Kingdoms End
Chapter 17

Planet: Setuh

Person(s): Marco, Meliss and Tenna

It was 07:35 in the city of Kullup, the capital city of the Holydoma, Halo-Bir. A holydoma was a nation ruled by a female religious head, rather a political one. Kullup was a beautiful city, but its streets were not as crowded as they used to be. Everyone was getting off the planet, nine wished to be here when the storms began.

A large cargo vessel had touched down about ten minutes ago. The vessel bore some containers containing supplies and within one of these was Lady Lizandra Haavik, the only other surviving Haavik. Most of the containers had been offloaded and now stood begin the vessel, the one containing Lizandra was among these. She was weak and hungry. She had expected her journey to be no more than six hours, but by her calculations, it had been at least two days since she climbed into this container.

Lizandra lay on the floor if the container, weak, thirsty and very hungry. She had carried only very little fold and water. The sound of the latch being undone was both welcomed and also terrifying for her. What place had she been brought to? But also, Would whoever found her now give her food and drink? She immediately sat up and looked at the door. The lighting stone was on the floor, right next to her and so was the dagger the elf lord had given her. She immediately wrapped up the lighting stone and put it into her travelling bag, she she unsheathed the dagger. It was a 30cm long weapon, from the point of the blade, to the base of the handle. She raised the right leg of the cotton shorts she had on and did as the elf lord had instructed, pressing the weapon against the side of her right thigh. The weapon glowed blue for a moment, then vanished, leaving behind a little glowing, blue tattoo of itself on her right thigh. The tattoo was about 5cm wide and 8cm long. “I hope I can get it back when I need it,” she said, rubbing the tattoo. The door of the container began swinging open and the girl immediately hid behind a crate.

“Okay, start offloading these things,” said a male voice from the doorway of the container and the sound of several boots suddenly filled the space. Lizandra peeped out from her hiding spot and saw people dressed in some sort of uniform carrying the crates and exiting the container. She put her backpack on and slung the hand of the travelling bag over one shoulder. She waited until the last person was leaving the container, then she got up and moved as quietly as she could toward the exit.

She got to the exit and looked outside. The container was in a fenced in compound with an archway two visible archways in it. One archway was to her left and the other, ro her right. The archway to her right was the one into which the crates were being carried. The archway on the left seemed free, it was at least 200ft away. One of the Sanelin commander was just a few yards from the from the front of the container’s entrance, but the person had their back to the container.

Lizandra began walking slowly briskly towards the clear archway to her left. She walked more than half the distance to the archway without any problem, then just as she got to it, someone called for her to stop. She immediately broke into a run and she could hear someone chasing after her.

The archway led out to a sidewalk, right next to a busy two-way road. Lizandra kept running, but her bags were slowing her down and soon, a hand gripped her right shoulder strongly. She immediately reached for the elf dagger which was supposed to be at her right thigh, but she felt nothing. “Useless knife!” she exclaimed. The person who’d chased and caught her, spun her around and she saw that it was a Vinish man.

“I didn’t steal anything, I swear it,” the girl spoke immediately. “You may search my bag,” she added. The Vinish man was quite advanced in age, he had a big beard and was built like a fighter. His eyes showed concern, not anger. “I do not call you a thief, my dear,” he stated. “Then let me be on my way,” Lizandra spoke. “But you looked quite bad,” the man stated. “When was the last time you had a meal?” “This morning, before I left my house,” Lizandra lied. “I believe you, but allow me to just give you a little something for a little snack.” As the man spoke, he reached into his pocket and took out three silver coins.

