Chapter III: Amongst the Enemy

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The four of them sat on the narrow ledge, exhausted, reddened, and defeated. They were covered in soot, and suffered mild burns all over their entire bodies, but they were outside in the cool, refreshing sea air, and that soothed them somewhat.

‘There’s no movement up here,’ Eli stated as a matter-of-fact.

Karrigan ran his hands through his hair for the hundredth time, grimacing at the black ash that clogged it, for the hundredth time.

‘They’re probably preoccupied with trying to stop the foundations of this tower from burning away,’ he laughed dryly, half joking.

Obasa was in a bad way. His amphibious nature left him prone to drying out in a regular atmosphere, a let alone in the fiery temperatures that they’d endured in the tower beneath them. He sat shivering and twitching in a fevered sleep, supporting his whole weight on Yari who seemed to have taken a liking to the creature, despite his initial disgust.

Yari’s dark thoughts were not on the situation, but directed on himself. The Drefna were people; people! Here he was, propping up his friend (his friend) Obasa, and yet, not long before he was murdering, maiming and splitting open the creatures that he may have called friends… He looked at Obasa’s cold, featureless face, hoping that the fish-mans inhumanity would make him feel better. It almost worked, but a brief expression of pain shot across the Drefnas face, and the pitiful whimper that accompanied it almost caused Yari to break down in tears.

He felt a spindly hand on his back.

‘Don’t feel bad Yari. This one is different from the others… He said in the interrogation that he made a great missionary, because unlike his brethren, he could talk to people, understand people, and, and, generally communicate with us. The others cannot. They can’t talk, he can, they’re cannibals, he isn’t, they’re animals, he’s human, you understand?’ Eli explained, almost ranted. It was clear that he was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince Yari… Eli despised the Drefna, but like Yari, in the few hours they’d shared with Obasa he’d proven himself to be human, but not only that; a comrade and team-mate too.

‘And anyway, isn’t this what this missions about? To create peace between Little Blackwood and the Drefna? Aryah’s eyes, why didn’t I just relocate the people of Little Blackwood to Dichoto…’ Eli grumbled. He immediately gasped, opening his eyes and covering his mouth.

Normally Karrigan wouldn’t have reacted. Dichoto could’ve have just been another fishing village further along the coast for all he knew, but it was Eli’s expression that made him immediately suspicious.

‘Relocate them to where, Eli?’ he surreptitiously replied, eyes narrowed.

Eli relaxed slightly, but waved him away.

‘I shouldn’t have mentioned it… Look, I trust you enough to tell you, but now is not the time. I’ll tell you when we get out of here,’ he said, standing up and looking for a way out other than back the way they had come.

‘Does it… have anything to do with you attacking us that night when we stayed at your house?’ Karrigan pressed.

Eli nodded. ‘Yes Karrigan, it does, and it’s a very sensitive matter. There are eyes and ears all over this facility, so please, don’t mention it again until we get out of here, OK?’

Karrigan respected the serious tone in Eli’s voice and nodded.

‘So,’ he began, changing the subject. ‘How do we get off this thing? Should we… follow the ledge? Could we even abseil down this tower or something?’

Eli shook his head.

‘No way are the ropes long enough, and even if we tied them together or something… it’s swarming with people. They’re all trying to save the tower. If we’ve rocked the foundations enough, the whole thing could topple.’

‘No way,’ Karrigan scoffed. ‘This tower is huge, and the bomb blast was intense but small. We destroyed the waste outlets, but not the tower. No way.’ He was adamant that the tower would remain stable.

Eli was inclined to agree. ‘Maybe you’re right… still, there’s significant damage down there, and all those people are trying to salvage what they can, or put out the fires, I don’t know… We need to find another way out of here.’

‘Back the way we came?’ Karrigan suggested. ‘That door… the one that we had to hold shut. Maybe that was the ground level door that we were supposed to leave from,’ he wisely inferred.

Eli pondered this.

‘Are you willing to take such a risk? It’s no doubt the quickest way to ground level, but they’ll be guards and workers all over the place. That’s if the door wasn’t melted out of existence in the first place,’ he surmised with a grim face.

Karrigan shrugged.

‘Well, I’m fresh out of ideas… Wait! Maybe there’s a way off this tower by abseiling onto the battlements or roofs of the buildings, I mean, the rope will be long enough, we’ll be out of view, and we’ll be leaving the crime scene,’ he cleverly hypothesised.

‘Yes…’ Eli nodded. ‘Yes, that would work. But then we’d be out of the frying pan and into the fire wouldn’t we? Straight into the heart of Utari’s main building.’

Yari’s eyes lit up, and the tapped the side of the ledge vigorously with his sword, smiling to himself. What an adventure! he thought. He’d never been on such an adrenaline rush as the one he felt at that moment, and he was more than ready for more fighting. His only concern was Obasa. The Drefna was still in a fitful half-sleep, and his scales looked dull, crisscrossed with deep, painful looking cracks.

Yari grunted and pointed at him, shrugging as he did so.

‘What do we do about Obasa then?’ Karrigan asked, knowing from the pitiful state that he was in that he would be a massive hindrance to their progress.

‘I… have no idea. We’ll just have to take him along and hope that we don’t run into any trouble,’ Eli replied, out of ideas.

‘Yeah… we’re out of the frying pan and into the… the… the volcano by the looks of it,’ Karrigan grumbled. He was surly and irritated, but in agreement.

‘Yari, could you try and wake him up or something? We can’t carry him,’ Eli inquired, pointing to Obasa with his free hand.

‘I am awake… but it hurts… I need the ocean. Can you get me to the ocean?’ Obasa murmured with a twitch of the head. ‘I can warn Little Blackwood… I can warn them…’

‘Warn them? Warn them about what, Obasa?’ Eli replied. He was gravely concerned with the Drefnas sudden arousal; and the fact that he knew something that they didn’t…

‘The, the… the… it’s watching… it knows,’ the Drefna stammered, coughing suddenly.

‘What are you taking about?’ said Eli, waving his arms in desperation.

Karrigan gave Eli a look. The excitement they’d experienced so far that day was enough for any man. He looked at the sun. I was hiding behind a thick cloud halfway between the horizon and the point of midday directly above them.

‘It must only be about half past nine…’ he whispered. ‘We got a long, long day ahead of us…’

Eli’s hair flapped in a gust of wind and covered his eyes momentarily. He flicked it to one side with a huff, and glared at Karrigan for a short second. What was he whining about?

‘Obasa…’ he prompted, turning away from the 6th year and returning to the current dilemma.

‘Can’t you… it hurts to… to talk Eli…’ Obasa rasped.

Eli was just about to go insane, but the Drefna finally told them.

‘The boy… he watches.’

Obasa lifted a claw with immense effort, and swung it slowly over towards one of the many balconies and galleries encircling the tower above them. On that balcony stood Kashyl, a creepy look of intelligent interest encompassing the child’s face.

