. He then placed the last box into their ship
and walked quickly away into it, leaving Vin and Aldar with shock on their
faces.
Vin turned to Aldar who could only
shake his head in sadness.
“He has many demons, Vincenzo. I am
afraid that it just might not be possible for him to be rid of all of them.”
“I saw…I saw somethin’ when I touched ‘im,
Aldar. I saw ‘im bein’ attacked by
Sandmen, lots of them. It looked like a
whole tribe.”
“A whole tribe? And he survived?” asked Aldar in awe.
“Ya sayin’ that what I saw was real?”
“In a matter of speakin’, aye. Ya saw his past, his memories of a time
afore.”
“What?
How?”
“Did I not tell ya have the power of
Profeta. Ya did not believe, but this
is the proof,” said Aldar his hands holding out to Vin.
Vin eyed him askance. He still had his doubts. But he could not explain what he saw a
minute ago.
“I think I need to talk to, Chris,”
said Vin walking towards the ship.
“Be careful, Vincenzo,” called
Aldar. “The snake is coiled and it
might strike!”
Vin ignored Aldar’s comment and walked
into the ship to find his troubled friend.
****************************************************************************************************************************
Chapter 16
Vin walked slowly into the ship. Most of the guardsmen were outside loading
up the supplies.
He found Chris sitting in the pilot
chair, his back turned from him, looking out through the view screen at the
bustling village.
He sat down dejectedly into the
co-pilot’s seat next to him, keeping silent, waiting for Chris to announce that
he noticed him.
“What do ya want from me, Tanner?” came
Chris’ soft question.
“Chris, I’m…I’m sorry. I didn’t know about the Sandmen.”
“Hmmm.”
“What happened, Chris?”
“It’s in the past, Vin. Speak of it no more.”
“But Chris, it’s eaten ya up
inside. I can feel it,” said Vin
turning the man’s chair so that he faced him.
Chris sunglasses were gone and Vin
found himself staring into silver eyes of green fire.
“It ain’t up for conversation, Vin!” exclaimed
Chris standing up from his chair.
Vin grabbed him by the arm and pulled
him back down into, preventing the blonde from making his escape.
“Ya can’t keep runnin’ forever. Sooner or late it’ll all catch up with ya.”
Chris shook off Vin’s hold and stood
up. “I can try.” He then started to
walk away again, when he felt Vin’s grasp again on his arm.
Something at that moment snapped inside
of Chris. The hands that were pulling
on him were no longer a friend’s. The
touch was no longer a wanted one. It
was as if he was living the nightmare once again.
Vin still keeping a hold of Chris stood
up and as he did, he felt a tremble in the man’s arm. He was shaking and it was becoming worse, but it was not the type
of shaking that one associated with fear.
It was something different and Vin did not like where it might be
leading.
Suddenly, without any warning, Vin was
forced to release his hold on Chris and then was flung to the far side of the
ship, crashing into the crates of supply that were already loaded. Luckily for
him, he tucked and rolled, as his head just missed the edge of the crate.
Vin sat up from his prone position and
glared at the blonde man that stood over him breathing hard.
“Don’t ever touch me again,” threatened
Chris in a tone Vin had never heard him use.
The man was shaking all over and Vin could see something that looked
like firelights in the middle of his eyes.
But how was that possible?
Chris glared one last time at Vin and
then walked quickly out of the ship.
Vin sat on the floor, confused and
somewhat pissed. He could not
understand what just happened. One
minute he was talking to the man who he considered a friend and the next minute
he was on the floor on his backside.
Damn! He should have known that Chris felt vulnerable having someone
else know exactly what happened to him in the desert.
Vin got up from the floor and decided
that Chris’ self-imposed prison needed to end and it needed to end before it
was too late to escape.
****************************************************************************************************************************
The other five men with Aldar and
Sharana sat laughing and talking.
They were interrupted by the abrupt entrance
of the whirlwind of the man in black as he came bursting into the tent.
“We’re leavin’ now!” commanded Chris,
none too gently and then turned to leave as quickly as he had come.
The others eyed each other in
confusion, but as a group, stood up and went to follow the rampaging man back
outside.
Sharana glared at her father, knowing
that he knew why the man was so angry at this moment. She too, then stood up and ran outside to find Vin and the
others.
When the others reached outside, they
watched as the man in black walked in rage back towards the ship. At the same time, they saw Vin coming from
the opposite direction, a look of determination on his face and they blanched
at what happened next.
Chris continued his walk, unaware that
Vin was approaching him from the other direction. He kept his head down, like a bull, ready to do battle. But that was the wrong thing for him to do.
Within the next instance, Chris had
taken only one more step when he finally noticed Vin coming at him at full speed. The next minute, he found himself thrown to
the ground by the lithe body of the young bounty hunter, tackled onto his back
with a hard thump.
It took a minute before Chris realized
what had happened. With that, he swung
a punch at Vin, but Vin being as quick as he was, the blow never hit its
target.
Vin, lying on top of Chris, quickly
started to grab hold of the man’s arms as he tried continuously to lay a blow
upon the bounty hunter’s body. But
Vin’s speed was faster than any normal human and Chris’ blows were too slow to
make contact.
“Get off me!” yelled Chris, trying to
knee the brown-haired man in the stomach.
