Destiny: Book of Light (9 page)

"No," said Sean with enough gloom for Vulitas eyes to focus on him with curious worry.
"She was taken by him."
"By him, you mean....?"
"Yes, him. It is awhile back. I have been tracking the world for her since. And now I fear he has returned to the Dark Canyons, and it is there that I must travel."
"I can't believe this." It took her a moment for everything to set in and realise what Sean had just said. "Nobody has ever returned from the canyons, that's madness. I mean I love her more than anything and have waited years for any news of her." Tears filled her eyes. "But to travel there is suicide, especially alone. Do you even know she's alive?"
"Search your heart and tell me if you know?"
She smiled.
"And I am not alone. I bring with me a special kind of army. She never spoke of a sister?"
"Really? That's surprising, you obviously knew her well, I don't see why she wouldn't have spoken of me? How do you mean a special kind of army?"

"Listen I could really use your help, we ran into a lot of trouble on our way and we are in need of a crew."
"Oh so it's like that, you're not going to answer my question but you ask for my help?"
"I am sorry but I should have said nothing of that. The less people know the less can get hurt. Can you help me?"
"Yes I can. But if I help you find a crew I want to go with you? I would do anything for Sarah. What say you?"
"If I was to take the lessons of my Father in this matter I would tell you that this is too dangerous a trip for a woman to be taking, but I have learned from experiencing the strength of Sarah’s will, and see that in you. So instead I will say to you, you do understand that this is an acutely dangerous journey and most, if not all, that take it will perish."
"I do."
"And that there is little hope of actually getting any where near Sarah not a mind actually saving her?"
"I do."
Sean felt he could trust her. He didn't know why, only that maybe everything was familiar with her and some of the trust he'd had with Sarah was attributed to her because of it.
"Then I must also inform you that not only is this a trip to save Sarah, but we are also intended on...." He stopped and looked around to make sure nobody was listening and then whispered in her ear. "Destroy him."
She pulled back and the level of her voice rose. "That's madness you can't go against..."
He calmed her using his hand in the universal upward, downward motion.
She moved closer and spoke softer. "You can't go against him he'll destroy you, all of you?"
"Someone has to stand up to him. For too long he has held this planet in the grasp of his hand, and for too long have those who inhabit it stood by and did nothing."
"Did nothing? What about the Federate Wars?"
"The Federation didn't have what I have. And the Federation attacked his armies, not him directly. Besides that was over 20 years ago, nobody has done anything since then. He will not be expecting it."
"Maybe." She said hesitantly. "How do you mean what you have? What special army?"
"I'll tell you about that later, in the mean time can you sort out that crew?"
"So we have a deal?"
"Yes we do."
"Ok so wait here, I shouldn't be too long."
"Ok but say nothing of where we're going or what we're doing but there will be a cash lump some of 3000 Rushnas to those who make it back.
"3000, that would sort them for life?"
"Yes but do let them know it may cost them their lives."
"Ok I will."

She went to the other side of the bar and spoke to a group of men that looked to be veteran sailors. The old school hard men. Then she left the bar, indicating to Sean to stay, as she did so.
Time passed and as it did Sean drifted further into the haze that surrounded him. Paranoia started to get the better of him as he heard whispers in the room that he was convinced were about him. Eyes glared.
An old man shuffled past, ale in one hand and an ancient relic of a sword in the other. As he did so he stumbled and fell into Sean.

"Watch it you bowl of rat piss!" shouted the old man as he stumbled back from Sean, struggling to retain his balance and sizing himself up to a figure he could barely focus on.

"I'm sorry Sir, here you spilt your ale, let me get you another."
"Too late for that boy, you've insulted me honour. It's to the death." He smashed his glass on the ground and struggled to lift his sword above his head.

As he did so Sean noticed the rest of the bar closing in, and hands goin to their sword hilts, some to guns. He knew he didn't stand a chance here and thought it best to try deflate the old man. He drew his sword quickly and the whole bar reacted by drawing theirs, but he held it out slowly and gently placed it on the ground in front of him.