‘Oh no… Little Blackwood… he knows,’ Eli groaned. ‘Obasa, how fast can you swim?’

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Kumiho straightened the lapels of her jacket and admired herself in the mirror. Her wild grey-white hair was swept behind her head into a bushy ponytail, and her porcelain white features bore the light touch of some subtle makeup. She looked into her huge brown eyes, framed with black mascara, gazing into them for quite some time.

‘What have you become Kumi?’ she asked herself, shaking her head in semi-disappointment.

There was a knock at her door and a smartly clad servant let himself in.

‘My master apologises for the delay madam. There have been some err, maintenance difficulties in the upper quadrants that needed his immediate attention, but he is returning at this very moment to discuss the business proposition you had in mind.’

‘Thank you. That will be all,’ she replied, bowing her head slightly before turning back to the mirror. The servant took that as his leave and with a quick roll of the eyes and something that sounded like ‘I hate this job…’ he left, closing the door behind him.

Kumiho lay down on the bed like a starfish, spread-eagled to take up as much of the massive mattress as she could. Gorrogan Utari certainly knew how to treat his guests… She was almost not bothered by them being behind schedule because of this so called, ‘maintenance difficulty’. Her temporary accommodation was one of the spare rooms near the top of the central tower. The lower levels were the hub of the Utari community, supporting the mainframe of communications, the archives, the presentation halls and the workers dinner hall, but the upper levels were somewhat of a palace, dedicated entirely and exclusively as living quarters for the Utari family and their most honoured guests.

Finely decorated rooms had been allocated to both Kumiho and her self assigned personal escort Captain Falak. Falak’s bald little lackey had been given a much smaller room in the lower levels of the palace, and she gave a little chuckle. She didn’t have anything against Nue (in fact, in the short amount of time they’d spent together his witty comments had tickled her somewhat, despite her usual lack of humour), but she relished in the thought that for the first time in her life, she was at the top of the tree. She was getting the best luxuries of all her team, and was no longer the avoided underling she used to be; shunned and stared at by her colleagues. Her unique abilities were extremely useful to her, but others feared and hated her for it.

She looked back into her life, letting the warm folds of the bed wrap her in its embrace and softly pull her into a gentle sleep…

‘…Wow, this should be interesting… this has never happened before,’ the doctor said, his eyes wide with curiosity behind the pristine white mask and the chunky plastic goggles.

‘What’s wrong with her doctor?’ his companion asked, looking at the wall mounted clock in amazement.

The woman on the table sweated profusely in a fitful fever. Her eyes rolled in her head, only the whites visible through the tiny slits between her eyelids. Her body bucked and convulsed in tense, blistering agony, and a shrill scream ripped out from her lungs and into her throat.

‘Is there nothing you can do doctor? Please… my wife, she… she doesn’t look to well,’ he man panicked, leaving the doctors side to clutch at the woman’s hand.

‘Get back man! We have no idea what the new year brings. The power of the 6th year could be explosive!’ the doctor yelled, motioning for two aides to come and assist.

They grabbed him and held him back. He put up a fight, but was subdued without much trouble.

‘Tell me she’ll be okay doctor… Promise me!’ the man begged, letting himself go limp in the grasp of the two aides.

‘I swore when I became a doctor that I’d never make that promise. I’m sorry sir, but I have no idea as to what will happen here. Each New Year brings new abilities, new births and new problems… This could be the year’s first case; the very first case. At this moment, I’m not even sure whether or not she’ll give birth in the year of the white flame, or the year of… what ever it is to be named…’ he doctor mused solemnly, avoiding the mans gaze by hanging his head.

Every year was the same… On January 1st as a new year begun, every child was born with a new power; a new power completely different from the previous year. No-one knew why or how it happened, but they knew when it started. When would it end? Maybe it would never end…

The woman bucked again, more violently this time; so violently in fact, that the steel stirrups holding her legs in the air buckled at the hinges. A hideous scream filled the room, and the baby started to come.

The father could only helplessly watch as his child slithered out of the woman in a stream of blood, and lay unmoving on the tabletop. The doctor bustled around the table, checking pulses and whatnot… He didn’t seem very concerned about the baby not moving, but this state of ‘birthdeath’ (as it was aptly named) was one of the many mysteries of the Life Cycle. As with every other baby born in the last five years, the baby would remain unmoving and stone cold for however long the doctor took to sever the umbilical cord. It was this act where the child came alive (unless of course, it was actually dead). It was the occurrence of this act in which the child became not an extension of its mother, but an independent human being. The severing of the umbilical cord was birth.

The father looked not at his baby, or his wife, but the clock on the wall. It was 11:59pm on December 31st. Nobody else in the room seemed to notice what he noticed. He was both intrigued and astonished as the doctor’s blade neared the umbilical cord, and simultaneously, the second hand on the clock neared twelve. He gasped, shouted ‘No’, and broke free from the aides that held him back. He jumped towards his the doctor, but it was too late. The knife soundlessly cut through the cord, and at the exact same time, a loud click resonated throughout the room.

Kumiho was born…

…she woke from her sleep with a sudden jolt. She found that her face was wet with tears, and sitting up, she cursed at her ruined makeup. She’d have to redo it fast. Who knew when she would be sent for?

As she did so she pondered the enigma that had both plagued and blessed her throughout her entire life. She had been awakened from birthdeath at exactly 12:00am. The singular moment when it was no year, time did not exist, and the Life Cycles heart skipped a beat. She was born into nothing and into everything at the same time. Kumiho was feared, disliked and avoided because she was born both a 5th year and a 6th year. She was the only person (to her knowledge) throughout the entirety of the Zaibatsu province to achieve such a feat, and this made her a fine catch for the League of Youth…

‘Miss Kumiho, I think that Gorrogan Utari fella is ready for you now,’ a cheeky whisper hissed through the lock of the door.

Applying her last touch of makeup, she got up and answered it. Nue was crouched with his ear to the door and he jumped out of his skin when she opened it.

‘Show some respect Nue! We’re not in League waters anymore. The last thing we want to do is offend our host,’ she chastened, wagging a finger at him, but smiling with her eyes. She liked Nue. He could be a vicious little thing under the right circumstances, and although his endless quips occasionally got on her nerves, he was a good person at heart. She let out a small sigh, and shook her head slightly. He didn’t know her secret though, and she was sure that like everyone else who’d found out, Nue would turn against her if it was revealed to him.

‘Something up sweet cheeks?’ the little bald boy mischievously asked, eyebrow raised, hands on hips.

‘No Nue, there’s nothing wrong; and please, refer to me as Kumiho,’ she replied, gently rubbing her temples.

‘Well whatever Kumiho. I guess I’ll be in my room, or back at the ship when you’re done…’ he added, shoulders slightly sagged. Her depressing mood had brought him down a bit, and without waiting for a reply he turned and sloped off down the corridor.