“Buy yourself another meal,” he said with a smile, offering her the money. “I cannot collect your money, sir,” the girl spoke. “I insist,” said the man. Lizandra didn’t want to start arguing with the fellow, so she collected the money. “Thank you, sir,” she spoke. “So, you must be hear to get transport off the planet,” the man said with a smile. “Off the planet?” Lizandra asked. “Are we not on Huberg anymore?” “You are from Huberg?” the man asked back, curiosity visible on his face. “No, I am not,” Lizandra replied immediately, “but I always wished I was.” “I am with the peace corps of the Sanelin army,” the man said proudly. “Sanel is a wonderful nation on Huberg, a Queendom. Our queen is very caring and thus she sends us here to help you people off this dying planet.” “I have heard a lot about Sanel,” Lizandra spoke. “I hear it is one of the best nations on Huberg and its Queen is a most loving soul, but I must go now.” “Are you not in Kullup to get transportation off the planet?” the Vinish man asked. “I am,” Lizandra asked. “Kullup is the capital city of Halo-Bir, am I correct?” she asked. “It is,” the man replied. “How can you not know?” “Oh my parents and I travel a lot and most times they don’t even tell me where we are going to. They say that I should ask around and learn in the process,” she lied. “Smart,” the man commented. “I really should go now,” Lizandra spoke. “I need to catch Madam Lacy’s buns before they sell out.” “Then you’d best hurry off now,” the man said, ” and you just ask for Sergeant Gohen when you and your parents are set to leave the planet and I will personally help you get seats on the next vessel that leaves the ground. With these new Proceron engine vessels, we will be taking people to Huberg and make return for new passengers in just four days.” “I will do as you say sir. Thank you,” Lizandra spoke politely, bowing a little, then the Vinish man turned around and ran back towards the archway leading to the Proceron engine space vessel and its offloaded cargo.

Once she was alone, Lizandra screwed up her face. “I am on Setuh?” she asked herself. Her stomach grumbled and she quickly put her left hand over it. “I’m so hungry,” she spoke. “And I know nothing of how to draw this stupid knife!” “How did everything go so wrong?” She began crying, but through her tears, she saw a taxi coming down the road. She waved the vehicle and it stopped before her.

“I need to get out of the city,” she told the driver once she was already in the vehicle. Her words were said amidst sobs and the driver turned around to look at her. “Everything alright, my lady?” he asked. “I am fine, just drive,” she replied. The man shrugged his shoulders and turned his face forward once more. “Most people are running toward the city and you are looking to get out,” he commented. “Doubt it is the wisest thing to do.” With his words of advice given, the driver moved the car from onto the road once more, whole poor Lizandra welt in the back. “I’m not going back to that house,” she murmured amidst the crying. The driver didn’t even here what she said.

The time now was 18:50 The sun was almost completely disappeared on the horizon. A black SUV stopped at the side of a lonely dirt road. The area was an arid one, with no plants in sight, just rocks, large and small. The road itself ran along and disappeared in the distance.

From the passenger side of the vehicle, Lizandra got down. She turned to the man who was behind the wheel. “I thank you for the ride, sir,” she said. “Are you sure you want to stay out here, all by by yourself?” the man asked. He was a fine specimen of a man, between the ages of twenty-five and twenty-nine. “I can take care of myself,” the girl replied with a smile. “There is a grand hotel not too far ahead,” the man stated. “Why don’t you come with me and you can rest there for the night.” “My mother shall be meeting me here anytime soon,” Lizandra lied. “Very well then,” the man spoke. “I hope you finish whatever you came out here to do and return to Kullup fro transportation off the planet before the storms come.” “Your concern is much appreciated,” the girl replied with a smile. The car drove off, leaving Lizandra alone in this wilderness.

The girl looked around, there was not a single living thing in sight. “This stupid knife won’t come out,” she said, patting the side of her right thigh. “The road goes east, thus so must I, but I cannot stay on the road. If only I had a map.” She turned around and saw a light in the distance. “Campfire,” she spoke. “Perhaps someone there can help me.” “First, I should get into something with more covering.” She went behind a large boulder, set down her bags, opened the travelling bag and took out a pair of leather leggings and her brown leather boots.. She took off her flat shoes and the cotton shorts.

Marco was seated next to a camp fire, a blanket pulls close around him. Tenna was on the otherwise of the campfire, a blanket around her also. There was a large tent behind Tenna and a smaller one behind Marco. The sun had just gone down and Meliss and Amisha were already asleep within the large tent.

