Nyteria Rising (The Thirteenth Series Book 3) (2 page)

“Thanks,” she mumbled. As she regained her balance and control of her intestines, she took a moment to survey her surroundings. She recognised the corridors instantly. She was on Alchany. But it felt different: quiet and solemn Guards. She realised that the Guards were walking at a quickened pace, their heads hung low as if all in deep concentration. “How and why have you brought me here?” she demanded, straightening her t-shirt and reaching into her back pocket to check her sword was there.

“I didn’t!” he grunted at her. “However...” he made a point of inspecting the tattoo which was still glowing on her arm. “Looks like a single journey loop extraction. It’s used in emergencies to get specific Guards out of extreme situations quickly. And why? Because there’s been a lock-down.” he nudged her to start moving as she was causing congestion.

“What do you mean lock-down?”

“It means there’s a serious problem and we need specific Guards to return, then they lock-down the portals, letting no-one on or off the Prison.”

Suddenly a loud siren rang out, making Val physically jump and for a moment she couldn’t hear what he was
saying. “Why me? What’s specific about me?” she bellowed as the siren stopped. She felt foolish as several Guards turned to glare at her.

“I really can’t imagine,” he replied, looking her up and down. “However, it may have something to do with the fact that the Warden has been taken.”

Val’s mouth gaped. “The Warden! What do you mean taken? Did someone come here and kidnap him?” She now understood why the others looked the way they did. The Warden was, apart from the Judges, the most important person on the Prison.

“Kidnap?” The Guard was clearly unfamiliar with the meaning of the word.

“Yeah - you know someone sneaked onto the planet whilst he was sleeping...” She stopped realising from the way his head was tilting to one side like a dog that he had no idea what she was talking about. “Forget it. I just can’t imagine why they would need me.” Surely they could see she still had enough to deal with back on Earth. Although Lailah hadn’t made any significant moves since she’d arrived, that was probably only because she had no portal and no Dellatrax. In some ways Val wished she had attacked; waiting for something that never seemed to happen was worse. “So what exactly happened?” Val sympathised.

“He was off the Prison at the time of the attack. We believe this was the first phase of a full-scale assault. He relayed information warning us that we were to be attacked in the coming weeks and the next thing we heard, he had gone,” the Guard told her as he pushed her along in front of him. “Why would the Warden have to go on an assault? Surely there are enough of you to do things like that?”

Val saw a visible penny dropping as he looked at her with even more distaste. “I recognise you now! You’re the reject Guard. You clearly have no idea of the power that the Warden holds, or the battles we must fight here day-to-day. It shames me to say you are one of us. As a Guard, you stand shoulder to shoulder in an assault, irrelevant of rank.”

Val came to a standstill, placing her hand onto his chest. “Stop right there. I think
shame
is a little over the top. And just so you know the facts, I’m not one of you; I’m half witch, so a little less of the reject.”

“I find it hard to believe you are the one who arrested Excariot.”

“Well I did, with help from my friends.” She plumped her invisible feathers. Who did this Guard think he was?

“A lot of help I imagine. Now move!” he snapped.

“Where should I go?” she asked. The Guard wasn’t going to help her and seeing a gap, he pushed past her. “You know, you could be nicer. I haven’t been a Guard for very long.” Val was starting to feel uneasy. “And my day’s not going so well either. I just crashed my best friend’s very old and crazily slow car into a wall,” she called out to the back of the Guard’s head as he mingled into the crowd.

“Did you just say you crashed my car!” a familiar voice chirped up.

“Wendy!” Val spun around to find a smiling face greeting her. “I’ve missed you so much.”

They embraced. “Tell me my Mum’s ok,” Wendy whispered in Val’s ear, a tremor of emotion in her voice.

“She’s great, don’t worry.” Val stepped back and looked her up and down. Wendy was dressed all in dark
green, in a military-style roll neck top and trousers. “Nice uniform, matches your eyes,” she joked.