But Vin again swiftly moved out of its trajectory, while still holding
onto the angry blond man.
“Ya gon’na listen to me, Chris and right
now!” screamed Vin back at him.
The others looked on in shock, not
understanding what just happened. All
they knew was there was definitely a problem between the two men.
Chris finally stopped trying to hit
Vin. He knew it was useless considering
the man’s ability for speed. He closed
his eyes and felt the pull of energy that was building within him. He did not want to hurt Vin, but he had no
control over what was happening to him.
He just wanted Vin to leave him alone, to stay away from him. He wanted everyone to stay far away from him
because they did not know how really dangerous he was.
“Vin…get…away…from…me…now!” insisted
Chris.
Vin took in the increasing light he saw
growing in the man’s silver green eyes, which he knew was impossible, but knew
that he should be concerned by it. “Chris,
what’s goin’ on?”
“Tanner…please…now!” gritted out Chris.
Vin finally relented and jumped up from
his position on top of Chris and moved back.
Chris slowly rose from the ground,
breathing hard. His fists were clenched
and his eyes were closed tight.
Vin stared at the disheveled man,
wondering what was he going to do next.
The others also looked on, still in the dark about what was going
between the two men.
“Chris?” called Buck tentatively.
He had only seen the man in the current
state he was two times in his life.
Those times were once when he was told of his family’s death and a month
after the incident with the Sandmen.
It was when Chris was still healing
from his physically and psychological wounds of that attack. When they had
first brought him back, barely alive, they did not pressure Chris into telling
them what had happened with the Sandmen.
But a month later, Buck saw the change
in Chris and decided they needed to find out what happened then that created
the cold, unemotional wall that was between them.
Chris, of course, had refused several
times during that month to talk to him.
But one day, while they were sitting in
the garden of his deceased wife, Chris started to recall how everything led up
to where he was now.
Unfortunately, it had included his
capture of the Sandmen and when Chris reached that part for the telling, Buck
had watched a great change in his voice, demeanor and body. It was as if something else had taken
control of his friend and Buck was frightened by what he saw.
Buck was seeing that metamorphosis now
and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rising in affect. He knew it was not something good.
“Chris, are ya alright?” asked Vin
still watching the man cautiously for any signs that he heard.
Chris’ breathing steadily started to
slow down and once he could feel the energy he felt building starting to power
down, he gradually opened his eyes to look at the bounty hunter.
“Vin…I…I.” Chris shook his head to clear the mist that clouded his
mind. “I gotta go,” said Chris finally
and walked off back towards the ship.
Vin stared at him, not knowing what
just happened.
As he brushed past Vin, his arm briefly
touched the young curly-haired man and Vin saw an image flash into his
mind. It was of Chris, running in the
desert, fear permeated his face and then it was gone.
“Vin?” queried Sharana. “What’s wrong?”
Vin walked over to Sharana and grabbed
her by the waist. He said, “I don’t
rightly understand it right now. I got
an inklin’, but I think I should talk to ya father first.”
Sharana nodded that she
understood. It would be something her
father would be able to help her lover understand.
Vin and Sharana walked back towards
tent and her father. As they passed the
others, Buck grabbed a hold of Vin’s arm.
“Just what the hell happened just now?”
asked Buck angered.
“Ya need to ask Chris that, Bucklin,”
said Vin tersely as he threw off Buck’s hold and continued his walk towards the
tent.
Buck turned to Josiah, JD, Nathan and
Ezra in bewilderment. He thought maybe
they had an answer to that question.
They all looked at him and he could see that they had no answer to his
question and just as they did not for their own.
“I think we better heed Mr. Larabee’s
command,” said Ezra, eyeing them unfazed by all that had happened.
“Yeah. I don’t want ‘im mad at me,”
said JD walking off towards the ship.
Nathan and Josiah followed JD’s example
and Ezra was not far behind.
Buck stood there, watching them
disappear into the ship. Ezra turned
back towards him before entering and said, “Are you coming?”
Buck looked back at the tent and then
looked back at Ezra. He blew out the
breath he had been holding and his shoulders slumped in defeat as he followed
the others in the ship, hoping for an opportunity to have a chance to talk to
his friend privately.
****************************************************************************************************************************
Vin and Sharana entered the tent and
found Aldar sitting waiting patiently for them.
Vin knew the old man knew what was
going on and had some idea as to why Chris was acting the way he was.
Sharana glanced at her father and
caught a signal from his eyes that told her that he wanted time alone with
Vin. She kissed Vin gently on the lips
and walked away to her room to await Vin’s goodbye.
Vin sat down cross-legged next to
Aldar, the silence almost deafening in the large tent.
“Ya want to tell me what that was all
about?” asked Vin.
Aldar sighed softly. The time had come to explain some things to
his future son-in-law, but he did not know if he would understand it all, or if
he would even return from their mission.
Aldar had seen things, but when it came
to these men, it was clouded with paths that led in several different
directions. It depended upon their
choices and defining what was the true path was hard, even for Aldar who was
considered one of the best Profeta of his time.
“Aldar?” called Vin softly, awakening
the elderly man from his reverie.
“Vincenzo, ya know that there are paths
in life that we take which determines the result. It has been hard for me to see pass the obstacles that are there
for ya and ya friends. But what I tell
ya now, ya must keep close to ya heart until the right time.”
