Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13
Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19
Chapter 20 - Chapter 21
Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19
Chapter 20 - Chapter 21
They trekked through the vast subterranean city for hours
without stopping, following the flickering flames of the little fire mote. At
times Hyren entertained his companions with more stories of his interstellar
exploits, while Blynn and Terra amused him with their anecdotes about life on
Neopia. They passed through vaulted halls covered in murals depicting lavish
scenes of celebration, rooms where decaying furniture sat under a thick draping
of cobwebs, and corridors whose walls were inlaid with precious metals in the
shape of maps of the night sky.
Terra, however, kept looking around anxiously as though she
expected to see windows somewhere. None ever appeared, and it seemed they were
still deep underground. Hyren had to admit that even he was tired of it now.
Finally they reached a room with a few scattered tables and
benches pushed against the walls. It had probably once been a dining area, Hyren
inferred by the presence of toppled storage urns, scattered ceramic dishes, and
the large, open-air fireplace on one wall. “Let’s make camp here for the
night,” the Grundo said, setting down his bundle of weapons. “Oh, how nice.
They left us enough fuel for a fire.” He pointed to the meager stack of chopped
wood next to the stone hearth.
Blynn dropped her pack and set the lantern on the edge of
the fireplace. “Don’t worry, little guy,” she said to the fire mote, “you’ll
have some fun soon! Terra, help me out, here!”
“Oh—can’t we keep going?” Terra asked. “We must be almost
out—right?”
Hyren looked over at her, remembering their conversation the
day they had met. He didn’t like seeing her like this, but they were all
exhausted. “You need to keep up your strength,” he said, “and walking all night
without sleep won’t cut it.” He sat down on the hearth, massaging his sore
feet. “I said I would protect you, remember? I know it’s claustrophobic in
here, but I bet you can make it one more night.” He smiled at her. “You’re
brave like that.”
Terra looked disappointed, but nodded. “O-okay,” she said as
she eased her pack from her shoulders.
“I think we’ll reach the surface tomorrow,” Hyren said. They
were very close, he knew it. The faint whisper of air he had first detected
under the throne room had steadily grown into a perceptible draft, cold and
dry. He wouldn’t be surprised if they’d see daylight tomorrow.
Terra nodded and turned to aid her Neopet in lifting
firewood. Blynn shot him a look over her shoulder that Hyren couldn’t quite
decipher. It was questioning and suspicious and just made him feel worse about
his indecision regarding their fate.
The two girls built a stack of wood on the metal grating,
and Blynn tilted the open lantern over it once they were done. “Come on out,
little fella,” she said.
The fire mote rolled out onto the stack and blazed up anew,
nestling itself into the wood which began to smolder. Soon they had a roaring
fire, perfect for staving off the eternal cold of the subterranean city.
“Where d’you suppose it goes?” Blynn asked, watching the
smoke twist up the stone flue.
“Out on the side of the rocks somewhere,” Hyren said as he
sat with one knee raised and his elbow propped on it. “No sense in a fireplace
without a proper ventilation system.”
“How far do you think we’ve come?” Terra asked, setting up
her bedroll nearby.
Hyren cast his gaze at the dark hallway they’d come from and
said, “Pretty far. I wonder which direction we’ve been traveling in.” Too bad
his helmet was nonfunctional, as the HUD included a compass. He figured the
girls had a magnetic compass, but they’d taken so many twists and turns by now
that just knowing where north was wouldn’t be much help. “Maybe we’ll end up
back in the Lost Desert.”
“Or on the other side of Neopia,” Blynn said, staring into
the fire. “I wonder what’s there. Probably some super awesome things, stuff we
can’t even imagine!” She spread her arms wide.
Dinner was brief, partly because they’d had a large lunch
and partly because Terra barely ate anything, even at Hyren’s and Blynn’s
coaxing. To try to keep her mind off of her situation, after dinner Hyren began
teaching her the very basics of swordplay. “We’re going to start with some
stances and types of actions for now,” he said, pacing around her with his arms
folded.
“Okay,” Terra replied as she pulled her blade from its
sheath and held it in front of her.
“First off, you’re holding it wrong,” Hyren said.
“Oops,” Terra said.
“You’re right-handed, aren’t you? You want your right hand
on top,” the commander explained as she switched the position of her grip on
the hilt. “Good, good. Remember that the dominant hand guides the strike while
the other provides leverage. It’s basic physics. Oh, and bend your knees, there
you go. Keep your weight on the balls of your feet, be ready to move at any
moment.”
Once Terra had gotten the hang of the ready stance and some
rudimentary blocks, parries, and strikes, Hyren began using his own sword to
spar with her, very gently and very slowly, just so she’d get used to the
rhythm of swordfighting and begin to understand the strategy involved. As this
ponderous kind of practice was a no-brainer for him, he noticed Blynn picking
up small potsherds and storing them in her belt pouch, and then shooting them
at a spot on the wall she’d carved a small X into. She was a disconcertingly
good shot.
A sudden impact on his forearm bracer brought him back to
the task at hand, and he looked back at Terra to see her clutching her sword
close. “Oh no! I’m so sorry, did I hurt you?” she asked, chewing her lower lip.