"I mean no disrespect Sir, but you stumbled into me. I am merely passing through here and I have no want for trouble."
"I did no such thing, how dare you!" He took a swing at Sean but his old feeble arms were slow and easy to see coming. Sean had no trouble avoiding it. What he did have trouble avoiding was the second swing which came from the right of him. He jumped forward in a roll but he still managed to get clipped on the ear. Blood poured as he disarmed the old man and put the ancient blade to his throat.

"Nobody fucking move or I'll cut his fucking throat!" Sean roared, slowly edging him and the old man to the door, as the whole bar slowly edged towards him, swords drawn.
An old sailor seemed to be the spokesman for the locals. "Take it easy there now stranger, there be no need for violence here."
"I never asked for violence, you lot brought the violence on me, I was just minding my business."
"Then put your sword down and we can discuss this?" asked the sailor still edging his way closer.
Sean laughed, "Can't do that boss, last time I tried to talk, your man took a chunk off my ear, how about you lot put yer swords down and then I'll talk."
"I don't think you're in a position to be bargaining there stranger, you ain't getting out of this alive if you don't do as I say."
"Maybe, but I guarantee that me, and Pops here won't be the only ones passing the gates if ye keep drawing closer." said Sean still edging to the door and the bar of blades still edging to him.
The old sailor spoke. "Fuck it lads he doesn have the balls lets......"
Sean roared "Put up your hand!" The old man did so, hesitantly. As he did Sean swung the sword and in hares heartbeat the old mans hand was on the floor and he was screaming. The whole pub took a step back and swords began to lower. Sean had to struggle to keep the man upward as he continued with a little more urgency than before.
"Fuck him lads he can't get away with this!" Swords went up in the air and the whole bar moved forward simultaneously. In the last moment when Sean was just about to face steel, a scream roared through the bar. A female scream.

"Stop! He's with me." It was Vulita.

She had come in the back door and the crowd parted as she walked through the bar. It was obvious to Sean, who now lowered his sword, that she did have the same strength in her as Sarah. Nobody in the bar questioned her or stood in her way. She came to the old man and Sean.

"Now Fremus, I know you well enough to know that you started all this yourself." She looked at him in the way a Mother would look at a naughty sibling. "My friend here would not have struck at you if you hadn't deserved it and he wasn't in fear for his life. So take your hand and go see Dr Helden, he may be able to help you, but I want no ill thought to this man. You will not exact revenge in any form! Understood?" "Yes Mam." "Follow me Sean." He did.

A strange feeling came over Sean as they left the bar. With the cloud of smoke long gone, the music ever fading as they walked and his body mostly in place he began to feel at home. Deja vu crept up with him. He knew why. She led him down a maze of narrow streets and shortcuts that were even narrower.

They came to a small warehouse in a little section of similar warehouses. "First thing is first," Vulita said as she kicked in the door of the warehouse. She went inside leaving Sean speechless at the force she used to kick the door down. He examined it and realised it was reinforced with metal. In fact he was sure himself that he would have trouble kicking it down and yet it barely phased Vulita.

She appeared a moment later with a first aid kit. "Now lets have a look at that ear for you." Sean being the typical man said "Nah it's fine, it's fine don't worry about it sure I'll be grand." "Don't be a baby about it, come here til I clean it so it won't get infected."

Her hands were so soft and her movement so gentle as she dabbed the wound with disinfectant. It stung but Sean was so entranced by her it didn matter. "Sure it's not too bad, just missing a bit from the end." "Thanks Vulita, you are too kind." A moment happened. The kind of silent moment that you can get just before a kiss. But both shook it off and got on with business.

"Ok we must go now, I have a crew waiting in a bar down the street.

Cherry Bomb Lane was the social center for Roshell. The streets were lined with Taverns big and small, and drunks saw to random mischief. The old tattered neons were nothing to their early years, now all in bits with odd ones flashing randomly and sparks to show the effort. People stumbled into Sean as he navigated his way through the crowds, but somehow Vulita managed to walk in a straight line through the crowd and all stood off her. The Scullix bar was dead centre of the lane and just as they reached it a drunken hippie attempted to start a fight with Sean but after giving a look to Vulita for approval he broke his arm and shut him up.