“How will I know? When the right time is?”
“Ya will know. Ya are a Profeta. All Profetas know when the right time is. All we have to do is wait and open our
eyes. Listen, Vin, ya don’t have much
time and Chris is right about one thing.
Ya need to leave now. There is a
storm comin’ and I think it follows ya.”
“A storm? What kind of storm?” asked Vin worried now.
“One that will destroy ya if it finds
ya,” said Aldar evasively.
Vin narrowed his eyes at the man. “Ya not gon’na tell me, huh?”
“Nay.
I cannot. I cannot change the
future and I cannot tell ya things that would change ya decisions. I can only warn ya. Do not be fooled by what ya eyes see. Do not let fear control ya mind. And above
all, keep Chris close to ya.”
“But Aldar…”
“No!
Remember what I tell ya. I can
say no more. Ya are the only one that
understands what motivates the man. He
is the one, Vin. The only one who can
do the impossible,” said Aldar urgently.
“Now, go say ya goodbyes to my daughter. She loves ya too much I think.”
A small smile came to the old man’s face once his words were done. “She will be waitin’ for when ya return.”
Vin grabbed the man’s hand in
friendship.
“Take care, Vincenzo and remember what
I said. Go,” said Aldar motioning to
where Sharana awaited him.
Vin smiled and went to join his lover
for their goodbye.
Once he was gone, he did not see the
ominous look that came over Aldar’s face, nor of the words he whispered
silently to himself. “May the light
giver watch over ya and if ya return, I hope that it will be well.”
****************************************************************************************************************************
Vin quickly entered the area he shared
with Sharana. He found her sitting on
the floor near their pallet, crying.
“Sharana?” said Vin kneeling down
besides her. Sharana moved into his arms, hugging him hard and burying her face
into his chest.
“Vin,” came her soft voice. “Please…don’t go. Please,” she pleaded.
Vin sighed sadly. He did not want to leave her behind, but he
knew he must. She was safer here among
her people than she would be with him.
“I have to, KiKi,” he said using the
nickname he had for her. “They need
me.”
“Then take me with ya,” said Sharana
raising her head and looking into his blue eyes. “I do not want to be separated from ya.”
“Aw, KiKi,” said Vin gently, kissing
her on the forehead. “Ya are safer
here. It will be dangerous where I
go. I cannot put ya into somethin’ like
that.”
“I don’t care!” exclaimed Sharana
pouting. “At least we will be together.
If we die, then we die together.”
“No one’s gon’na die, Sharana,” replied
Vin trying to placate her.
“Ya cannot know that.”
“Am I not the Profeta?”
“Ya said ya did not believe.”
“Am I not the Profeta?” he asked again.
“Aye.
Ya are.”
“Then believe me when I say no one will
be dyin’. Not ya, not me.”
Sharana held those calm blue eyes and
saw that he believed it true. She
nodded in assent to his reasoning, although her heart was not as compliant to
his words.
“Ya know I love ya, don’t cha?” said
Vin.
“I guess ya must if ya keep comin’
back,” said Sharana teasingly.
“And that is why I will come back,”
said Vin kissing her gently on the lips.
When they had broke apart from their
kiss, she said, “Ya better Vincenzo Arturo Tanner or I’ll come lookin’ for ya
and drag ya back.” She then kissed him
again fully on the lips, dragging him down onto their pallet. Vin was surprised, but pleased. One for the
road could not hurt.
***************************************************************************************************************************
Chapter 17
It was an hour later and Vin had said
his goodbyes to Sharana and Aldar. He
walked quickly over to the ship that was about to leave and as soon as he
boarded, the ramp retracted and the doors closed. The engines started up as soon as he got himself seated in the
co-pilot’s chair, next to Chris who sat in the pilot chair. The vehicle took off towards the deep
desert, leaving the bustling village behind.
****************************************************************************************************************************
They had been riding in the vehicle for
over five hours now, the sun setting slower .
The deep desert had no vegetation to speak of. It was basically a dry and rocky terrain with Strangle weeds
popped up in the middle of it, ever so often.
Strangle weeds were the only type of
plants that grew in the deep desert.
They were edible if you knew how to eat them. Very few people did since most people did not grow up in the deep
desert.
But Vin did and so did anyone who grew
up near the deep desert and needed to survive.
He just hoped it would never come to that for them now.
The silence was thick in the room.
Josiah and Nathan sat in the back in
one of the chairs, talking quietly to each other. What, Vin did not know.
JD was sitting behind them, looking out
the window as the vehicle skimmed the desert, more into his own world.
Ezra sat next to JD busily reading a
book that Vin could not see the title.
It seemed to be written in a language that Vin had not seen before.
Buck sat in the back with the
guardsmen, playing a game of Bracquet.
It was a game in which opponents would bet on the roll of Rise
stone. The Rise stone was an octagon
with runes written on each side. The winner would predict the correct rune to
come up and win the pot. Based on
Buck’s exclamations, Vin knew he was winning.
Then there was Chris. The blond man was sitting in the pilot’s
seat, his silver green eyes focused only on what was in front of him. Vin
wondered what was going on in the man’s mind.
He knew ever since they left the village that the man had not uttered a
word to any of them. His eyes kept
forward, not acknowledging any of them.