She almost called out for him to wait, but of course ‘businesswoman mode’ kicked in before she could, and she let him leave. She sighed and felt her eyes fill with tears.

She didn’t need a messenger boy. She needed a friend…

She stood looking sad for a moment longer, and then composed herself.

‘Deal with the business, get out of this building and back into the open sky. Then you can relax. Talk to him back on the ship,’ she spoke out loud to herself, reassuring herself that she could have a friend if she wanted to.

She’d never really had a friend.

‘Miss Kumiho, have you seen Nue?’ asked Falak, who came hobbling from the room next to hers, half dressed and still dressing.

She giggled for a short second, but cut it short.

‘Yes, he just left. Do you need him for something? For Jolia’s sake man, get some clothes on…’ she said, still smiling but covering her eyes and turning to the side in embarrassment.

He obeyed, quickly buttoning up his formal shirt and tossing his long hair behind his shoulders with a sharp flick of the neck. He pulled a hair tie from his left trouser pocket and proceeded to tie it into a ponytail.

‘We’re late you know. C’mon miss; we don’t want Gorrogan Utari to be angry if we’re to be doing more business with him,’ he added.

‘What? Who’s we? I’m perfectly capable of doing this on my own you know? You’re not my bodyguard, just the captain of my transport,’ she said, and immediately regretted her callousness.

‘Fine… I just thought…’ he began, but Kumiho interrupted.

‘I’m sorry, Falak… I’d be very pleased for you come with me. It’s just that I’m so used to doing things on my own, I… never, really…’ she apologised.

‘Thank you miss,’ he said with a smile.

‘Please Falak, call be Kumiho. Now let’s go before we’re too late. He said to meet him in conference room B on corridor 11… What corridor is this?’

‘Errm, they’re labelled?’ Falak replied with a shrug and a quiet laugh.

‘Miss Kumiho, Master Gorrogan is awaiting your arrival,’ said the well dressed servant she’d met before. He was walking towards them from the corridor left to Falak’s room. He stopped and beckoned to them. ‘This way,’ he said.

Kumiho began to follow, back straight and businesslike. Falak tried to imitate this.

‘Thank Aryah we don’t have to find our own way,’ he whispered to her with a wry smile.

She smiled to herself, but said nothing.

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‘This is ridiculous, we’ll never get Obasa into the sea in time, Little Blackwood will get found, and, and they’ll all be killed,’ the normally cool headed Eli panicked.

‘Calm down Eli, we can take our time and be methodical about this. That boy is bizarre, but he’s no god. We didn’t mention Little Blackwood’s location, or anything of the sort. Sure they’ll be able to pinpoint a vague location and start a search, but that will take time, not only to construct a plan but also to get enough manpower on the job. We don’t have all the time in the world, but enough time to get out of here…’ Karrigan reasoned. Eli accepted his reasoning, but his face still fell.

‘We failed guys. At the last hurdle, we failed. We should have stayed home and stuck to eating the fish out to sea… and now, the whole town needs evacuating, and that’s if we’re lucky enough to warn them in advance!’ he stressed.

‘Shouldn’t they be safe in this, Dicho-?’ Karrigan began, but stopped when he remembered what Eli had said about keeping his mouth shut. ‘Look. Let’s just focus on getting out of here, okay?’

Eli was silent for a few seconds.

‘Okay. We go down onto the battlements then,’ he said with a nod. Yari agreed with a grunt, and helped Obasa to his feet.

‘Yari, are you sure you can handle Obasa on your own?’ Karrigan asked, offering an extra arm.

Kamayari shook his head, the tangled brown locks flapping as he did so. He grunted and pointed at the bag containing the abseiling equipment.

Karrigan nodded and raced to the end of the ledge further round the tower, straight into the path of the high altitude winds that the tower had been shielding them from. There was no guard rail to stop him falling and he was battered by onslaught of air, but he stood in a firm stance and squared up to it. Yari watched his friend vainly battle against it, and shook his head slightly.

We’re never getting out of this one… he thought.

Karrigan’s face was a mask of grim determination, even though he didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. He couldn’t even get the abseiling equipment out of the bag.

‘Karrigan, tie the end of the rope to this!’ Eli shouted over the roar of the wind.

He nodded, somehow getting a hold on the end of the rope and stumbling over to Eli, who was stood pointing at a thick metal hook that was conveniently protruding from the wall. He threaded the rope through it, and was about to tie it when a thought occurred to him.

‘Eli!’ he shouted through the winds piercing howl. ‘I’ve got an idea!’

The wind died down suddenly, subsiding to a mere whistling through the towers many windows.

‘I’m open to any suggestions right about now…’ Eli said with a swift massage of his temples.

‘I’m going to change…’ Karrigan said, and before anyone could stop him, he fell to his knees, beginning to quake after a short moment.

‘Karrigan, no! This will only complicate matters!’ Eli protested, but it fell on deaf ears.

His transformation from human to Kithound was a lot quicker and smoother than his transformation from Kithound to human, which was good considering the circumstances; they needed all the time they could get. His shoulders fell behind his head as his arms thickened with taut muscle, becoming forelegs. His fingers became fat and blunt, huge claws bursting forth from the newly formed toes. The long tail appeared from the base of his back as strangely as it had disappeared, curling out and knitting itself from seemingly nowhere, accompanied by his knees bending inwards to form strong hind legs. As his body wove tense new muscles beneath the skin, his body grew to almost double his original size, tearing through his thick protective clothes like rice paper. His face contorted with a moment of grim discomfort, and then the dog-like snout appeared. His nose became black and rounded, his eyes burned under a thick noble brow and the small elfin ears became triangular and pointed, moving from the side of his head to closer towards the top. At this stage he was still hairless apart from the top of his head, but with a quick shake of the long red quills, beautiful glossy fur burst out of his skin in an ornate, almost splashy fashion, like when ink is dropped into water. It curled and grew, swirling over his skin like blind orange serpents; serpents seeking any remaining bald patches. As a finale to this amazing spectacle he shook his head for a second time, his human hair thickening and growing around his face to form a mane.

He stretched like a cat stretches; front legs almost flat to the ground, rear end up in the air, mouth opened as wide as it can go.

‘It feels good to have four legs on the floor again…’ he exclaimed as he stretched.

‘Well now what are you gonna do?’ Eli angrily shot back at him. ‘Discretion is out of the window now isn’t it?’

Karrigan chuckled. ‘For me and Obasa it is, but you and Yari can sneak out of here unnoticed.’

Eli pondered this. ‘Tell me your fantastic plan then.’

Yari grunted in agreement with Eli. Was Karrigan suggesting a separation?

‘Look,’ the Kithound began. ‘Hycrogian Kithounds are extremely agile. If you use mine and his abseiling cords to tie him to my back, I can quickly find a way out of here, get Obasa to the sea, and he can warn Little Blackwood,’ he said.