On opening the doors all in the bar stopped what they were doing and looked in their direction, then just as quick as it stopped the noise picked up again. Sean felt out of place straight away, but didn't care. Vulita just walked straight through. She did so quite quickly and Sean fell behind abit. The gap through the people closed over as Vulita went on and Sean was once again left to the muttering and sneering of drunk pirates. These were your more stereotypical pirates all about stealing, drinking and general violence, unlike the real dangerous ones who were more calculating and devious. Several fights broke out around Sean as he pushed through what seemed to be a sea of drunken animals. Vicious cruel animals. But Vulita was walking past all these, she opened a wooden door which led to a smoky, dark, stone corridor. Sean watched from a distance as she went through. When he eventually made it through the mass of bodies he stood for awhile deciding whether he should go in or not. Vulita had not indicated either way. As he pondered he noticed an old toothless man sitting on a stool and staring at him. Nobody else in the room paid him any attention and yet this skinny old man was staring at him.

"Can I help you Father?" asked Sean.
"Be careful when you enter the passage Sean, it leads to many things. All can be not as it seems and not all return the same soul, or at all." Said the man with an absent look on his face.
"How did you know my name?" Sean looked confused.
The expression changed on the mans face. Red returned to his cheeks and he seemed to get a merrier, drunken daze in his eyes. "Ai the name? The names Reska stranger, but mi friends calls mi Rex. Like the Tigers that used to live on the second moon!" He stood up, stumbled into Sean and hugged him. "I love you, you with your young ways and fancy words." "Alright old timer, that's enough, that's enough."

He didn’t really push him but forcefully guided him back to his seat. He entered the hallway.

The dark cut sharp very quickly, as if the light from the bar didn't have enough strength to pierce this kind of darkness. A chill came over him as a door he had not seen, closed automatically behind him and the warmth from the room was lost along with the pitiful amount of light. He went blind with the darkness. The feeling that you're not sure if your eyes are open or closed because there is no difference between the two.

Sean never really felt scared anymore. It was more that he would concentrate on the most effective way of dealing with whatever was the cause of the feeling, but this is closest he got to it. He fell to the ground on his hands and knees as something shot over his head. It was gone but he immediately started to crawl back towards the door, using his hands and knees to feel his way along. When he got there, feeling in the dark led him to conclude there was no way out. The door was a solid concrete slab dropped from above with no gaps, no handle and much too much weight for him to attempt to lift. He had to go in. He stood up again and began feeling his way along the wet stone. He could feel patches of moss growing in areas and different variations of insects every now and then as he slowly moved forward, baby step at a time. He came to a split in the passage and with no idea of where to go decided to go right. He tried on a couple of occasions to light matches but there was too much of a draft for them to stay lit so he kept moving in the dark.

He nearly shat himself when he came to a downward, spiral stairs. The steps were old and worn as a blunt knife might be, and with the wet stone, proved very slippy for those who knew they were there. They were a death waiting to happen for those who did not. In a spilt second with alot of Sean trying to counter balance himself, he managed to fall back onto the ground instead of falling down them. He felt the shaping and condition of the steps with his feet and then slowly managed his way down them on his backside for security.

They seemed to drag on for miles down through somewhere that felt long forgotten. They were proving to be highly dangerous with differences in the steps making sureity of grip a constant battle. Sean checked and double checked every foothold and hand grip. He couldn't afford any mistakes, and in the dark, confidence was his enemy. A number of times he was sure of himself and the holds he had, had given way. But every time so far he had managed to regain a grip. Until when looking for the next foot hold something nudged at his foot. He scrambled backwards up the staircase. "Who's that?" He heard a growl that made his spine tingle and then scramble with even more conviction. Although he was using absolutely all his strength and speed, whatever it was, was gaining. He could hear claw marks on the stone and could tell it was having trouble with the stairs too, but he'd never make it to the top.