Vin was worried about Chris. He had put up walls to keep them out, but
Vin knew that if they were to win this fight against the Vicar, the walls had
to come down.
“Chris?”
No response.
“Chris!”
There still was no response from the
blond.
Vin placed his hand on to the silent
man’s arm and waited for a reaction. He
did not care what kind of reaction, just anything other than the silence he was
getting.
“Don’t, Vin,” came Chris’ low growl as
he pulled his arm away from the bounty hunter.
“Chris, ya can’t keep this up. If we’re to survive, we got to work
together,” pleaded Vin.
Chris finally turned towards Vin. Vin could see that his face had softened and
there was something that looked like pain that graced his eyes.
“Vin…I…I don’t know how long…I can keep
control,” said Chris finally.
“Control? Control of what?” asked Vin has he touched Chris’ arm gently,
trying to get him to continue with what he was going to say.
As he did, a flash of image came
unbidden into Vin’s mind.
It was of Chris, standing on a high
desert dune, his arms outstretched towards the sky and energy of light flowed
from his fingertips out over the desert floor.
His eyes glowed brightly, the silver
green, now more crystallized looking than before, almost like mirrors that
reflected back the light of the energy that came from his hands.
As the image grew within his mind’s
eyes, he then saw where the energy was moving across the desert floor. In the distance he saw a city, its white
spiral towers, immense on the flat desert valley. His inner mind watched the energy encompass the city and the
city’s spiral towers start to sink into the desert. It was gone in a matter of minutes and nothing on the desert
marked its existence.
“Vin?” Vin heard a call that sounded
like Chris’ voice. He shook his head
and found himself gazing into the eyes of his new friend. “You alright?”
“I saw a city,” said Vin still confused
by his vision.
“A city? Where?” said Chris looking around the desert through the view
screen in front of the ship.
“No.
Not out there. I saw it in my
vision. And you were there, Pard.”
“Me?
Why?”
“Ya were standin’ on a hill, in the
desert. There was this…this thing that
looked like energy flowin’ from ya, out towards the city.”
“Energy?” questioned Chris shocked by
Vin’s revelation. “Where? When?”
“I don’t know, Cowboy. All I saw was ya hands upraised and the
energy seemed to flow towards the city.”
“Alright, ya scarin’ me now, Vin,” said
Chris shaking his head furiously trying to stop Vin from relating his
story. “I don’t want to hear it, Vin.
Stop, right now.”
“But Chris…”
“No buts, Vin. Ya messin’ with
something ya don’t understand.
Something I don’t understand,” said Chris determined in thought.
“Chris, ya got to hear this. There was something else that happened.”
“No!” exclaimed Chris. “I don’t want to
know, Vin.” He was glaring at Vin irritated, but then his face then softened
and he said pleadingly, “Please, Vin.
Don’t make…I don’t want to do this.”
Vin knew he was not going to win this
conversation, but he also knew that what he saw was something that they could
not ignore. He would wait. He was very patient and he knew that the
blond man needed to hear what he had to say.
He was about to suggest that they talk
about it another time, when he felt the ship lurch as if it hit something.
“What the hell?” shouted Buck from the
back of the ship. “What ya’ll doing up
there?”
“It ain’t us,” shouted Vin back to
him. He then turned to Chris who
shrugged his shoulders as they felt something hit the side of the craft
again. This time it was harder and it
knocked JD from his seat by the window.
JD ended unceremoniously on his
backside on the floor. “Hey, guys,
what’s going on?”
“Don’t know, JD,” answered Buck, moving
over to help the young man off the floor.
“But I don’t think it’s good.”
Buck tried to look out the window that was next to him and saw only sand
and shadows.
Chris was busily trying to see what was
outside. His infrared vision showed
only cold spots, but he knew something was out there, he could feel it in his
bones.
He turned to glance at Vin, when
suddenly he felt another blow to the ship, but this time the ship skidded to a
halt, throwing the men in the ship out of their seats and on to the floor. Only Chris and Vin were still in their seats,
barely, hanging on to the control board.
“Damn it, Chris! What the hell are ya doing?”
Chris did not answer him as he shut
down the engines. He then stood up and strapped on his laser pistol.
Vin had some idea what Chris was about
to do and stood up also, grabbing his laser rifle.
The others eyed them in
bewildered.
“Should I ask as to what you are about
to do, Mr. Larabee?” queried Ezra from his position on the floor.
“No,” said Chris curtly and walked
passed him.
“Vin, can you…” started Ezra standing
up from position on the floor.
“No,” replied Vin following Chris to
the door.
“Chris?” called Buck, watching his
friend with interest and concern.
“I don’t know, Buck. But I aim to find out. Ya comin’, Vin?” said Chris opening the door
to the ship.
“Right behind ya, Cowboy,” answered
Vin, following him out the opened door.
The others looked around in confusion.
“Buck, where they goin’?” asked JD. He
did not like being stuck in the deep desert. He could feel himself back under the
ship, trying to evade the Sandmen that he heard killing the men in the ship
above him.
“JD?” questioned Buck worried about the
young man. He looked as if he was going
to faint or something. “Is something
wrong?”
“No,” replied JD quickly, shaking off
the shivers that were trying to climb up his back. “Nothing.”
