Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Eagle Eyes

Chapter 18

Eagle Eyes

The only range of motion that Alex had thus unlocked was craning his neck at a small, awkward angle and lifting his right arm by a few centimeters for a fraction of a second.

And that’s about it.

He didn’t know how that’d be enough to sneak out of his apartment.

Sneaking out of his own apartment. There’s something he never thought he’d do after moving out of his parents’ place.

And he absolutely never thought he’d be doing it with an alien ice witch of all people.

No, wait. She wasn’t an ‘ice witch’ yet, right? Alex had gathered at least this much from her exchanges with the Knights of Cahrim so far; and from what she’d told Clark during their battle with the demon ape.

So what was she, then? An ice sorcerer? A frost mage?

Freaking Elsa?

Alex had no idea about the kind of ranking system or power hierarchy her planet adhered to. But whatever she was, she definitely had some crazy moves up her sleeve.

Just look at poor Malti down there, resting peacefully on his cozy snow bed.

He seemed to be a good, pure-hearted, innocent kind of guy. Tricking him like that was cold, no doubt about that. And Alex could tell that it absolutely wasn’t easy for Kairin to do.

Yet, she did it anyway. Perhaps because it had to be done.

She must firmly believe that they were in some real danger.

Well, he, at least. Alex reminded himself.

Kairin scanned his body carefully, assessing the damage as best as she could. She then whispered to him, “Wait here!”

No problems there, Kairin! Alex thought.

She then tip-toed toward the main door. A transparent bubble-shaped mist cloud emerged from one of her hands and escaped through the gap at the bottom of the door, before solidifying into a reflective surface.

A mirror made of mist? Impressive. She was using it to scout outside.

Alex remained where he was, as he’d been commanded to. Not like he had much choice in the matter.

It felt like they were breaking out of some top-secret government facility. Kairin was being surprisingly cautious, while also clearly feeling desperate to escape from her own people.

Why the desperation, though? What did the knights actually want from him?

From all that had happened so far, it was clear that the Cahrim Knights’ only mission was to bring their princess home, safe and sound. Which is why they only interfered with the demon ape fight once Kairin intentionally put herself in mortal danger.

But running into someone like Alex was a complication.

So they must consult with their council, and bring him along to their planet, too. Or finish him off right here and now, if that’s what the council commanded.

Someone like him… What did that mean exactly?

They seemed to refer to him quite disdainfully; especially the archer, Jovar. And then, even the kind-hearted medic knight Malti, who had actually been the one keeping him alive so far.

They spoke about him as though he was some kind of a villain.

They were nuts. Didn’t they see him fight the demon ape? Granted, he got beaten to a pulp. But he gave it his best, and then some!

Why didn’t they just make quick work of the ape as soon as he spawned was beyond Alex. Master Korne was certainly powerful enough for the task, if he had given his hundred percent from the start.

Did they not care that so many innocent people died senselessly?

Was protecting human lives not a priority for the esteemed Knights of Cahrim?

Maybe they didn’t think much of Earthlings, after all. Maybe we were nothing but low forms of life—kaltoks, as Jovar had so elegantly put—who didn’t deserve much attention, even when being mercilessly slaughtered by a foe well beyond our mettle; or understanding, even.

Alex could entertain this point of view, just for the sake of argument. After all, how many times in a day do we bother about a spider feasting on a buffet of ants and flies?

But it still made him mad.

Is that where humanity lay in the context of the galaxy? A bunch of insignificant insects who could just be ignored, even when being feasted upon by monsters we barely knew even existed until a few days ago?

Were we really that inconsequential… on a galactic scale?

The ape wasn’t feeding on us, though. It was killing us. For fun.

For sport.

It was all a game to it.

This made Alex even madder.

No point to that either. He probably was going to be executed soon, once the council gave its go ahead to Master Korne.

So much for jumping in to the fight without thinking about the consequences, huh?

Classic Alex.

It was like hee…you had learned nothing!

The voice morphed into his own. And the darkness came along with it.

No… not again… not now…

“Alex!” Kairin shook him, speaking in an urgent whisper. “Alex, you with me?”

In a snap, the voice was gone, and so was the darkness.

Alex met her eyes and craned his neck up and down, ever so slightly.

“Good,” she whispered. “You’re gonna feel a slight chill now, but nothing too sharp, okay? Just… just warning you.”

A thin film of piercing cold ice crept in the microscopic space between Alex and the couch. The sharp chill pierced through his thin t-shirt and sent a shiver down his entire body while his muscles twitched reflexively.

Slight chill, huh?