Tenna got to her feet now. “I shall be on watch today, Marco,” she stated. “Not while I still draw breath,” Marco replied with a smile. “We have been on this journey for six weeks and always you keep watch,” Tenna complained. “I shall not allow it tonight.” “You ladies are jewels and I would be the stupidest man alive if I do not give you your deserved protection,” Marco stated. “You go in and sleep and let me worry about our protection for as you just admitted, we have been travelling for six weeks with me guarding our nights and nothing has ever gone wrong. We should not ruin this now that we are but a day’s walk away from Kullup.” Tenna thought his words over, they made sense. “You did handle those bandits by yourself the other night and you also dispatched the assassins from the guild before they could even replace our camp,” she spoke. “Perhaps you should do the guarding.”

“I am glad you now see it that way,” Marco replied. “But then, all these sleepless nights have been making you sick a lot,” the fair stated. “I can and have always handled the sickness, haven’t I?” Marco asked. “I admit that you have,” the fairy said Ina deflated voice, “but I still fail to understand why you wouldn’t let us go with you to purchase your medicine in that town we passed.” “All that matters is that I am getting better, Tenna, now go in and sleep.” Tenna yawned and Marco’s smile broadened. “See? Sleep calls you,” he told her. ” Goodnight, Marco,” she said, coming around the fire and bending to kiss his head. “You should not do that,? Marc said immediately, backing away from her lips. “Why not?” the fairy asked. “Meliss and I kiss you every night before we go to bed.”

“I am working on a spell which forbids me making contact with any female once the sun goes down,” he lied. Tenna thought it over for awhile and Marco got scared that she might insist, but she eventually didn’t. “As you say, brother,” she spoke, then went into the large tent. Marco let out a sigh of relief once his fairy sister was gone.

“She would have known I suffer from blood corruption the instant Tenna told her my temperature was about ninety-seven degrees celsius,” he murmured to himself. He looked out in the distance and saw a figure approaching in the distance. “You don’t seem to be making any attempts to come upon our camp unnoticed,” he spoke to himself. He pushed the blanket open and pulled his pistol out from its holster at his side. It was a long pistol, 45cm, made from solid metal and wood coating. It had strange inscriptions on its side which glowed a dull green. It had been a gift from a friend in the guild, a friend who had died some years back. There were smaller and seemingly better guns, but this one had sentimental value and it was a special kind of gun, one that many would kill for. A Sorcerer’s Rifle it was called, for it could fire not just bullets, but magical energy. There weren’t many sorcerer’s rifles left, only one magician had obtained knowledge of the art of making the weapons and he had died without passing it on. Only two hundred were ever made and Marco’s was one of them. Marco held the gun in his laps and pulled the blanket over it once more.

Marco didn’t have to wait top long, before the person approaching their camp, entered the light of their campfire. “You are just a child,” he spoke, surprise on his face. The person who had entered the camp was a girl, she could be no older than sixteen. She was of a light chocolate skin colour. Her black hair was long and it had a thin white streak in it. She was about 5ft 6inches tall and really beautiful. She had a travelling bag hung over her left shoulder and backpack on her back. It was Lizandra Haavik, but Marco had never seen her before in his life and vice versa.

“You are either a very stupid assassin, or a very innocent child,” Marco spoke. “Good evening, sir,” the girl said with a small bow. “I was just hoping that I could pass the night by your campfire, for I do not know how to build my own and the night is very cold.” Marco looked at the girl again from head toe toes. “You would ask such a thing from a stranger?” he asked slowly. “I don’t have much of choice,” she replied. “Where are your parents and why are you traveling away from Kullup instead of towards it?” he asked. “Perhaps we should forget this meeting and I will just go and brave the night on my own. I thank you for your time.”

Lizandra was turning to leave, but Marco called her back. “Wait,” he said. “You are travelling alone on a dying world and moving away from the one place where you might replace free and charged transportation off the planet. You must be running from something, or someone. My family and I are on our way to Kullup and from there, we will pay for passage on a vessel going to Guurjey. Why don’t you come with us and I will protect you if you run into what whatever you are running from in the city.” “I appreciate you offer, sir, but I am going to the next city to meet my mother,” Lizandra lied. “And what is the ne of the next city?” Marco asked her. “I forget it now, but I will come back to me,” she replied and Marco smiled broadly.