“Thanks. Have you heard about the Warden?” she asked.

“Yes, but I still don’t know why I’m here? Is there somewhere I should go to check in or passport control?”

Wendy linked arms with Val to keep her moving. “Not just yet. We need to talk first.”

“Why don’t I like the sound of that?”

Wendy pulled her in close and whispered into her ear. “We’re in trouble. I’ve had a vision,” she continued in a hushed voice, her eyes darting as if she was being observed in the centre of organised chaos.

“That’s good isn’t it? You’re the best at what you do; you’ve got everything right so far. I can give them a reference.”

Wendy squeezed her arm affectionately. “The Judges want to see if my vision is correct.”

“And what was this amazing vision? Did you see me going home in time for lunch? Or maybe I was going home full-stop?” She followed her friend down the corridor, pleased to have a face she recognised with her.

“No, sorry. I saw that you would save the Warden.” Val stopped walking, but Wendy dug her heels in to keep her moving.

A new emotion started to fill Val’s body now – panic. “I take the reference offer back. You’re as insane as that obnoxious Guard I just met.”

“Like it or not, it’s what I saw and I believe it’s true. My training has been so intense. There are things I’ve seen since I’ve been here that have scared the life out of me, Val, and made me want to go home. But in the midst of the confusion there you were, leading the Magrafe to
glory. You were the Prison’s saviour, just like Joan of Arc.”

Val choked. “Please forgive me if I forget the ins-and-outs of our history test, but didn’t she get burnt at the stake as a witch? And what’s the Magrafe?”

“Yes, she did, but that’s in the past. I just wanted to remind you that an eighteen year old girl saved her country in battle. The Magrafe are the Prison’s secret bodyguards, they are the chosen elite. No one really knows who’s a member. After the vision I told the High Judges and they were interested, but didn’t see a need to take any action. Then the next day the Warden gets kidnapped. So all of a sudden it went from pretty vision to prophecy.”

“I take back missing you. Honestly, Wendy.” Val pulled her arm free as a Guard bumped into her. “Sorry,” he called.

Wendy’s expression became soulful, “Val, if I could turn back time I would, but I can’t. Did I tell you Sam’s here?”

Val objected, “No, you can’t use Sam against me. Look, just tell them you got it wrong, that it was a dream and that it was a mistake.” They had no choice but to start moving again, standing still while everyone else was moving so quickly was a mistake. She was getting knocked from every angle. Yet annoyingly, no one seemed to even come close to Wendy.

“I can’t, they trust me and I’m not wrong, you’ll see.”

Another siren rang out. Wendy moved Val along even quicker. “Just let me get you to your quarters. I promise it’s not as bad as you think.”

As Val walked the corridors with Wendy the gravity of the Prison’s situation was visibly growing. More sirens rang and they could sense the pressure rising. They arrived shortly at a doorway. Guards were moving in and out all around, so Val could only guess that this area was the general quarters. Wendy walked through a door and Val followed, silently hoping Sam would be there. But instead there was just some young Hunter. Val could tell by his bracelet.

“Welcome Twenty-three thirteen. I am Thirty-three twenty-nine. It is my duty to be your Hunter whilst you are here.” His gentle yet formal speech was so different to Zac’s bark.

“Well, that won’t be necessary.” She circled him gradually pushing him towards the exit. “I’m not stopping and I have a Hunter on Earth. We’re connected.” She flashed him her bracelet.

“Yes, I have heard of Zac. I will wait outside until you are ready for me, and if you wish to give me a name then that would be acceptable.”

“I really don’t think I can think of anything, thanks. You can wait outside.” Closing the door she glared at Wendy. “What’s going on?” she demanded, her annoyance oozing out. The door began opening, “GO AWAY!” she shouted.

Sam popped his head around the door. “Nice welcome. I see you’ve managed to get yourself into trouble again.”

