23
Samh 9.31.1339 08:05
Valanthus was confident Amoranda had finally seen the light regarding Colonel Kieron. He was less confident that they had seen the last of him.
At breakfast, the day after the trial, Katamitoria asked if he and Amoranda would come with her to retrieve her belongings from Cook. Valanthus had initially planned to help Katamitoria get on her feet and manage the money she newly had acquired, but he accepted that she needed to inform Cook of her new situation. He also realized it would be best for them to accompany her since Cook’s husband had been close to Kieron. He did not want any chance of the poor girl being kidnapped and forced to hand everything back. It would destroy her after all she had been through.
After the two-hour ride in the landcraft, Katamitoria introduced Silvergor and Amoranda to Cook, a jovial and round woman who was soon informed of all the good fortune that fell on Katamitoria the previous day. Cook insisted they stay for supper, and they passed the day pleasurably before Katamitoria loaded her few things into the landcraft and said a tearful good-bye to the older woman with a mutual promise to always be friends and to write.
As they were going home, Valanthus noticed in his seat by the automaton chauffeur that the road was almost empty except five solocraft that seemed to be persistently pursuing them. Their way went through some uninhabited areas of the planet, and he was just debating whether he should alarm the ladies or not when they were hit from behind with an electromagnetic blast that shorted everything in the vehicle. He quickly grabbed the yoke, which was sluggish but manageable and prevented them from crashing into the sidewall of the highway as they slowed.
The ladies came to the cockpit and instantly perceived the problem. Katamitoria was terrified, and although Amoranda seemed to be trying to be strong for her, he noticed the shake in her hand.
“We are going to be robbed! I just know it. I have finally gotten ahead, and it is just my luck to have something like this beset me,” Katamitoria moaned.
“Take heart, we will get through this. Amoranda, take Katamitoria and get her settled in the escape pod. You must initiate the emergency power for it and get it started. We have less than a quarter of an hour to incapacitate their solocraft and get out of range before their blaster recharges.”
Valanthus guided the landcraft to a complete and safe stop before springing from his seat and accessing the weapons cache. He was thankful he had overseen these well stocked in all Amoranda’s vehicles as soon as he had arrived to care for her. Of course, he also always traveled with his two throwing knives strapped to his thighs, his cudgel cane, his fighting knife strapped to his forearm and a poisonneedle shooter on each wrist. He grabbed the electromagblaster and a sonicshotgun, tucked Silvergor’s beard into his turtleneck so it would not get in the way, and headed to the door.
Before he reached it, it slid open and two men wearing masks that only showed their eyes stepped onto the landcraft. The first held a large knife, the second was carrying steelrope.
“Come quietly, old man, and tell us where the girls are if you value your life,” the man rasped.
As Valanthus pulled out the knife from his forearm sheath, he made a mental note that this was not a random attack. Someone knew Katamitoria and Amoranda were in this vehicle and wanted them.
The first attacker gave him no further time for reflection and jumped at him with a sloppy overhead strike. Valanthus parried it and tripped him. The second assailant lashed out with the rope knocking Valanthus in the jaw. Valanthus shot a poisonneedle at the attacker, hating to waste one of the precious two lethal shots he had, but unable to see a winning way of fighting both men in such a cramped space. The man with the rope instantly collapsed.
The man with the knife did not flinch at the loss of his partner. Instead, he readjusted his grip and slashed at Valanthus, opening a cut on Valanthus’ upper arm. He instantly was on the attack, and Valanthus had to remain focused so he could parry each of the swift slashes.
“You’re pretty spry for an old man,” the attacker stated stepping back to reassess his methods. It was then Valanthus noticed Amoranda behind the man holding a metal club.
“I think all men should take pride in their health no matter what their age,” he replied, keeping the rogue’s focus.
The bar came down on the man’s head, and he dropped like a sack of taenite.
“We only have about five minutes left to get out of here. We don’t have time for you to be playing around with these guys,” Amoranda said cheekily.
“You should have stayed in the escape pod,” he said as he dragged the unconscious man to the door and shoved him out. Then, he leaned out and shot the solocrafts with the electromagblaster, smiling because they had left them in a cluster so one shot could hit them all. They all fell out of the air. He ducked back inside the landcraft as fireshot flacked the side of it.
Inside the escape pod, he noticed Katamitoria knocked out and strapped into one of the seats. His eyebrow shot up.
“She found the first aid kit and told me to wake her when it was over. I was too busy with other things to object. Are you wounded at all?”
“Only a scratch, Kidege,” Valanthus said with a smile and sat next to her as she pushed the button to blast away from the wreck. He reached over and gently grabbed her hand.
“It was a pleasure fighting by your side,” he looked deeply into her eyes, but the moment was broken when she burst into laughter.
“You look ridiculous with your beard tucked in like that!” she snickered. Valanthus sighed and pulled his beard out of his shirt carefully. He was certain Major Yoeritt’s plan was never going to work.
As soon as they got home, Katamitoria was carried to her room and Amoranda insisted on calling a doctor to care for Valanthus’ injury.
“We must be sure the knife wasn’t contaminated with anything,” she said and forced him to sit patiently on the couch while she coddled him.
No comments:
Post a Comment