“I think I got carried away…”
“What? No,” Hyren said with a laugh, inspecting the bracer.
There was a new nick in it, but she didn’t have enough strength to actually
injure him. “I’m fine. I should have been paying attention—you saw the
opportunity while my guard was down.”
She stowed her blade and nodded, not looking fully
convinced. Her eyes wandered down to his foot. “Is your leg okay?” she asked.
Hyren glanced at it. He’d forgotten it was even injured. “Yes,
it’s all better now,” he said. “I heal fast. Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay… good,” Terra said. She hesitated a moment before
taking a deep breath. “You know… I’m glad we met you.”
Hyren stared at her incredulously. He wasn’t sure what to
say, but before he could stop it, the truth came to the surface. “I’m glad I
met you, too,” he said.
His statement was punctuated by a loud snap as Blynn’s
latest shot hit unusually far from its target and closer to the commander’s
head.
***
Hyren quietly piled more wood around the fire mote, who
seemed quite content at being out of the cramped lantern for a while and in the
midst of a real blaze. Terra and Blynn had fallen asleep to the commander’s
stories again, and now the Grundo could feel himself starting to wear down as
well. Letting out a yawn, he eased himself to the floor, taking off his helmet
and laying his head on his thick arm, alone with his thoughts for a while.
He didn’t have to take them with him. No one had to
know. Surely Sloth would understand. Or
would he? Sloth was not known for his compassion or forgiveness, not even to
his highest-ranking officers. Hyren had yet to fail the overlord, and Sloth
might already be upset over losing the Battle of Sakhmet and failing yet again
to conquer Neopia. Garoo probably spun things to make it sound like Hyren’s
fault. Hyren might have to regain his credentials somehow. But could he really
bring himself to do that to these two?
“Now it’s too hot in here,” Blynn whispered.
Well, so much for being alone. Hyren rolled over to see the
Zafara staring at him from on top of her sleeping bag, sprawled out on her back
with her paws folded behind her head.
“Seriously, I feel like my fur is singeing,” the Zafara said,
scratching her belly.
“You’re supposed to be asleep,” Hyren said.
“Can’t sleep,” Blynn said. “I’ll have to wait until the fire
dies down again. You’re spoiling that mote, you know. It won’t wanna go back in
the lantern.”
The commander watched her for a moment. “I think I like you
better when you’re not intolerably zany,” he said.
The Zafara looked over at her owner. “I try to keep her
laughing,” the magenta Neopet said. “She worries too much and it makes her sick
sometimes. I don’t wanna see the worry in her eyes.”
“You’re a lot smarter than you let on,” Hyren said.
She grinned and said, “Yeah, that’s the idea.” Terra shifted
in her sleep and the two paused to see if she would wake up. When she didn’t,
Blynn turned back to Hyren and said, “She’s not stupid either. She’s just nicer
than me.”
“I know,” Hyren said. “She’s—she’s a good kid.”
They were both silent for a while, listening to the fire
crackle. Then Blynn shifted onto her side, propping up her head in her hand and
letting her tail loll back behind her. “I think I’ve been jealous of you this
whole time, Hyren,” she said. “I’ve always been an only pet. It’s weird seeing
Terra give someone else attention.” She traced abstract designs in the dusty
floor. “She’s really fond of you, you know.”
Hyren ducked his head self-consciously. “Yeah,” he said.
She brushed away her patterns and said, “You don’t really
want to take us to Sloth, do you.”
He swallowed hard and looked away. “When it comes down to
it,” he said, “my job is what matters most. I can’t betray everything I am for
people I just met yesterday.”
The Zafara grabbed her long toes, rocking back and forth.
“Did Sloth send you specifically to get test subjects?” she asked.
“Well, no,” Hyren said. “I don’t think he knows if I’ll ever
return. Thanks to one of my backstabbing fellow commanders, Sloth probably
thinks I’m dead.”
“So don’t go back,” Blynn said. “He doesn’t have to know.”
Hyren rolled over so he was facing the wall. “Go to sleep,
Blynn,” he said. He heard a sigh and the rustle of a sleeping bag. Truth be
told, the idea of staying behind on Neopia himself had snuck into his mind
several times lately, but he was not about to let either of them know that. He
couldn’t give up everything he had built for himself out in the cosmos, could
he? And he still wasn’t about to betray the man who had given him all of this
strength in the first place.
Not to mention, the overlord’s words from the day he had
mutated Hyren still echoed in the Grundo’s memories. It would not surprise
Hyren if Sloth did have some way, somehow, of retaliating against Hyren if the
commander were ever to renounce his loyalty. It was not really something Hyren
wanted to test.
Blynn’s voice cut through the silence again. “Just so you
know,” she said.
Her tone was serious enough to make him twist around. She
glared at him, her deep blue eyes suddenly hard as ice and her paws clutching
the edge of her bedroll. “Terra’s my best friend in the whole world,” Blynn
said. “I swear I’ll never let anything happen to her. I’m watching you.”
The commander paused for a moment, then nodded and turned
back over to escape her piercing gaze. It was evident now that she took her job
just as seriously as he did his. He just hated that their two jobs had to be in
conflict.
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13
Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19
Chapter 20 - Chapter 21
Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19
Chapter 20 - Chapter 21
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