Marco brought his sorcerer’s rifle from beneath the blanket and slipped it back into the holster at his side. Lizandra’s eyes widened at the sight of the gun. “You are no threat,” Marco spoke, “just a little girl who knows nothing about how to tell lies.” Marco looked to the girl. “The closest settlement to Kullup is not a city, but a town, Osmo,” he spoke. “Its the only town in the whole Holydoma of Halo-bir and no one can forget its name. You are not going to meet any one there, especially not your mother, for no mother would encourage her girl to make a five day walking journey from Kullup to Osmo on her own.” Lizandra knew she’d been found out, but she couldn’t give this youngman her true story. She couldn’t trust him.

“I know how to get to Osmo fast and my mother does not know that I am coming there,” she lied. “You probably plan on hitching rides every day and getting off just before the sun goes down,” Marco spoke. “This way, you will never be caught in the car with a stranger under the cover of night, but what I believe you failed to think of is WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE DRIVER REFUSES TO LET YOU GET OFF WHEN YOU ASK IT OF HER, or more dangerously, HIM?” Lizandra was silent now, his question had occurred to her before, but she had decided to never confront it.

“Who are you talking to out there?” came Tenna’s voice from within the large tent, followed by her emerging into the open night. “This is a little girl who seems to be running from something and happens to be a rather awful liar,” Marco said in reply to his fairy sister’s question. Tenna looked at Lizandra and the girl vibrated visibly with fear. She saw the fairy’s white eyes on the red background that was her skin and all the jewellery on her. The sight was utterly new to Lizandra and terrifying. She backed away from the campsite, her eyes still fixed on Tenna’s.

“Marco noticed the fear on the girl’s face and he got to his feet. “You never saw a fairy before?′ he asked, but the girl could nor bring herself to utter a word. “The poor child,” Tenna said, moving toward Lizandra, but the girl tried backing away too quickly, almost running backwards and she fell over. Lizandra with her right hand, began scratching at the outer side of her right thigh, where the elf dagger tattoo was, hoping frantically to be able to draw the weapon, but to no avail. Tenna stopped in her tracks. “I mean you no harm,” she spoke. “You may never have seen a fairy, but I doubt anyone ever told you we were a bad race either, did they?” Lizandra shook her head slowly from side to side, her hand relaxing at her side now.

Tenna came forward and offered the girl a helping hand. Lizandra looked first at the hand, then ar the fairy’s face and finally at the hand once more. “If I had the intent of harming you, I would do it wether you were standing or on the floor,” the fairy pointed out. Lizandra reached forward and took Tenna’s hand and the fairy pulled her to her feet. Marco came over to where the girl stood now.

“On the ground there, you kept clawing at your right thigh like you were trying to get something off it.,” Marco told the girl. “I have seen someone do that before. He believed was going to hurt him trying to draw a seemingly concealed weapon. An Elf Guard Blade, he called it.” “Is that what you were reaching for?” he asked the girl, his interest piqued. Lizandra took two steps back from Marco. “You need not be afraid, dear,” Tenna told the girl. “My brother just greatly admires magic and the races that possess great use of it.” “Your brother?” Lizandra asked the fairy, very surprised. “We took a blood oath,” the fairy simply replied, bur the presence of confusion still on Lizandra’s face told her that the girl did not know what a blood oath was. “We drank each others blood before the gods and and swore to become siblings until death,” Tenna explained and Lizandra’s face relaxed.

“I dabble in magic myself,” Marco said, raising his sleeves and showing her his green glowing veins. “I injected myself with elf and fairy blood,” he said in explanation of his glowing veins. “Now tell me, do you have an elf guard blade at you side or not?” Lizandra looked suspiciously at the youngman. “I will be able to help you know how it is used,” Marco added. “You can trust him,” Tenna informed the girl. “If any of us meant you any harm and you do have an elf guard blade, it would let you know,” Marco stated.