Good news though, at least his nerves were reacting to stimuli. Which means they weren’t completely crushed; or they’d been healed back.

To regain control of his body, all he had to do was remember! Remember… how to connect with them again.

The thin sheet of ice progressively grew thicker and curled around Alex from either side.

A bed of ice.

Or, you know, more like a stretcher.

Was she planning to roll him out of here on this?

This was the opposite of being inconspicuous.

Alex hoped she succeeds though, for his own sake.

The bed of ice floated off the couch and followed Kairin closely as she snuck out of the open door.

“No way Master Korne would be back from his meditation any time soon,” Kairin told him. “Communicating as far as Cahrim is no joke, when not using the galactic channels.”

She sounded like she was reassuring herself more than she was Alex.

Wait a second though. Alex just made the connection.

Was Master Korne communicating while meditating? Was meditation a means of interstellar communication?

That was genuinely cool.

He must ask Kairin more about this once his voice returns.

“The real question is,” said Kairin. “Where are the others?”

“They must be returning now,” she continued talking to herself as they steathily made their way through the lobby outside his apartment. “Which means they will use the ascender.”

She pressed the button on the ascen—dammit, the elevator—and rushed behind a corner on the other end of the elevator lobby, such that now, the elevator and the stairs adjacent to it were between them and Alex’s front door. Alex’s floating bed of ice closely followed suit.

She peeked around the corner and waited for the ascender to arrive.

Elevator, dammit! Elevator!

Alex’s apartment door was shut. They would only realize that Alex and Kairin were gone once they entered through it.

Did Kairin plan to shut them in?

Not a bad plan.

But these guys could punch through concrete. How long was a meagre apartment door going to hold them in?

Hopefully long enough to put some distance between them, perhaps? That’s probably what Kairin had in mind.

The elevator arrived with a loud Ding! The doors opened slowly.

Alex and Kairin held their breaths.

Just as Kairin had predicted, Jovar and Kormac emerged through the elevator doors.

Kairin quickly raised two of her fingers to her chin, similar to how Malti had done earlier, when concealing them from the demon ape.

White mist appeared around them, encompassing both Kairin and the bed of ice completely.

They were hidden.

“I don’t even know what they drink for replenishment here,” said Kormac. “This primitive planet is so cut off from the world, they have nothing that’s worth anything. I am so drained. I could kill for a snow drop.”

“I’ve got a couple vials left,” said Jovar. “If you want them.”

“Jovar, you lifesaver!” Kormac gave him a wide smile. These two seemed to have reconciled. “And here I thought you would’ve drained them all already like the greedy bastard that you are.”

Perhaps not.

“I’m not an animal, like you,” Jovar snapped back.

Kormac smirked. “I’ll let that slide for now, but only for the snow drops. Don’t think I’ve gone sweet on you or anything.”

Jovar’s eyes twitched as he cringed. “You’re a buffoon, Kormac. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“Only you.”

Jovar scoffed. “You’re only getting half a vial.”

“They should try you for torture.” Kormac turned the handle on the apartment door, but it didn’t budge. “What the?”

Jovar sniffed and looked around. “Something’s wrong. Break it open.”

No, thought Alex. Please don’t! I’ll lose the deposit.

Kormac kicked the door down effortlessly. Alex mentally sighed.

“Malti!” Kormac shouted and rushed inside. “Malti, wake up!”

Jovar remained outside and looked around. His gaze swept every inch of the lobby, even the ceiling, until it reached them and came to a halt.

Kairin held her breath.

Alex could’ve sworn he was looking straight into his eyes.

His face turned curious.

Shit. Could he actually see them through the mist veil?

Kormac sprang out of the door. “Let’s go, Jovar!” he said, tapping the archer on the shoulder, distracting him away from Alex and Kairin.

“I’m sorry guys…” Malti emerged, limping out the door, still in a daze. “I’m really sorry!”

“Go with Kormac and search the grounds,” Jovar commanded Malti. “I’ll take the roof.”

Malti followed Kormac down the stairs.

Jovar took one final look in Alex and Kairin’s direction, shook his head, and stepped inside the ascender.

Alex cursed the fact that his apartment complex had backup generators. If only he would’ve been forced to take the stairs, it’d be a while before he would get all the way to the roof.

Or maybe he could just jump the whole way up, like he did when fighting the ape.

“Shit!” said Kairin. “I thought they would both head down and we’d take the ascender to the roof and escape from there, before Jovar jumps up to it. Shit!

“This palace is huge. Is there another rooftop we can use? Perhaps a rampart that can lead us farther away from Jovar?” she asked Alex.