‘But… how will you find us again?’ Eli asked. ‘We can’t just leave you behind to fend for yourself. With that orangey red fur, you’re a sitting duck out on those black rooftops.’

‘Look, we were supposed to have left by now. Barco was instructed to wait for us, but leave if we didn’t return after a while, so by now,’ Karrigan replied, looking at the position of the sun, ‘we’ll need to find our own way out of here. If you both make your way towards that tower in the middle of the complex, we’ll be in a good position to look for some kind of hanger, or train depot, or… some way out of here. If you both stay around the tower, I should be able to find you…’

Eli nodded with a hint of enthusiasm. ‘Yes… that could work. Obasa, are you okay to do that? Can you warn my people?’

‘Yes… I… I can do that. You have… fulfilled your end of the bargain. You’ve… helped me destroy… the waterworks, and I will… help you,’ Obasa stammered, his grey face contorted with discomfort.

Yari and Eli helped him hobble over, and lifted him onto Karrigan’s broad, muscular back.

‘Okay friend, this will not feel comfortable for you, but it’s the fastest way to get you to water,’ Karrigan said to Obasa as his hands and feet were tied together across the Kithounds belly.

‘Is that secure?’ Eli asked.

Yari tugged on his end and grunted.

‘Okay. You’re good to go,’ said Eli, slapping Karrigan’s backside like you would a horse. ‘Obasa, I… hope we’ll meet again. You’ve completely changed my views on the Drefna… I… thank you for helping us.’

Yari walked over and gently placed a hand on his scaly shoulder. He grunted slightly, wishing he could say goodbye with real words.

‘Thank you both… I’ll see you again I’m sure… my… ancestors are simply mutated… mutated humans… maybe, we can… be cured… I will look for that cure… then I’ll find you…’ he gurgled through his pain.

No more words were spoken, so with a nod, Karrigan turned towards the battlements below him and readied himself. He was a kithound, one of the most agile creatures known to man, but he really wished that they’d abseiled down the tower before he’d changed… it was too late though, so with a quick bound he leapt from the tower onto the roof of the battlement guard house thirty feet or so below them. He landed on all fours with a thud, his right paw punching through the slate with a harsh cracking sound. He cursed to himself, leaving the hole plugged in fear of creating any more noise.

‘Hey Dorius, did you here that?’ came a voice from within the building below him.

‘No, but it could be whoever blew the tower. We have to check it out!’ another voice, presumably Dorius hissed.

‘Okay, okay, I’ll fire up the mechanocons then…’

Karrigan narrowed his eyes, his paw still embedded in the roof.

‘Mechanocons…’ he pondered. ‘Obasa, hang in there.’ He received a quiet groan in response. He took in three deep breaths, filling his large kithound lungs with sweet air. He counted on each of the breaths. ‘One… two… three!’

He ripped his paw from the roof with a loud tearing sound, the whole slate disintegrating and falling into the room below.

Dorius shouted as a thick chunk of the ceiling landed on his head, but even before the dust had cleared, Karrigan was at the door, snarling. All he could do was stand and watch in bewilderment. It was one of those kithound things from Hygrogia in the west. He remembered it from the pictures he’d seen at school. What in Jolia’s name was it doing here? And why was there some kind of injured fish-man strapped across its back?

Karrigan never answered his questions, but clubbed him into the wall with a swift buffet of a solid paw instead. His companion yelped in surprise as the huge beast came after him, but managed to finish punching in the combination on a strange keypad before he too was thrown head first into the solid stone walls.

‘What did he do?’ asked Karrigan, a puzzled look on his rugged canine face.

There was a sudden whirring, a hiss of steam and scrape of hinges as a large sheet of black metal slid across the wall to reveal a shallow recess. Within the recess were three faceless pale skinned mechanical warriors, almost identical to the ones they’d encountered in the waterworks. Three glass tubes protruded from the wall behind them, each one individually supplying the warriors with a thick, viscous amber fluid. Some kind of fuel maybe…

‘Are these, the mechanocons?’ Karrigan quietly asked himself.

He was expecting them to jump out at him suddenly, but they didn’t. They stayed perfectly still, the only movement being the flow of the strange substance in the pipes.

‘kstssst-ocon fuelling at 78 percen-ktsstst’, a polite but dull female voice sounded from a loudspeaker in the corner of the room. It was hideously deformed with static, but he made out ‘fuelling at 78 percent’. The mechanocons would surely activate and attack him any second from now.

‘C’mon Obasa, we’re leaving,’ he whispered before bolting for the door. ‘I can’t fight them in there…’

He pounded along the battlements, his heavy paws thumping along the narrow platform. For such an important organisation, Utari sure did have thin walls. They were most likely heavily reinforced though, and being on an island almost twenty miles from the coast probably held them in good stead if they were to ever be invaded.

He glanced over his shoulder, and noticed that the three mechanical warriors had already emerged from the building. There was already a distance of a hundred feet or so between them, and he was positive that he could outrun them… There was one spanner in the works though. Eli and Yari had just begun abseiling down the tower, completely unaware of the danger that awaited them at the bottom.

Karrigan’s green eyes glimmered in the midday sun, a violent streak of aggression coldly running through them. The primal instincts of the animal he’d bonded with in his distant, forgotten past monetarily shone through his humanity, and with a snarl he thundered back the way he’d came; straight towards the startled mechanocons. Although he could control the Hycrogian kithounds primitive urges, he let them take over him and relished in the raw energy that he felt as a result.

The leader of the three hissed menacingly, challenging Karrigan. Unlike those encountered in the waterworks, this variety was much more solidly built. They weren’t physically larger, but their limbs were thicker, their postures more like that of professional fighters, and they each carried two blades and not one.

The leader sprang, its blades spinning around it like two silver windmills, but Karrigan leapt to one side, skirted along the edge of the battlements before diving onto the first of the other two. He brought his sharp claws down into the creatures shoulder and with a deft flick of the paw partially severed the entire arm; rendering it completely useless. The blade clattered to the floor, but the other arm was already sweeping towards him, an identical sword heading straight for his head. He raised the other paw defensively, embedding his claws in its wrist just before the cold steel met his throat. Another deft flick sent the second blade, hand still attached, over the battlements and onto the grass several hundred feet below.

This defeat of the mechanocon took no more than a few seconds to achieve, but was more than long enough for the other two to race over and spring their attack on him. The leader ran at him from where it had landed, cutting off his route away from the guard house, but the other one blocked the others side, which would have been his route back into it. He was cornered, but then again, Hycrogian kithounds were known for their agility…

In one leap he jumped from the wall into the huge Utari compound, clawing at the air as he neared the edge of a warehouse rooftop. His claws sunk deep into the slanted ceiling, but it took some scrabbling and some strong upper body strength to pull him up. The black spongy water sealant that coated all of the rooftops came away too easily for him to stay clinging on for very long, but eventually he managed to drag his large frame onto it, and not a moment too soon. The two mechanocons simultaneously sprang from the wall with frightening agility, sailing through the air like birds and landing on either side of him as quietly as dancers. The leader (who was very vocal) hissed and squealed at him some more, although there was no visible mouthpiece. Its companion merely stood there in a fighter’s stance, completely unmoving. Karrigan stood equally still, the only movement being the green of his eyes as he observed them one by one.

