Soul Of A Guardian

by

Angela Verdenius

The ship shuddered under another blow and then sirens started going off. The ship pitched and started to die down.

“Oh no,” Tasi muttered. “We’re not going to be sitting ducks now!” Frantically keying in commands, she shouted, “Balfour! Strap in and hold on! I’m taking us down!”

There was no answer and all she could do was pray Balfour was okay.

And that they’d make it out of this alive.

Snapping the safety harness on, Tasi blocked three of the main electrical lines. It was a dangerous manoeuvre, but the only one left to do. The space ship simply plunged through space on one engine.

Keeping only one main electrical line open to steer with, Tasi guided the spaceship downwards. Heart pounding, she saw the planet below looming closer and closer.

The black hunters’ ship swooped after them, the lasers flaring, searing the hull of the old spaceship. In the space shield she saw the flames flaring bright, licking at the shield. The space shield cracked but held.

“They’re following,” Balfour said.

“We need to hit the ground and then bail,” Tasi replied. “I just hope we can bail, because if I’m wrong...”

“You can do it,” Balfour said. “We’ve practiced this.”

“I know. It’s just that was in our own ships, not this piece of junk.”

“Oh ye of little faith.”

Tasi snorted.

The planet loomed up, forests and oceans and mountains. She kicked in the three main electrical lines and the backup engine roared fully to life, the ship shuddering as it was suddenly forced from the plunge into a straight flight.

The ship hit the tops of trees, parts of the undercarriage torn away as it glanced off the top of a hill. The ship tilted, crashed sideways into another hill and then slid down the remainder to come to a stop at the bottom in a cloud of dust and smoke.

Ears ringing with the alarm blaring, Tasi released the safety harness and bolted from the control cabin. Smoke filled the corridor but she could see Balfour coming through the stairwell door.

“Run!” he ordered.

The alarm was deafening, and she caught a glimpse of fire flaring from a torn panel in the side of the corridor as she passed it. An explosion at the back of the ship rocked them almost off their feet.

Balfour grabbed her arm and dragged her through the blinding smoke. Another explosion shook the floor under their feet as they threw themselves out of the doorway to the ground below.

They hit the ground running and made for the trees. No sooner had they hit the tree line than a deafening roar sounded from behind them and the blast from the exploding spaceship threw them several feet into the depths of the forest.

Slowly the sound of the explosion faded and Tasi sat upright. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw the fire billowing up, the flames consuming the twisted metal that had been their only mode of transport.

“Guess we’ll be buying a new ship after all,” Balfour said from beside her.

Pushing upright, she stood on slightly unsteady legs and looked at his soot covered face. “You think so?”

A black shape swooped low over the tree tops and circled. The hunters’ ship had caught up with them.

“I think we better run.” Balfour gave her a shove. “Let’s go.”

The forest was thick, the branches flicking against their faces as it got denser. Tasi thought for sure they’d gotten away when suddenly she heard something. Motioning to Balfour, she dropped down behind a thick trunk, trying to steady her breathing as she peered around it. Balfour knelt behind her, his panting breath hot on her neck as he peered over her shoulder.

There was a faint noise but she couldn’t place it. But the hunters were coming closer.

“We have to find cover.” Turning back, she got a look at Balfour.

His face was white, his eyes a burning black. He was shaking but he didn’t look weak.

“Balfour.” She grabbed him.

“We have to separate.”

“What?” She stared at him.

“We have to separate, Tasi.” He looked back towards the direction of the faint noise.

“You can’t go on alone—”

He looked down at her and she could feel the force of his gaze. “If we stay together, they could kill both of us. Separated, we have a better chance of one of us surviving. It’s the only way.”

“Separating? Are you sure? What if—”

“We’ve done it before.” Balfour stood up. “We have to do it again.”

She straightened. They had done it before; it was how they’d all managed to survive for so long.

“Guardian.” His voice as low, but hard and authoritative. “We do what we must to protect it.”

Protect it at all costs.

It was their duty.

“Run.” Tasi drew the laser from her holster. “I’ll draw them off you.”

“Do not sacrifice yourself.” Balfour’s touched her shoulder. “Not unnecessarily.”

Tasi smiled slightly. “Don’t go soft on me now, Balfour.”

He reached out with one hand to ruffle her hair, and she saw that he no longer trembled. “I’ll see you again.”

“Yeah, well, I certainly hope so.”

Silently he laid his hand over her kyrat and she felt a flood of kinship, and then he was gone, running through the trees and disappearing from sight.