“Well, I’m sure that Chris and Vin are
just checking out what he might have hit,” interjected Josiah. “They’ll be back soon.” He patted the young man on the shoulder, but
JD seemed not to accept it. He shrugged
it off.
“I’m not a child, preacher!” JD spat.
Josiah looked at him shocked. He did not think he was patronizing the
young man. He only wanted to give some
comfort since he knew the man was nervous about their current circumstances.
“I’m…sorry, JD. I did not mean to offend,” replied Josiah
softly.
JD did not answer. He only nodded and
went back to gazing out of the window.
Josiah noticed this and wondered what demons haunted the young man.
****************************************************************************************************************************
Chris and Vin stood outside the
ship. The sun was almost gone beyond
the horizon. Shadow and darkness is all
that Vin could see, but it seemed that Chris could see more. He seemed to be able to distinguish things
in the dark, where Vin only saw outlines.
Vin placed his infrared goggles on,
knowing that it would be completely dark soon and in the desert there was no
light when there was no moon. This
month there was no moon. The moon only
rose over Helios Prime every two months.
This was the alternating month when the moon would not rise so the
darkness in the desert was thick when it finally came.
Chris silently motioned for him to take
a look on the other side of the ship, while he would scan the side they were
currently on.
Vin nodded that he understood. He leveled his rifle in front of him as he
slowly walked around the other side.
Chris’ infrared sight took in the
landscape. As far as he could discern, everything
looked normal. He was about to move further outward when he saw something flick
by his line of sight. He tried to
follow it, but it was fast. As he
looked again, he saw the same thing again.
It looked like two red disembodied eyes running back and forth before
him.
He knew what they were. He took out his laser gun and fired directly
into the area he saw the eyes disappeared.
He heard a grunt and then saw a body suddenly materialize and fall from
out of the darkness.
He walked cautiously over to the body
on the ground and turned it over. It
was a Necromonger, one of the Vicar. He
should have known that they would not give up so easily.
He was about to call for Vin, when he
heard a shot. He ran around to the other side of the ship and saw Vin trying to
fight with another Vicar henchman.
He raised his sidearm and aimed at the
Vicar, but he knew he would not be able to get a good shot off without hitting
Vin as the two men tussled upon the desert ground.
He re-holstered his weapon and ran towards
to the two men, unsheathing his knife from his boot. He then grabbed the shoulders of the Vicar, pulling him off of
Vin and they both tumbled away from the falling bounty hunter.
As Vin finally recovered from his fight
with the Vicar, he turned to see Chris’s turn in his tumble to land on his
feet, the Vicar doing the same with a large blade in his hand.
“I did not think I would have this
chance, your Highness,” said the Vicar in a rasping voice.
“You don’t,” replied Chris feinting at
the Vicar with his knife.
The Vicar jumped back, easily avoiding
the strike and then tried one of his own.
Chris jumped to the side quickly, too quickly for the Vicar to
countermove. Chris ended up behind the
Vicar and thrust his knife deep into the man’s back and pulling it out in one
quick motion.
The Vicar hissed in pain and surprise,
but did not go down. He turned to face
his attacker and said, “You cannot kill me that easily, your Highness.” A sadist smile crossed his face and then he
ran towards his opponent, blade raised in the strike position.
Chris saw it coming and stood stock
still as the man approached. But at the
last minute, he twirled around him, his knife slicing at the man.
The Vicar stopped suddenly in his
tracks. His back was turned away from
Chris as he gasped for air.
When he finally did turn around to face
Chris, the sadist smile was still there, but the red eyes showed nothing but
emptiness.
Chris stood in place staring at Vicar, wondering
his next move, while Vin eyed both of them in confusion. Then without preamble,
they both watched as the head of the man fell smoothly from his body to bounce
onto the sandy floor.
Vin then looked up at Chris surprised. “I
didn’t know that ya was so good with a knife, Chris,” said Vin walked towards
him.
“There’s a lot ya don’t know about me,
Vin. And even more that you shouldn’t,”
replied Chris wiping the knife clean on his arm and placing it back into his
boot.
Vin turned infrared goggles towards the
way their ship had come and he could see a heated cloud approaching fast across
the desert. “Chris, I think we got
company.” He pointed towards the horizon and Chris turned to look.
To Chris’ eyes he saw what he knew to
be a ship. An older Necromonger ship
and he knew it was the rest of the Vicar that was sent to hunt him.
“We’re getting out of here,” said
Chris, quickly walking back towards the ship.
Vin followed behind, concerned and
worried. “Chris. What did you
see?” He hurried to catch up with the
man as he boarded the ship.
“Lock it up, Buck! We’re out of here,” ordered Chris as he ran
to the pilot seat of the ship and started up the engines.
Vin ran and sat down next to him as
Buck pushed the controls that rose up the ramp, locking the ship down for
transport.
As soon as Buck got into his seat, they
were all thrown back as Chris put the ship into acceleration. The ship practically flew three feet into
the sky as Chris maneuvered her in the opposite direction of the ominous cloud
that was coming.
“Chris? What was that?” asked Vin
determinedly. Chris had clammed up on
him as soon as he saw the cloud coming.
“Is there somethin’ ‘bout that cloud?”
“It’s not a cloud, Vin. It’s a ship and it has the rest of the Vicar
assassins on it,” said Chris pushing the speed on the skimmer.