For the second time in less than five minutes he counted to three… and then ran! He bolted across the warehouse, and was already springing onto the next one before the two assailants gave chase. He hated having to run from the fight as he knew how easily his claws could rend their thin armour, but the blades of their swords were long and wicked and even in his kithound form, he wasn’t invincible and needed to watch his back.

He jumped onto the next rooftop and quickly glanced down into the street below. It was a busy day, with many people and small vehicles milling around on the ground below; he just prayed that no-one would see him. He looked up to make sure that the battlements were still in view before carrying on with his high speed escape. The two mechanocons were quite far behind him, but they were matching his pace and not seeming to tire.

Obasa (who Karrigan had forgotten was still tied to his back) had come round somewhat and was paying some degree of attention to what was going on.

‘You’re going to have to fight… fight them before you tire… yourself out too much, friend,’ the Drefna suggested through his pain and discomposure. The fierce ride he was being subjected to made the ropes chafe at his ankles and wrists, and the bloody cracks caused by the burns he was suffering had only just begun to congeal.

‘You’re right…’ Karrigan admitted, bowing his head slightly and turning round to face his pursuers. Within seconds they’d caught up with him and whilst the leader slowed to halt, its companion jumped blade first at him. Karrigan could do nothing except quickly sidestep and narrowly avoid a fatal wound. It was quickly on its feet again, its eyeless face somehow seeing him; watching him and taking in his every move. It danced forward, stabbing forwards with both arms. This was a mistake, as another neat sidestep from Karrigan left its right flank completely open to attack, an opportunity that he refused to waste. Leaping in, he grabbed its right arm with his powerful jaws and sunk his huge white teeth deep into the sandy coloured exoskeleton. Raising both paws, he brought them together, the mechanocon unlucky enough to be in-between them. The claws of one paw sunk into its back, the claws of the other into its belly. The mechanical warrior was completely subdued, but now Karrigan was defenceless against the leader, who had now started to move towards him. Thinking fast, Karrigan swung his prisoner sideways, letting his own momentum carry him around on his back legs in a full circle. At exactly the right moment, he let go and sent the injured mechanocon hurtling into its leader with a crunch. They both went skittering across the rooftop, off the edge, and into the street below.

‘That’s not… good…’ Obasa pointed out as several roars of surprise were heard, accompanied by one or two screams.

‘Yeah… let’s leave,’ Karrigan hurriedly shot back, turning around and running back towards the wall.

It didn’t take long for the shouts to become inaudible as the distance between them and the site of the short battle grew. With one final gigantic leap they were back on the wall, and there wasn’t a guard in sight.

‘Are you sure you’ll be able to swim seventeen miles in your condition Obasa?’ Karrigan asked as he slowed to a trot along the battlements. His eyes were entirely focused on the outside edge of the wall. So far it looked impossible to climb down; just a sheer stone face with no windows.

‘Of course… to me, and my kind, the sea is a healing… a place of healing where we feel at home. I hate it on the land… I need damp and humid weather for me to survive in comfort out of water,’ Obasa wearily replied, his eyes half open and unfocused, mouth ajar with a thin trail of bloody spittle running out from it.

‘But still, seventeen miles is a long way to swim…’

‘Don’t… worry yourself. I’m a fast swimmer. I can… I could swim to shore in no more than… an hour maybe.’

Karrigan considered this.

‘Okay, I’ll have to take your word on that I guess… but right now we have other problems. I cannot find a way out of here. The walls… they’re so smooth!’ he growled irritably.

Obasa gently patted Karrigan’s glossy underside.

‘Try a gate. There must be a gate somewhere. Look for one from… from up here, and then… and… and then you can find it on the… the inside wall. Wait for someone to open it, then you… you can run out, and toss me into the sea,’ he suggested with a small nod.

‘You know, you’re pretty smart Obasa. Let’s find one quickly mind… There’ll be no gate opening around here, I mean, look down there. It’s just grass. Who would need to go out there?’

‘My people have gathered much… gathered, a lot of… intelligence about this place, which is how we knew about… the waterworks and all the waste that… that gets pumped out. On the west hand side of the… island, there is a wide open space that… is used as a testing ground for various… heavy duty weapons, from what I’ve learned. There’s bound to be a gate over there. Maybe even several. Chances are, that’ll be where the sky ships are stored too. They’re difficult to land, and with… with the choice of landing in either a busy metropolis, or… or in a wide open grassy plain, which would you choose? The risk of crashing is greatly lessened if it’s done in a big space,’ Obasa explained, gulping back cries of pain.

Karrigan drank in every word that was said, nodding along with it.

‘Okay, good plan. Let’s go, quickly.’

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

‘Welcome Miss Kumiho. I expect you have had a pleasant stay, yes?’ the crisp, metallic voice of Gorrogan Utari grated from beneath heavy grey robes.

‘Yes Mr. Utari, thank you. My associate Captain Falak and I thank you on behalf of the League of Youth for all you have done,’ Kumiho replied with a short curtsy.

‘We’ll do anything that you desire, for the right price…’ Gorrogan rasped, not returning her sign of respect. ‘He; who is he?’ he continued with a hint of menace, hood turning slightly to face Falak. ‘I was told to expect just you, Miss Kumiho. Nobody else will be privy to our… exchange.’

‘Hey, okay, I’ll umm… wait outside. Will you be okay?’ said Falak.

Kumiho scowled slightly. His unprofessional vocabulary embarrassed her slightly, although she was touched by his concern.

‘Yes, thank you Falak. Outside will be fine,’ she replied, regretting her cold tone as he left the room.

‘Good. Now we’re alone. I assume you know why you’re really here, yes?’ said Gorrogan once he was sure Falak was out of earshot.

‘Yes, I do. I am to deliver the child to Utari headquarters in Kuchitimo City for further testing, because you do not have the required facilities here in the main establishment. Correct?’ she said to him in a distant and aloof voice. She wasn’t happy that he’d made her get rid of Falak. He made her feel… safer; and who knew what these Utari types were really like?

Gorrogan paused for a while, slightly taken aback by her flippant attitude.

‘…yes. That’s right,’ he eventually grated.‘Your… colleagues must not know about this. You understand? I hope you value the importance of this child.’

‘Yes I understand. I have not been told anything about the child, and I wish to keep it that way, but I do appreciate how important it is to my superiors. They made that very clear to me before I left,’ Kumiho replied with a quick toss of the hair. ‘You can trust me with it.’

‘Excellent. You will accompany me with the loading process?’