Taking a deep breath, Tasi deliberately broke one of the branches of the tree and scuffed the grass with the toe of her boot before running in the opposite direction. Leaving an obvious trail would bring the hunters after her, leaving Balfour time to get away.

It wasn’t her intention, though, to be caught by the hunters, either. Once she was sure they were on her trail, she was going to give them the slip.

Tasi ran for two hours, skidding down gullies and scrambling up the slopes of hills. She crept through bushes, crawled under heavy undergrowth and ran through open areas.

The hunters were relentless. Whatever they were using, they were faster than she was, and able to move through the forest at a faster speed.

The bounty hunters were bloody good at tracking her, no matter how careful she was being.

A sound from above brought her wheeling around, her laser aimed high. Leaves showered down from the treetops, and something flashed behind her. She swung around, only to drop to a crouch as yet something else flashed just in the corner of her vision.

Suddenly bounty hunters were flashing around her, cutting through the trees and bushes. They circled her, and she fired her laser. One hunter spun away, cursing. Something hit her in the back to send her sprawling, and the laser was wrenched from her grip. Hitting the ground, she twisted quickly and sprang back up in a crouch, moving as she did so, trying to keep the hunters in sight.

They were standing on discs of some kind, their boots securely held to them by straps. Tasi hadn’t seen anything like it but she cursed whoever had invented them. No wonder they’d been able to catch up to her even through the denseness of the forest. They were able to travel among the tree tops.

“Well, well.” The hunter she remembered from the viscomm screen floated down in front of her. “Hello, Guardian.”

He was the pack leader. “Come to kill and drag me back for the bounty?” She kept her gaze on him.

“That’s the plan, but first I’m interested to see what the fuss about Guardians is all about.”

“The new High Emperor doesn’t like us.”

“I think there’s more to it than just dislike.” He eyed her hungrily. “I’ve heard you have unusual fighting skills.’

“Oh?” She flexed her fingers.

“Yeah.”

There was no warning, just a crack of a bullwhip and something snaked around her throat from behind. Jerked off her feet, she was dragged, choking and clawing at the lash, backwards to tumble down a slope.

The lash unwound from her throat as she fell. She was sucking in lungfuls of air when she pushed up onto her hands and knees.

“Get up, Guardian.” The pack leader stood before her. “Show us how well you fight.”

Anger burned through Tasi as she slowly stood up. One hand at her throat, she looked around at the pack as they closed into a loose circle around her.

“Don’t worry,” the pack leader sneered. “He didn’t mark your pretty throat with the bullwhip lash. My men are very handy with the whips and things. I don’t want you damaged, anyway, because once you’ve shown us how you fight, I intend to have a private little wrestle with you.”

The lust in his eyes was easy to read.

More fool him.

Tasi smiled at him. “You think you can handle me, hunter?”

His hot-eyed gaze fell to her breasts. “If I can’t, I’m sure a couple of my men will hold you down for me. But yeah, I reckon I can handle you. I’ve handled tougher.”

Tasi held her arms out to the side and angled her head slightly. “Yes, but you have never handled a Guardian.” Hands outstretched, she touched her middle fingers to her palm.

“A bit of fancy fist fighting?” The pack leader stepped forward, a dagger appearing in his hand. “Show me what you’ve got, Guardian.”

“Sure,” she said.

The kyrat crackled in her forehead and the line of topaz energy seared straight through her veins and out of her palms. Closing her fingers around the rod of glittering topaz that came out of her palm and slid along her fingers, Tasi swung her hands in front of her, criss-crossing them, and there was a searing sound in the air as two sensor swords of topaz energy appeared in her hands.

“What the—” the hunter began, only to stare as the rods flashed before him.

His head rolled onto the ground and Tasi sprang forward.

There was a second of stunned silence, and then the hunters exploded into action, fingers clawing at weapons as they lunged for her.

Tasi moved fast, ducking and side stepping, lunging in fast, dropping to a knee here, pushing upright there, spinning and moving continuously, the deadly hiss of the sensor swords firm in her hands, the glow running through her veins directly from her kyrat.

Within seconds the only one still standing in the clearing was Tasi. On the ground lay dead hunters, some parted from limbs and heads, others from deadly placed thrusts of the sensor swords.

Rolling her head on her neck to ease some kinks, Tasi released the sensor swords and the topaz energy slid back into her palms and up through her veins before lodging once more in her kyrat. It crackled and then settled to the normal soft glow.

“And that, gentlemen, is what I’ve got.” Crouching down, she took back her laser and added a few daggers to her belt. “Thanks for the extras.”