Light Bringer (The Young Ancients: Second Cycle Book 2) (53 page)

Lynd stared, but just felt
confused.

"I don't understand. We
can't leave. We're probably off to a work crew. It might take a few weeks, but
there's no way to really show we didn't execute the medical officer. We
did
,
so... What do you mean?"

It was too hard to put into
words, and there was too much to say, in the time they had. In a few minutes
the men outside the door, which was just a regular thing for the place, not a
special reinforced one, not being a real cell, were going to come back, and
lock them both away in a far sturdier facility.

So he struggled.

"Escape. I can... Maybe get
us away. Do you want that? You can't stay with your people..." That was
the big thing. The man might prefer a life of servitude and privation to being
taken from his own people. In that case...

Well, then Dareg was escaping
alone. That might even be easier, since he didn't know for certain he could get
the shield to act the way it needed too.

He tried however, and kept working
on it, so that it might work if the time came.

"How? We're in chains, with
guards on the door. Even if we can best that, we'd need a way off F-Two.
They'll have locked down the hangar here, so no ships will be left inside it,
just to prevent that from taking place."

Dareg looked at him, not able to
explain it all, as his mind drove deeper and the combat rage took him.

It was clear the man was willing
not to be a slave, at the very least. Not for doing the right thing. He just
didn't see another way. Other than death. That
was
an option. Trying to
escape unarmed, would probably mean that. Especially while in chains.

Taking a deep breath, still
shaking so hard that he probably seemed ready to pass out, he noticed his new
partner in crime rock backwards. That was the disorientation field from the
rage, he knew. A sign that he was ready. Pulling with his arms, he could feel
the biting pain of the shackles tearing into his flesh. With a thought he
activated his healing amulet, which meant the metal tried to heal into his
flesh, even as the things snapped, causing his left arm to make a second sound
that was similar to that.

Then it clicked, the metal being
rejected from his body. Most of it, but not all. It hurt, but his hands were
free. The man in front of him went wide eyed. It wasn't a noiseless thing
however, which meant the two guards ran in at full speed. They didn't seem to
really understand what was happening, and reeled themselves, when they got
close to him. That meant he was able to fight. His shield turned on, so the
whole thing was far from fair after that. They had weapons, but given the space
they were in they couldn't use them without risking the apparently non-escaping
Lynd, who was simply sitting there, his own hands still behind him.

So they had to try to use small,
closer range things that, thankfully, didn't do anything to him at all. He on
the other hand was more than capable of battering the men with punches and
kicks that were far more solid than flesh would have allowed. They didn't go
down easily, but after three or four minutes of fighting, having knocked them
each out several times, they didn't get up again. Dare wasn't certain, but they
felt
alive.

"Come. We need to run."

The other man had his hands
behind him, which slowed them both down, but he moved at a better pace than
most would have managed that way. If it hadn't been for the restraints he might
well have matched what Dare himself was doing, which was interesting. Probably
for the same reason, really. The man had been genetically designed to be that
way.

They headed toward the airlock,
or what he hoped would be that anyway. Thankfully his new friend could make the
door on it work. Then the man used his head to point at a panel on the wall.

"We'll have to override the
air system. That's vacuum on the other side right now. I can close the door
behind us, by getting the thing to claim that we're planning to open the outer
doors, but that won't buy us much time." Indeed, there was a hammering from
the other side of the door, the recovered police trying to get at them. That,
it felt like to Dare, was frustration rather than a plan to tear the thing
down.

He had to move his mind upward a
bit in order to speak again. That meant his body hurt, and head ached a little,
since he was still healing from his efforts. The combat rage was still going on
as well, which was interesting to note. His body was panting from the effort of
it, and Lynd looked sick. Breathing deeply he tried to shut that off, but it
was hard at the moment.

Worse, he was pretty certain that
the conflict, his being both calm mentally, and in a total rage, was probably
killing him. He ignored that part however. If he had to die to get the other
man away, then he would.

"No. We need to be in a
vacuum. I'll wrap you in my shield, and we can jump as soon as there's almost
nothing around us. The shield isn't designed for it, so we'll probably
die." It was true, but he sounded very flat. Like he was drunk and not
caring at all. About anything. Which was true, as far as that part went.

The other man, gave him a funny
look, and then laughed.

"Eh. Why not try?"
Then, using his hands carefully, since they were behind him, he took a deep
breath and moved to strike an orange colored button near the door. "When I
hit this, the air will evacuate. What do I do?"

There was more banging on the
door, but it sounded a little more purposeful now. Regular, and like metal was
being used to pry at something.

Dareg looked at the other man.

"I need two minutes. When I
nod, hit the button and move to me. Get as close as you can. Then hang on,
since if it works, we'll be in orbit around Earth. We'll need to land then, but
it shouldn't be hard to stay with me. If it is... Then don't let go. It will
take a few minutes."

It couldn't possibly make sense
to the man, but he waited, ready to elbow the button, and a few moments later,
as it seemed the door would be truly forced open, Dare nodded and threw
everything he could into telling his shield not to push the other man away,
insisting without words that it wrap him up instead. There was a hiss of air
going away, and a panicked expression from Lynd as he threw himself forward,
harder than was needed, then held on to Dare for dear life, placing his legs
around him, since his arms were behind his back.

The shield activated, and tried
to push the other man away, even as part of it wrapped him up. Only the
strength of the other man let them stay in contact, even as the shield was
around them. Dare kept trying to make it easier, but nothing happened. He held
on to the man's upper body as hard as he could.