“Can we outrun it?” came a question
from behind them. Vin turned to see
that it was Nathan who had heard their conversation.
“Chris?” queried Vin.
Chris still did not answer. He was too busy trying to get them away from
their pursuers. He knew an army of
Vicar assassins was no match for their small band.
Buck looked over at them in front with
worry. He did not like what was
happening and it bothered him that Chris was not talking.
He turned to the Sodikar guardsmen and
said, “Keep sharp. I have a feeling
that trouble is coming.”
“Aye, Captain,” replied the Sodikar
named Zikta.
Buck knew he could trust Zikta to
follow his orders. He was one of his
top men and would definitely keep on guard.
“How close are they?” asked JD. He was concern, but not for his life. Life ended with death. He was more concerned for his soul. That was everlasting and if the Vicar
acquired it, he would be in hell for eternity.
No. That was not acceptable to
JD.
“Close enough,” came Chris’ response.
It seemed to Vin that Chris was working on autopilot since his answers seemed
to be too calm.
The ship swooped back and forth over
the desert, just barely skimming the surface.
Chris was steering the small craft
towards the desert mountain ranges.
The mountain ranges were called so,
because of their image of the old mountain ranges of old Earth made up of dirt
and rocks.
But the desert mountain ranges were not
made up of dirt and rocks. They were literally
sand dunes hardened over the years.
Due to the basic element that made the
Helion universe the most productive area where solar energy existed and could
be sold to other planets once it was harnessed was that for one reason
only.
The reflective material in the sands of
Helion Prime were conductive to the sun’s rays, absorbing it and forming a
crystallization which formed the desert mountain ranges as they existed today.
Chris had ended up in one of the
smaller ones during one of his escapes from the Sandmen. That was before the one time that they had
finally caught him and almost killed him.
Buck and the others did not know about those times. Those times he had considered himself lucky
and since he had got out alive there, was no need for anyone to know. It was part of his job as a protector of the
Lord Marshal.
But now he had to return to those caves
if he was to save his friends. Friends. That was a term he was not so familiar with
during the past several years. He did
not think he had friends. Associates,
yes, clients, yes, prey, yes, friends, no.
He believed them long gone with the lost of his true identity. It was funny how it seemed to change in a
matter of weeks.
Chris spied the cave he thought was big
enough for their ship and also would shield them from the Vicar ship’s
sensors. That was the other thing about
the reflective material in the sand mountains. They reflected all types of
sensors rays, giving back false signals.
They would be able to loose the ship.
They would just have to stay hidden for a while once the Vicar realized
their search was futile. He just hoped
it would not be too long. He got very
antsy when it came to staying in the caves.
They brought back memories he would prefer to forget.
Chris turned to Vin and pointed towards
one of the caves he had chosen.
Vin nodded understanding his plan and
knew it was a well-thought out plan.
But deep down inside, Vin was nervous
about where they were headed. He was
very claustrophobic about tight places.
It was the one thing a Ravakar feared
and that was to be enclosed. Open
spaces and the wide desert was where they lived. Even their tents were large to create the effect of openness.
Vin watched in trepidation as Chris
piloted the craft into the large sand cave.
The cave was dark and the only light came from the beams on the
ship. Chris then cut those off and they
were surrounded in complete darkness. Chris turned solemnly to the others.
“Listen up, everybody. We got a problem. Seems like the Vicar have found us, guys.”
There were murmurs of surprise and
shock, but no one voiced their opinion out loud.
“I’ve given them the slip at the
moment. We…we just have to wait it
out,” he said turning back to the opened view screen and staring out at the
blackness.
Vin was worried. He had a bad feeling about all this and then
Chris had just clammed up and closed them out.
This was not good, but there was nothing that he could do about
now. They needed at first to loose the
Vicar and then he was going to sit down and have a long talk to Chris about
everything, including what he had seen.
****************************************************************************************************************************
Chapter 18
Vin sat in the dark interior of the
ship, watching Chris as he nervously played with the gun’s handle that hung at
his side. He had been doing that since
they had entered the cave several hours ago.
He had asked Chris if he thought the
Vicar were gone by now, but Chris looked at him with confusion in his eyes,
shrugged his shoulders and said, “Maybe.”
That was the last word the man had
uttered since a couple of hours ago and Vin was getting pissed off as time went
on.
He knew they had to leave the cave,
sooner or later and it seemed that Chris was not very responsive to them at the
moment.
With an exasperated sigh, Vin stood up
and went to sit down in an empty chair between Buck and Ezra.
“What’s wrong with you?” asked Buck
noticing Vin’s distraught face.
“What’s wrong with me? It’s not what’s wrong with me. It’s what’s wrong with ‘im,” replied Vin
pointing at the man in black’s back as Chris continued to stare out into the
darkness.
Buck sighed sadly and pulled a hand
through his hair. He knew that Chris
hated the sand caves. It was where they
had found him barely alive from his attack by the Sandmen long ago.
He had wondered when they entered the
place, what was on Chris’ mind at the time, but he had placed it far back in
order to deal with their current predicament.
Now it was becoming clear that it was foremost in Chris’ mind when they
entered the darkened, enclosed space.
“Listen, Vin,” started Buck. “Maybe we just need to leave ‘im alone for
awhile. He has some…some issues to deal
with about this place.”