‘Of course. It’s my duty to make sure the container reaches the Silverback in one piece. Captain Falak and his crew will defend the ‘mechanocon’ with their lives, do not worry.’

Gorrogan chuckled to himself, but was cut short by something that Kumiho could not see or hear. He cocked his head away from her, nodding and whispering.

‘Is everything okay Mr. Utari?’ Kumiho asked him with mock concern, briefly smiling to herself.

‘Excuse me Miss Kumiho, but I have urgent business to attend to…’ he said distractedly, making for the door with no explanation.

‘Wait! Tell me what’s going on. Has this got something to do with the problem in the…umm… upper quadrants?’ she quizzed him, quickly darting in front of the door before he could get to it.

‘Yes. I’m afraid a portion of one of our towers has been badly damaged by what we suspect is a bomb,’ he replied, politely turning around and heading for the other exit.

‘A bomb? What in the name of all things holy is going on around here Gorrogan?’ she angrily shot at him, marching over and grabbing the hem of his sleeve.

‘Release me woman! This is the concern only of the Brethren!’ he hissed, tearing his arm from her grasp and hurrying over to the door. He then stopped just before he crossed the threshold and turned back to her. ‘I’m sorry for my outburst. But I am urgently needed elsewhere. You will have to deliver the package to your ship on your own. I will send someone up to accompany you, and I shall try to catch up to you before you leave. I bid you farewell,’ he said, firmly shutting the thick wooden door behind him.

‘Bhearoan’s teeth… what’s going on around here?’ she asked herself with a sigh, before seating herself at the head of long conference table. The strip light above was dimmed, and the room was empty.

‘What happened?’ Falak whispered as he surreptitiously opened a door and crept in.

‘You don’t have to be sneaky Captain, he’s long gone now. Apparently part of the facility has been bombed, and he needs to check it out,’ she replied, sighing once more.

‘Really? Bombed? This wont compromise the mission in any way, will it?’ he asked gravely as he pulled up a chair besides her.

‘I don’t know… he wouldn’t tell me. He said somebody would be here shortly to escort us to the delivery point. We’ll load up the Silverback, and then head off…’

Falak neurotically drummed his fingers on the desk for a while, then stood up and began pacing the room.

‘As simple as that? Wow, I thought we’d be here all day to be honest.’

‘Oh no, the business aspect behind buying the mechanocons has already been taken care of. We were just sent to make the pickup,’ she replied, disguising her lie well, but feeling bad that she had to do it.

‘Okay… well, I have to leave now. If we’re to be leaving soon, I’ll need to get the ship prepped for takeoff. Will you be okay on your own?’ he asked, hand on the door handle.

‘Yes thank you,’ she said sweetly to him, a small smile playing on her lips. He smiled back at her for a second, and then he was gone.

She lay back in her chair, smiling to herself. She smiled to him! She was finally breaking some barriers. She’d found it difficult to connect with people since her father had died, as moving from foster home to orphanage to foster home so quickly meant that she was never in one place long enough to make a friend. The few she did make were too scared or disgusted at her powers to stay friends with her for long. She remained alone for several years after that, but then the League of Youth found her, and she felt like she had a home. Unfortunately her superiors wanted to use her as a figurehead of their organisation; a shrewd and scary warrior who could conduct certain business for them. Either way, it seemed her powers were ruining her life. Travelling on the Silverback she thought was her one chance to stay in one place long enough to make some friends. There were many people on board, but most were too busy with the ship to pay her much heed, which is why she’d set her sights on Falak and Nue. Unlike most of the other males in the League, who constantly dogged her for her beautiful face and tight, womanly body, Falak and Nue treated her with respect, and not as some pretty plaything.

She gazed into her large brown eyes in the polished tabletop, hoping that the League of Youth could offer her what she wanted. On the outside they seemed to be perfect, almost like a refugee camp for those born during the 10 years to find a home. Mostly it was those who were feeling ostracised from the rest of humanity who joined, but of course there were some who really felt akin to the Leagues ideology. These fanatics believed that ‘the youth’ as they called themselves, were superior to normal people, and that normal people should be treated as subhuman. Kumiho was greatly opposed to this, and since there was freedom within the walls of the League she was not forced to fight. There were many other posts that needed to be filled, and there were many more willing to bloody their hands for the cause… Many people had died because of the League… villages had been burned, woman and children murdered in their beds, soldiers torn limb from limb… and for what? She didn’t know, and was sure she never would… She would fight for the League if she had to though, which was something she’d decided a long time ago. Not for the radicals, and not for the ideology, but for the children left in ditches because they were different, for those like herself who had been tormented by ‘normal’ people, and for those who were driven to join a group of terrorists just to feel some self worth. Despite it’s obvious and despicable flaws, there were some aspects of the League that made her burst at the seams with pride. Her eyes filled with tears as she smiled at her reflection. She was worth something…

‘Hello? Miss Kumiho? Sorry to keep you waiting. If you follow me I will take you to the loading bay,’ said a voice from the door. There stood a well dressed man in a suit, probably some kind of butler.

‘Of course. Let’s go,’ she said, disguising a sniff as she stood up and began to follow.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Yari grunted at Eli for help as he lost his footing for at least the fifth time.

‘Whoa, watch yourself friend! The last thing we need is you falling off the roof and breaking your neck,’ Eli exclaimed, grabbing Yari’s arm and pulling him back onto the uneven surface.

The factory roof was not only at a forty-five degree angle, but also made of a smooth corrugated metal that had acquired a slippery green mould over the years. The going was extremely slow for the pair, especially when it came to getting onto other buildings. Yari was sure that even with his long and complicated mission, Karrigan would make it to the central tower before they did. There was a distance of nearly two miles between the northeast tower and central towers, which would take long enough if they were only street level.

Yari had cleverly constructed a sturdy grappling hook from one of the abseiling ropes, and a sturdy bar snapped from a rusted piece of iron railing. It was with this that they made their way between buildings. Many of them were factories, and most had large chimneys protruding from their roofs. It was difficult work constantly hauling himself between the large pillars, especially with Eli behind him, but Yari took comfort in the fact that they were making steady, if slow, progress across the compound.

‘This place is really… eerie…’ Eli said quietly. The hubbub in the streets below them often gave out into large pockets of silence; some were teeming with people, others empty and derelict. Some factories looked like state-of-the-art laboratories whilst others were just abandoned shells, left to crumble amongst ever changing, ever advancing technology.

Yari replied with a short grunt of recognition, but kept moving. The central tower was getting closer, but it still seemed an age away…

‘Hey Yari, look here…’ Eli said, pointing to the edge of the factory they were currently stood on. Small bits of flesh coloured metal were strewn around in a great splash of amber fluid. Peeking over the edge, Eli could see the broken bodies of two mechanical warriors lying on the pavement below. They must have been there for a good fifteen minutes, because the area had been fenced off and was swarming with strange officials dressed in long black coats, despite the stifling heat. A light but expensive looking hovership floated towards the crime scene, touched down, and shut off its engines.