Lizandra thought the matter over. Could she trust these people? If she didn’t, they could overpower her anyway. Plus, the man had said he could help her learn how to use the elf dagger and she desperately needed to know that. “Yes, I think I have this elf guard blade you speak of,” she finally spoke. “I thought as much,” Marco spoke. “You do not use it to fight the way you just tried to,” he went on. “It fights for you when you are in danger, by bringing forth a light elf warrior which has been been infused into it.” “What?!!” both Lizandra and Tenna asked un unison.

“See, the elves create a warrior out of light and infuse it into a weapon. The weapon once pressed against someone’s skin, will vanish, no matter how big and appear as only a tattoo of itself on the part of the body against which it was pressed. If the person is in danger, then the elf warrior springs forth with the weapon in its hand and defends the person. The weapon can only be recalled from the body by an elf mage. How did you get one?” “It was given to me by an elf lord,” Lizandra replied. “You know an elf lord?” Tenna asked her. “Was it elf lord Tuyer Fokam?” Marco asked and Lizandra immediately turned to him with surprise in her eyes. “How did you know?!” she asked sharply. “I knew you were from another world,” Marco said triumphantly.

“That is a lie,” Lizandra argued, anger on her face. “You are from planet Huberg,” Marco stated. “Elf lord Tuyer of Meryn fled there with his people. They went to a country called Sanel, a Queendom.” “That is a lie!!” Lizandra shouted, tears coming to her eyes. “Stop talking, Marco,” Tenna told her brother, then put her arms around the girl. “Please don’t cry,” she told the girl, caressing her. “It’s not true,” Lizandra said, starting to cry now. “I am not from Sanel.” “I did not mean to make you cry, dear,” Marco spoke. “Forgive me.”

Meliss and Amisha came out from the tent now. “What is going on out here?” Meliss asked. “Who is that?” Amisha asked, referring to Lizandra. “She is an innocent, lost child and Marco made her cry,” Tenna replied, giving her brother a stern look. “Get away from her!” Meliss said sharply, rushing forward and tearing Tenna away from the crying girl. Lizandra stood alone and put her hands over her face. “Meliss?!” Marco called in a reprimanding voice, moving to Lizandra and putting his arms about the girl. “The guild is trying to kill us, they train their assassins from childhood and that is a child,” Melisa explained. “She is not an assassin, Meliss,” Tenna stated. “The girl doesn’t even know how to draw the only weapon she has on her,” Marco added.

“We can’t trust anyone, Marco,” Meliss stated. “She is just a child, Meliss,” Amisha spoke, going to stand next to the crying child. “I made my first kill at the age of thirteen,” Meliss stated. “That girl is no less than fifteen. We are even letting out guard down at this moment. Anyone could sneak up on us.” Meliss drew two small pistols from her side and began looking around frantically.

“I will not let this child suffer such treatment from you, Meliss,” Tenna said sharply. The fairy took Lizandra out of her brother’s arms and led her towards the large tent’s entrance. Meliss stepped into her sister’s path. “What are you doing, Tenna?” Meliss asked in a low tone. “Helping a child the way no one would help us when we were her age,” Tenna replied. Meliss stood still for about five seconds, everyone watching her. “I am going in with you,” she finally said, then turned and went into the tent. Tenna followed after her sister, Lizandra at her side.

Amisha and Marco stood outside after the others had gone into the tent with a crying Lizandra. “I should go with them,” Amisha said. Marco turned to her. “I want to help the girl get off Setuh, before the storms come, my love,” he told her. “You know I would never let a child be left to what is coming,” Amisha stated. “You should go to her,” Marco spoke. Amisha smiled. “You are so beautiful,” he told her. “You should take that beauty inside lest it distract my watching for enemies.” Amisha laughed, then Marco kissed her.

The kiss was a Long one, lasting over twenty seconds. Amisha finally pulled back her lips and smiled. I should go into the tent now, before an enemy sneaks up on us,” she said. “Go ahead,” he told her. She gave him a quick kiss, then went into the tent.