“What issues?” asked Vin concerned.
“It ain’t up to me to say. You gotta ask Chris about that.”
Ezra and Josiah heard the quiet
conversation between the two men and they both knew that it was another one of
the demons that heir to the throne carried around with him.
“Maybe if I talk to him,” interrupted
Josiah.
Buck glared hard at the big priest,
knowing how Chris would react at having his business being the subject of the
conversation.
“Let it go, priest,” said Buck tartly.
“But he may need guidance, brother
Buck. I think…”
“I said let it go!” snapped out Buck, this
time willing to back it up with force if need be.
Josiah saw the anger that came from the
tall guardsman’s eyes and decided it was best that he did back off. He nodded silently to let Buck know that he
would not pursue it. But this, of
course, did not stop Vin.
Vin had a feeling that the way Chris
was acting had much to do with his past experience in the cave. Vin decided it
was time that they were out of here and he knew the only way to get Chris to
agree is to bring the man back to the present and out of the past that he was
now trapped in.
Vin went to sit back in the co-pilot’s
chair next to the blond who still seemed to be absorbed in his watch of the
darkness outside.
“Chris?”
Chris did not answer the curly haired
man, but keep his silvery eyes focused on the darkness outside.
“Chris,” said Vin a little louder now.
Chris turned to face the man he thought
as a friend and stared at him annoyed. “What?”
“What are you lookin’ at out there?”
“Huh?” asked Chris confused.
“Ya keep starin’ out there,” said Vin
pointing through the view screen. “What’s
out there?”
“What’s out there?” queried Chris right
back, glancing back at the darkness.
“Yeah.
Ya keep starin’ out there like ya see somethin’. I was just wonderin’ what it was.”
“It’s…It’s nothing. Just thinking,” replied Chris turning back
to stare out at the encompassing darkness.
“Well,” said Vin noticing that his
friend was back to staring again. “Don’t cha think it’s time we got out of
here?”
“Hmmm, what? Oh, yeah. I guess ya right,”
said Chris, almost startled out of his reverie. “They’re probably gone by now,” His hands absently moving to the
start button of the engines.
“You’re probably right, Cowboy,” said
Vin relieved.
The others heard the engines starting
up and they all let out silent breaths of release at that thought they were
leaving.
“Buck?”
“Yeah, Chris?”
“Check the outside monitors for any
movement outside,” said Chris getting the engines revved up. He decided that when they left the cave,
they were going to move fast.
“Right, Chris,” said Buck walking over
to the monitors that were against the other side of the wall of the ship.
Chris waited for Buck’s response and it
came quickly.
“It’s clear, Chris,” said Buck.
Chris quickly maneuvered the ship out
of the cave and into the brightness of the rising suns of Helios Prime which
made him place his sunglasses back on to protect his sensitive eyes.
Once he validated that Buck assessment
was correct, he steered the ship back on course to their original destination.
The rest of the passengers sighed a
consensus of relief and they were back on to their journey once again.
**********************************************************
JD stared out of the window as Chris
piloted the ship towards the rising suns.
His mood getting anxious as they got closer to their destination.
He fidgeted in his seat, bumping the
seat that held Josiah several times.
Josiah turned to look at him askance, wondering what was troubling the
young man.
The comment the young man had made
before back in Vin’s village still disturbed him. Why would JD say that it was the first real rest he had since
they had found him? He never did really explain all the details concerning his
evasion of the Sandmen who had killed everyone else aboard the ship he was
traveling in and Josiah had a feeling that it was one worth the telling.
He sidled closer to the young dark
haired man, gently touching his arm in comfort.
JD eyes left the window and turned to
face the priest, a look of confusion and anger shadowing his face in
succession.
“What?” asked JD, removing his arm away
from Josiah.
“I was wondering if you had something
on your mind, brother,” said Josiah gently.
“Nope,” said JD curtly and returned to
stare out of the window.
“Are you sure?” asked Josiah again
touching JD’s arm.
JD pulled his arm violently from
Josiah’s grasp and said in a low and threatening tone, “Listen, Priest, don’t
touch me again, ya hear?”
“I…I’m sorry, JD,” answered Josiah startled.
“I just thought…”
“I know what ya thought and if ya don’t
mind, I’d like ya to keep it to yourself.”
“O…kay,” replied Josiah stunned by the
young man’s ferociousness.
JD glared at him, but said nothing more
and returned to his view of the outside land as they flew onward.
Josiah was to say the least, surprised
at JD attitude. He knew the young man
was hiding something and it he felt it was not something good, at least for JD.
JD on the other hand wanted nothing
from the older man. He wanted to be
left alone. He had seen what the Sandmen could do and it was not a pretty
picture. It haunted him, day and night
and he wondered if the images would ever disappear from his dreams. He would never tell them the details of what
he saw. No one should have seen what he
had seen.
What JD did not know, was that there
was one person who shared his visions of the Sandmen’s destruction. That man sat in the pilot seat, stoic and
still as he piloted the small vessel towards their destination.
*************************************************************************************************************************
It was night when the ship finally
stopped. They had traveled several miles into the deep desert.
Vin turned to look at Chris, wondering
why he had stopped and saw what had caught his friend’s eyes.
“Is that?” asked Vin.