Eli’s eyes widened as a small door opened on its side and a tall cloaked figure emerged. The figure positively oozed power as he marched towards the fallen robots, back straight, face completely swathed in the darkness of its hood. The smartly dressed officials greeted him with salutes, all of which were ignored.

Eli could only just hear what they were saying.

‘Master Utari, we believe that the terrorists were apprehended by these two mechanocons, but defeated them.’

‘Do you take me for some kind of fool? I could have figured that out for myself! What do I pay you for?’ the figure snarled menacingly, his voice dripping malice but his body remaining stationary; calm and unmoving.

‘Yes Master, but from this we can predict the direction they’re heading in, so-’ the official began.

‘Well if you know where they’re going, find them, and kill them, understand? Use whatever you need, but I want their heads on my desk before sundown!’ the figure bellowed before turning around and stepping back into his hovership without waiting for a reply.

‘You heard him men,’ the officials leader barked. ‘If you want to keep your jobs, and your lives, I suggest we get some aerocons on the scene immediately. Scour the rooftops in the direction of the main tower. Move, move, move!’

‘Yari, I think we have to get onto ground level. Very soon,’ Eli hissed, his voice hitching with fear. ‘I’m too old to be running around like this…’

One of the officials was talking quietly into some kind of portable intercom, which Eli interpreted as the signalling of the ‘aerocons’.

‘Yari, we have to hide. I’ve seen these aerocons before. They’re lightweight flying machines and by the gods, they’re fast… If they find us we’re done for. They’ll cut us down as soon as they find us,’ Eli told Yari; pulling his sword out and starting to cut a hole in the thick black sealant coating the roof.

Yari bent down to help him, pulling his own sword from its scabbard and plunging it deep into the spongy material. They quickly cut a rough hole and peeled it away from the iron below.

‘We have to get in fast!’ Eli panicked, trying to stab through the metal, but not having much luck.

Yari noticed a distant but nearing whirring drawing in on their position, presumably the engines of these ‘aerocons’ Eli spoke of. They certainly sounded quick, and if they didn’t break through in the next twenty seconds, they’d be found. Then who knew what would become of them.

Subtlety aside, Yari raised his booted foot and stamped down hard on the metal beneath, dinting it heavily. He stamped down again, and again, and again, and as he did so, the thin metal panel began to come away from where it was bolted onto the frame of the roof. With a sharp crack, it came loose completely, falling into the darkness below. Acting quickly, he grabbed his grappling hook and quickly bent its arrow shape into the original singular bar. Hoping it would hold their combined weight, he wedged it in the hole, and grabbing hold of the abseiling rope began to lower himself into the inky black below.

‘Ingenious…’ Eli mused, careful to replace the water sealant as he followed Yari down. ‘Wow, it’s very dark in here… Yari, have you reached the bottom yet?’

He heard a grunt, but didn’t know if it was a yes or a no. His feet soon met a solid object though, so he precariously balanced on it, firm hand still on the rope. There was a sharp fizzle as Yari lit the wick of a lamp he’d rescued from the confines of his pack.

They were both stood on a narrow yellow beam with runners underneath it, which was presumably used for carrying heavy machinery around the large and draughty room they’d entered. It was covered in rust though, and the lack of care that had been given to it suggested it hadn’t been used in a long time.

Clenching the handle of the lamp between his teeth, Yari grabbed the edges of a vertical beam (one of many that held the heavy lifting equipment so high in the air) and began to shimmy down. Eli followed suit, his eyes wandering from left to right as he descended. The small orange sphere of light that they were in made him feel so vulnerable in the huge, black room. Anything could be in there with them.

Suddenly a small rectangle of light appeared on a far wall as an outside door was opened. Yari stifled a scream of pain as he quickly extinguished the flame of the lamp with his bare palm, but could not stop himself from falling onto the concrete below. As he fell, he felt the lamp come away from his mouth and disappear into the darkness. Thankfully, as he hit the ground he realised he hadn’t fallen far, and whilst he sustained no injuries, the loud smash of the lamp nearby meant that he may not remain that way for long.

‘Hey, who’s there?’ a scared voice whispered into the darkness.

Eli cursed as he jumped from the beam and landed silently next to Yari.

‘Quick! Hide!’ he whispered urgently.

‘Hey Diamah, what’re you doing in that old warehouse?’ a voice came from the rectangle of light; outside.

‘I heard something. I heard something shatter in here, like, glass…’ the scared voice whispered back to him.

‘Hah! It was probably a mudpigeon scrounging for beetles or something. Come on. Get out of there.’

‘But… the Vhahlgon are looking for terrorists only a street away. Maybe they’re in here…’ Diamah replied.

Yari could feel his heart racing, pounding away inside his chest like a caged bull. ‘Please leave please leave please leave!’ he thought to himself over and over as he pressed his back against the vertical beam, breathing shallow, quiet breaths.

‘Don’t be stupid. What would they want with a ramshackle place like this? If I was them I’d already by sailing away by now. Or stowing away on a skyship in the Aerodrome or something… I definitely wouldn’t be camping out in here anyway.’

‘Yeah well… I don’t care. I’m gonna let the Vhahlgon know about this. It’s at least worth them checking it out…’

‘No way!’ the voice at the door warned. ‘Don’t go fraternising with those secret police types. Once you’re in with them they’ll never leave you alone. They work for Gorrogan Utari you know? They work directly for him. I’ve heard all sorts of stories about what they do to people…’

‘Hmmm… well, okay. I guess you’re right… they are a weird bunch. We’d best get back you work, eh?’ Diamah eventually replied, but with great uncertainty underlying his voice.

There were several long moments of silence.

‘Yari,’ whispered Eli from his hiding place in the dark nearby. ‘Are we okay to slip out of here yet?’

Yari rolled his eyes and wondered how long it would be until Eli stopped expecting answers from him.

‘Oh, yeah, you can’t speak… Sorry lad. Well come on, lets get out of here. We’ll be able to get to the tower quicker by foot…’

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Karrigan lay flat on his belly, ears low and legs ready to pounce, eyes focused intently on his prize; the fat munitions cart that was making its way towards the testing grounds. Obasa lay dazed in a feverish sleep, still tied in an uncomfortable position across Karrigan’s broad shoulders. So far they’d managed not to get spotted by any more guard patrols, but they had to descend to street level when several small aircraft appeared and began circling the area where he’d defeated the two mechanocons.

They looked akin to the sleek silver motorcycles he remembered from a small industrial town he’d once visited, not long before he’d met up with Kamayari on the coast. These were different though. Whilst the motorcycles he’d seen had vertically positioned wheels for moving across the ground, the wheels on these machines were flatter, and positioned horizontally. The spinning of them somehow gave the bike lift, creating a fast and agile flying machine. Long cruel ramming blades jutted out from the front of them, curved and wicked. They reminded Karrigan of the blades the mechanocons carried, but it was humans that piloted the mean looking aircraft; battle hardened warriors in skin-tight green armour, their eyes fixed forwards as they lay parallel to their machines.