His mind fought, but he was
losing. Rapidly.

"Change of plans. Hang on.
Don't let go..."

He didn't know if there was air
in the space they were in at the moment or not, but he set the jump
instructions as precisely as he could, and leap to the only place other than
space itself that he knew, for certain, wouldn't have air in it. The docking
bay on Harmony. There was a ship there, he saw, which he flew toward, moving
fast. Headed toward the main window he hoped. Praying
someone
was
inside. There was as luck would have it. A small, very dark colored Afrak lady.
She even seemed to figure out what two people being there, holding each other,
had to mean.

Maybe not how incredibly hard it
had to be to keep in contact, the shield slipping off the other man, and what
little air they had slipping away like it was. Just as they both started to
choke to death, unable to breathe, the side of the ship formed around them, and
once they were sealed behind a wall of glowing green, air slapped them, making
his ears pop. It hurt, but he wasn't going to whine about having air again. He
couldn't, since gasping was the order of the day.

The small woman stared at them
both, since they were now on the bridge of her ship, where she'd been sitting
alone. He wanted to apologize to her for the inconvenience, and thank her for
their lives but had to fall down to the floor, making a powerful wheezing sound
for a while first.

That meant she scrambled for her
neck, and pulled a healing amulet. Then, moving forward she tried to use it on
him first. Dare had damage, such as blood vessels in his eyes having burst, but
so did Lynd. He desperately waved her to the other man, not able to explain
why. She did it anyway, making her one of his new favorite people, he decided.

Her words were frightened
however, though that seemed about being scared for
them
, more than
anything else.

"How did this happen? Should
I get someone?" She was speaking in Afrak, but he got her meaning, even if
he couldn't speak yet really. He pulled his handheld however, not knowing who
to get in touch with first. The Queen came to mind, because it was her world,
but dumping a situation on her like that seemed a bit mean. Possible impolitic
as well. After all, Dareg had escaped from the Forten, kidnapping one of their
people at the same time. That could be an issue at some later date, if they
wanted to press things.

What he needed then was someone
that could get things done, who wouldn't turn them in immediately. No one
actually came to mind at first, which probably had to do with how hard it was
to think when you didn't have enough oxygen. Finally he picked among the people
he knew lived on the Moon, almost at random.

That got him Timon Baker.

The man saw him and smiled, but
that faded almost instantly. Looking around, trying to see past Dare, the man
focused, hard. To make that easier, he moved the device from side to side,
slowly. Only after a full rotation did the other man speak, his voice calm.

"Vacuum exposure. The other
man seems to be one of the Forten. You don't have a ship, so... You used your
jump shield to get both of you here? There are bindings on him, and you have
one on your left wrist, so... You escaped from someone? They're unusual, not
Earth type, that I know of, but not too different from what are used for
criminals in Austra. Thicker and more substantial seeming. You wouldn't have
come here from there however, and the odds of having a Forten from there...
Well, that isn't too farfetched. I can see that one happening, actually. You
would have just flown away, not gone into space, if that was the case. So,
something happened away at the new fleet?"

It was a good guess, so Dare
nodded, then, finally managed to speak. Between gasps.

"Yes... Advers...
saries
.
Killed one... Murder there."

The man nodded.

"You're with Kimi, which
means on Gerent's ship. Kimi? Can you let me in when I get there? I'll come
directly. Hang on." The the screen went blank. After a second the sigils
came back up, but he didn't know who to even begin to call about the mess he'd
made of things.

That meant sitting and panting
was in order, for both he and Lynd. Really, that showed a lot of improvement,
and the other man's eyes cleared of blood, even as his own stung. By the time
Timon got there, about seven minutes later, they were both nearly back to
normal.

Kimi hadn't spoken the whole
time, just seeming quietly freaked out, but he didn't get it. Not until Timon
came in, and looked at the scene, then leaned way down to give the tiny woman a
hug.

"I'm sorry, I know this must
bring back memories. We all miss him."

That was enough for Dareg to
understand at least.

"Erid was... The best of
us." This time the pause was just about not knowing what to say. That this
was the widow of a man that had fought against the darkness and died for it hit
him solidly. Hearing that they'd killed such a being might be hard for her to
take.

After all, Dareg hadn't managed
to save her husband, in the first fight. No, he'd frozen at first, while the
man died.

Looking up at his giant uncle, he
tried to explain, hoping it wouldn't seem too weak to anyone.

"I went to take some magic
to the Forten. Lights I made, and some boxes. The floating kind? I made a few
thousand of each, for practice, so when their leader got with me about lights,
it just made sense." He took a few deep breaths, then went on. Timon had
his communications device out, and was pointing it at him, the whole time.
Capturing what he was saying.

Swallowing, Dareg shook his head
a little. He really didn't want it taken down. Not with what it likely meant.

"I... There was a woman
there, Merriland. Forten, one of their leadership class. I... She's my mother.
I mean, she looks like her... Only she
wasn't
one of the Adversaries.
She was,
is
, really just one of the Forten... I noticed that there was
one of the enemies there too. He looked like a slightly shorter version of
Kevin Straughan. It looked like him, and he was distorting time, if just a bit.
I couldn't feel him otherwise. I managed to have Neesa the Ysidril get the
President, the Forten leader, and the others clear. Lynd here stayed with me,
and Kiernan Tag, the Kevin lookalike. When we could, and it was safe, we killed
him. He vanished in a puff of black smoke, like the others did here?"