“Yeah,” answered Chris, his crystal
eyes scanning what was in front of him.
It was a city, a city spiraling out of
the desert into white towers that peaked into points of light. The towers held
small windows and below it, a wall made of sand and stone surrounded the outer
perimeter. There was no movement, no
sight of anything living within and outside of the city, just the lights coming
from the small windows of the towers themselves.
Vin turned to see that Buck and Ezra
had moved to the front of the ship.
They were also staring at the beautiful sight before them.
“Why we stopped, Chris?” asked Buck
concerned.
“Is this our destination, Mr. Larabee?”
questioned Ezra.
“Yeah.
Tiera,” said Chris solemnly.
“Tiera,” sighed Josiah. “We made it.”
“Not yet we haven’t,” replied Chris
softly.
“Huh?” asked JD. “I thought this was where we wanted to be.”
“It is, JD. It’s just… Well, Tiera ain’t such a hospitable city. They don’t like strangers,” answered Chris.
“And what do you mean by not
hospitable, Mr. Larabee?” queried Ezra, his eyes going up in concern.
“Let’s just say that they ain’t like
normal humans, Ezra. Tierans have lived
under the threat of Sandmen for centuries.
They have had to deal with them more than any other species on the
planet. In the past sixty years though,
they have little trouble with them. In fact, they kind of stay to themselves
and the Sandmen leave them alone.”
“Why?” asked JD surprised.
“Don’t know, JD. They just do and we are outsiders, outsiders
who the Sandmen would gladly break that agreement to have.”
“Why would the Sandmen want us and if
so, why did we come here?” asked Nathan confused by his statement. “I thought we were going after the Vicar.”
“We are,” said Chris annoyed. “The Vicar’s main stronghold is within the
city itself. Because of the peace between the Sandmen and the Tierans, the
Vicar knew it would be the best place in the desert to be. It is where no one from the New Meccan
territories, unless they were crazy, would come. From my mother’s sources, there is a traitor among the Tierans
and it is that person that have given a safe haven in Tiera to the Vicar.”
“Well, Pard, that person must be very
high in the food chain to have that much power to offer the Vicar a safe
haven. And ya still haven’t answered
Ezra’s other question as to why the Sandmen would want us,” said Vin. He knew the blond was keeping something from
them, but he did not know what.
Chris sighed and turned to look at the
city before them. He took off his
glasses and rubbed his eyes as if in pain.
“Chris?” called Vin softly.
“It’s me, Vin. They want me,” said Chris with finality.
“You?” asked Josiah. “Why would the Sandmen want you?”
“Not…exactly me, Josiah. It’s a little difficult to explain.”
“Then I think you had better elaborate,
Mr. Larabee. I for one will not take
one step out of this ship until you do,” stated Ezra firmly.
“Well, Ez, that’s too damn bad!”
snapped Chris. “You can stay here! And
if any of you feel the same, you can too!”
“Ah, Chris, he’s only asking a question
that’s on all of our minds,” explained Buck, eying his friend perturbed. He knew of Chris’ aversion to Tiera and
why.
Buck knew it was near the place where they
found him when he was attacked by Sandmen so many years ago. But what he did not know was why the Sandmen
wanted him specifically.
“Chris, it just ain’t in their
nature. They kill, they take your soul,
I can’t see anymore than that,” said Buck. He could not see why they would
target Chris and not someone else. One
soul was as good as another. Or so Buck
thought.
Chris shook his head, denying them an
answer. In truth, he did not know the
answer he only knew what was true.
Vin sighed and knew that Chris was
perplexed also by the Sandmen’s action.
But no matter what, Aldar had said that their destinies were tied and
Vin would see it to the end wherever it would lead.
“I’ll go with ya, Chris,” interjected
Vin.
Chris eyed him guardedly with green mirroring
eyes. “I don’t know what lays ahead for us, Vin. Are ya sure?”
“As sure as I can ever be, Chris,” said
Vin unwaveringly.
“I will go too, Connell,” added
Nathan. “Where ya going ya gon’na need
someone like me.”
Chris nodded and showed he was welcomed.
“Me too, Chris,” jumped in JD, although
he was trembling inside. He did not
want to get anywhere near Sandmen, but he would follow Chris. He needed to put his own demons to rest and
for some reason he knew Tiera was where it would be done.
“Ya can count me in, Pard. Ya know that. And as for the Sodikar, ya
already know where their loyalty lies,” said Buck adamantly.
“And I, Christopher,” said Josiah. “I don’t know what lays ahead for us, but I
believe God has a plan.”
“I don’t think God wants anything to do
with this place, priest,” smirked Chris.
He then turned to eye Ezra who was still silent among them.
Ezra knew Larabee was staring at him,
waiting for his answer. Ezra sighed
despondently. He knew sooner or later
he would die, but not quite in this fashion.
He had hoped it was in his bed and at the age of 120. He also knew that
there was nothing guaranteed in life.
“You leave me no other option, Mr.
Larabee. It seems if I want to make a profit
from this venture that I will need to take a risk. I just hope it pays off.”
“You just keep track of the odds, Ezra.
Ya good at that,” said Chris turning back towards the city. “Alright, everyone get back into your
seats. We’re going in.” Chris then revved up the engines and ship
took off towards the spiraling city of lights.
TBC.
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