“Seriously,” she threw her arms into the air, “I went for my driving lesson and came back to this. How can it be my fault?”

“You could find trouble in an empty cardboard box.” His voice was smooth and rich - just the way Val remembered.

“Sam.” Wendy lowered her head in respect as he entered.

Val didn’t follow her example. “Yes, it’s nice to see you, now get me home please,” she requested.

“Not just yet.” He walked across the room and placed his hand on the wall. To Val’s surprise the wall started to glow and palpitate. It was as if it were feeding off his touch, the intensity growing with every beat of his heart. “See this Val?” She nodded, mesmerised by its glow. “This is the problem we have.”

“Sorry, you’ve lost me. Your lighting’s not working?”

“We have an endless resource of power on Alchany. We never need what you call fuel. We could power several planets without any trouble.”

“Still lost.” Val shook her head.

“Imagine if you could supply power to Earth forever and it wouldn’t cost anything and would have no negative repercussion on the planet. A clean source of energy. What would it be worth?”

“Priceless I guess. So how do you do it?”

“Prisoners. You see we’re all energy in different states of vibration. When the Judges extracted the very first prisoner, they discovered that they were left with pure energy. With the help of a friendly planet called Nyteria, we managed to harness the power and use it. The more prisoners we got, the more power we had.”

“So where’s the problem?”

“We suspect Nyteria wants it back.”

“But if they showed you how to create the energy, surely they can do the same thing?”

“They have the technology that’s true; they just don’t have the prisoners or the ability to capture and hold that many people quickly enough.”

“So why now?”

“The problems started when they recently voted in a new leader who clearly saw the potential to use the power for negative outcomes. He made comments that caused murmurs amongst the Judges. We have information he took the Warden. It was a risky move, but a clever one. He knows how important the Warden is, and how much the Guards will risk to get him back. It’s a little bit like someone taking your Queen. Now I know this isn’t your fight, Val, and I promise you a ticket home as soon as it’s all over, but right now we can’t take any risks. If Wendy’s vision is right and you are the one who saves the Warden, then you need to be here where we can keep an eye on you. Plus, the Magrafe want to see you.”

“So what you’re saying is that just in case Wendy’s vision is correct, I have to hang out here on the Prison while my family and friends on Earth are at risk of being killed and mutilated by Lailah and her gang of merry murderers? That includes your Mum,” she said, pointing at Wendy. “Please forgive me if I turn your kind offer down. I wish you the best of luck and when this is all over you must visit.”

“Lailah’s on Earth?” Sam’s brow broke into deep furrows of thought. “We need to deal with her.”

“Stating the obvious, although she’s done nothing yet.” Val replied. “Well, that was until you teleported me here. They could all be her little puppets by now.” She marched past him out into the corridor of siren filled chaos. To her left the young Hunter looked as if he was ready to attach himself to her again. She held a warning hand up to him. She looked right, trying to get her bearings. She was sure she’d seen that red headed Guard
loitering on her way in. She started to walk. How could the pair of them have thought up such a stupid scheme? Let’s get Val and keep her prisoner on the Prison that’s under attack.

“Val!” It was Sam; he clearly wasn’t going to give up.

“What?”

“Please listen to me. These are dangerous times; if we lose, then no-one will be safe. Not Earth, not the Prison, and the Nyterians will have the power to destroy anything they choose.”

“Why would you create something that powerful? It’s your fault this is happening, you created the weapon. Plus you only
suspect
they want that, you don’t even know what’s really going on!” She felt so frustrated.

“Please stay. There is more at risk than you see on the surface.”

“Sam, what about my family? They’re in danger.”

He closed in on her. “Come here.” Taking her arm he pulled her to one side. He touched the wall and a doorway opened. “There is a lot more at risk than just Earth and your family. Yes, they are important to me as well, but I need you to just do as I ask for now.”

“What else is at risk?”

“This.” Sam placed his hand around her waist and they teleported out.