He cursed the vibrancy of his red fur as he hid in the shadows of a dark alleyway, concealed behind several trashcans. It would have been so much easier to jump onto the cart from a rooftop, but it seemed he’d have to take the more difficult approach. Thankfully the area was devoid of any civilian activity since the testing grounds were off limits to regular workers, as were any entrances into it. Mechanocons flanked either side of the gate, and two soldiers sat high up in a guard tower, looking very bored, but alert.

The cart was a large six wheeled monster of a vehicle. Powered by engines rather than pack animals, it rumbled down the weathered street like a giant insect, complete with two spotlight eyes and a black steel canopy. The body was smooth and curved making it impossible to climb, but a small ladder was attached to the back. This is what Karrigan hoped to use.

As the huge vehicle lumbered past, its huge steel wheels biting hard into the well trodden dirt path, a momentary flash of red streaked out of an alleyway and onto its huge black carapace. He only had a few seconds to scramble onto the roof before the back of the cart would be visible by the guards, but he was agile and the ladder was easy to climb. He was lying flat on the roof with time to spare, just as it rumbled under the gaze of those in the watchtower, and the through the open gate; guards and mechanocons none the wiser.

But he now had new problems; he was in an open field, and had no idea where the guard patrols were or how many of them there would be.

‘Karrigan? Karrigan…’ whispered Obasa from behind him. We’re… we’re sitting ducks up here. How do we get down?’

‘Shut up, shut up, shut up!’ Karrigan murmured, teeth gritted, claws gripping the cart nervously.

The testing ground was a huge, once grassy field pockmarked with numerous muddy craters. One half was separated into several long aisles, each with a hut at one end and a derelict building as a target at the other. Distant explosions boomed in the distance as rockets and plumes of fire flew out from the huts, landing on the targets a few seconds later in clouds of smoke and rubble. The other half of the field was a large circular dirt track on which several large vehicles rode. A small open plan tower stood in the middle, full of spectators. Most were scientists and engineers of various sorts, taking notes and fiddling with delicate measuring equipment. The others were merely interested onlookers; off duty workers perhaps, curious as to how the machines they worked on turned out.

‘Whoa… Obasa, can you see that?’ Karrigan exclaimed in awe, standing up and looking beyond the relatively uninteresting testing fields.

One the other side of the island stood a huge dome shaped building, almost as wide as Utari HQs main tower. It was an aerodrome; the only way by which Utari imported and exported goods. Everything from small merchant airships, buzzing around like fat little wasps, to huge skyships, flapping their enormous wings like spectacular metal birds went in an out of it like bees to and from a hive. Huge runways, fifty meters wide and a mile long projected from every visible side, and it was on these that the huge transport ships and freighters landed on. Smaller craft, usually those powered by the same hovering rings he saw on the flying bikes or by large gas filled balloons, simply drifted in and out of a huge open top hanger situated in the aerodromes roof. It was amazing. A mini metropolis right outside the walls of a near city, all on one island scarcely ten miles across.

From his vantage point atop the armoured cart he could see the huge highway that connected the aerodrome to Utari HQ; an ugly curved road, blackened with soot and exhaust fumes that slashed through the grassy island like a festering wound. The testing ground was positively quiet in comparison despite the explosions, and for a second he thought he may get back to the main tower without even getting spotted.

He jumped from the cart as inconspicuously as he could, landing in the shadow cast by Utari HQs enormous walls.

‘Karrigan, this place… It’s amazing, isn’t it?’ Obasa chuckled from above him. Karrigan could feel the blood and spittle as it dripped from the Drefnas mouth and onto his coat.

‘It really is something, I’ll give you that. I wonder what Zaibatsu would be like without this place?’ Karrigan mused as he tossed aside a strand of orange fur from in front of his eyes.

‘Probably the same. Chances are, if Utari hadn’t been here to wipe out the competition, another organisation would have risen to the plate…’

‘You’re sounding a bit better my friend. You speech is a lot less broken. Are you feeling better?’ smiled the Kithound as he quickly darted under a guard tower, sharp green eyes following the movements of the soldier above.

‘No, but I can taste the salt of the sea. We are definitely close.’

‘We are my friend. We’re nearly there, but there are guards all over the place. This tower is our last bit of cover, you ready the make a dash for it?’ Karrigan asked as the familiar warm hit of adrenalin began to leak its way into his blood stream.

Obasa was silent for a minute, but Karrigan could feel him fiddling with the knots that tied him on so tightly.

‘Hang on… yes. I’ve rigged the binding of this rope so that when I pull on this end, it will all unravel and I can… I can easily get off you. Ready when you are Karrigan. Thank you for your help in all of this. I’m sorry that it ended the way it did, I just hope I can repay you all by warning your people in time,’ Obasa promised with a solemn and sincere tone in his voice.

Karrigan was touched, but Little Blackwood was not his problem.

‘Umm, thank you Obasa. I’ll make sure I tell Eli.’

With that he was off. His heavy paws pounded against the grass as he raced the short but open distance between the guard tower and the cliff edge. Several guard patrols immediately saw him, and they raised their weapons in response, but Karrigan was too fast, and had already made it to his target. At the last second with impeccable timing Karrigan braked hard, digging his claws deep into the mud and leaning backwards. He skidded to an abrupt halt at the exact same moment that Obasa pulled hard on the rope, resulting in the Drefna gracefully soaring over the edge with his arms outstretched. Karrigan did not have time to see him hit the foamy waters below, but said a quick prayer to the gods, not only for Obasa and Little Blackwood, but also for Yari, Eli, and himself.

Turning tail he fled back towards the gates as security closed in on him, their crude rifles and flame poles trained on him.

‘Flame poles?’ he asked himself as he ran. ‘Where have I heard of those before?’

‘Intruder alert! Intruder alert!’ a tinny but piercing cry squawked from a small grey loudspeaker on the side of the guard tower.

From out of nowhere, a squadron of mechanocons appeared, tearing their way towards him at a frightening speed. With a burst of energy, Karrigan bolted forwards along the edge of the wall. He cried out as a rifle bullet hit the stone above his head, ricocheting off it like an angry bee and embedding itself in the ground to his right. Head down, praying that he wouldn’t be hit, he thundered across the gravely ground towards the gate he’d exited from, but it was closing fast. Some kind of alarm could be heard in the distance, but he wasn’t sure if it was because of him, or if it had anything to do with the gate closing on him.

He pounced on an unsuspecting guard and clobbered him into unconsciousness, before quickly looking for another way in.

He found it easily enough.

The only other way into the complex was through the main entrance; via the highway!