Alex nodded. With the greatest effort and struggle, he pointed at a door behind them with his eyes.

“Let’s go, then!” said Kairin.

Kairin sprinted down the lobby toward the south wing. The bed of ice carried Alex through the air effortlessly.

A smooth, frictionless ride.

What he wouldn’t give to have something like this around when he was a kid!

They reached the ascend—elevator on the south wing and called it. Once in, they remained perfectly silent, their gaze glued to the closed door, as though expecting it to open unexpectedly, any second, with Master Korne standing on the other side.

Ding! and they were on the roof.

Kairin bent low and made her way through cover. She made a “get down” gesture with her hand, and the bed of ice descended, almost touching the ground.

They stealthily made their way to the edge of the roof in front of them, but before they could reach it, closer to the edge on their left, they saw—

Master Korne!

Alex’s heart froze.

But only for a second. He soon digested the fact that Master Korne was still in deep meditation.

Kairin seemed confused to have found him here instead of the other roof. But she didn’t dare utter a sound.

A faint but visible aura surrounded Master Korne. Strange, shiny, icicles swirled around his head. He sat with his face toward the moon and his back toward them, so Alex couldn’t see whether his eyes were open or shut, or blank like the demon ape’s had been; but he was curious.

The bed of ice was back into gear and followed Kairin as she silently made her way away from Master Korne.

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Instead of walking straight toward the edge in front of them, she now took the long way around, putting as much distance between them and Master Korne first as possible.

Once reaching the edge all the way across, farthest away from the one Master Korne was at, Kairin stopped and looked down.

She took a deep breath and looked at Alex. “You may not enjoy this. But get ready.”

Get ready? For WHAT?

She climbed up the parapet and jumped straight down, with the bed of ice still following suit.

Alex’s heart sank in his chest. It was the same as being on a roller coaster shooting down its rails at maximum speed.

Except without the safety bars and belts. There was nothing on the ice bed that he could hold on to except for his dear life.

And yet, the bed kept him perfectly centered.

Alex peeked to his side. Kairin was falling alongside him, but was gracefully rested on a small bed of snow cloud herself, that must have conjured under her after she had jumped.

They descended downward at breakneck speed. Alex was sure she had the ability to slow their rate of descent.

But then, why wasn’t she doing it?!

Alex hated roller coasters.

Once having dropped forty-or-so storeys, both floating beds abruptly halted the descent and swiftly shot horizontally forward into a dark alley across the street.

Alex glanced at the decrepit windows flying past them. The north and west side of Sol City was not hit as hard as the south and the east, but the houses here were still abandoned.

The people who used to live in them had either escaped in time, or…

Alex dreaded thinking about how many had died senselessly in the past few days.

Instead, he thought that the people who used to live in these abandoned homes had simply chosen to live on the streets, out in the open, amongst a big group; rather than being stuck inside a building that could collapse at any time.

Yeah… hopefully that.

They emerged out of the alley, and went straight into the next one, without slowing down. Since they could see that the second alley opened into a wide street, Kairin slowed down to a stop before they were out, and gracefully stepped off her snow cloud, which quickly dispersed.

The bed of ice gently floated close to her.

“I wish we could continue traveling this fast,” she said to Alex. “But we can’t risk attracting too much attention.”

“Jovar must have reached the rooftops before we did,” Kairin continued. “But I think we were able to escape his eagle eyes due to the fast drop. I also made sure the concealing mist covered us as we fell; so, if he didn’t see us in the hallway before, he definitely didn’t see us falling through the air so fast, so far away from him.”

Again, she sounded like she was reassuring herself more than she was conveying information to Alex.

“It’s surprising that he almost saw through it though, earlier,” said Kairin. “Damn eagle eyes!” She continued in a doubtful tone. “Or maybe I just didn’t cast it right…”

Kairin shook her head. “It was still a gamble,” she breathed. “But it worked.”

She peeked out of the corner at the alley’s exit and carefully checked both ends of the wide street.

From what Alex could see, this street was packed with people. Tents adorned the sidewalk. Several barrels were in the middle of the street, intentionally placed, surrounded by countless broken-down cars. A soothing fire crackled inside the barrels and through the cars’ open hoods.

“No way we can make it through here with the ice bed,” Kairin whispered. “Unless… you can move…?”

Alex remained motionless. A slight nod was something he could manage, albeit not without struggle, but shaking his head was out of the question for now.

Kairin got the message. “We’ll have to risk eagle eyes, then. Come on!”

They walked back inside the alley and stopped at a fairly dark spot. Then, the snow cloud swooped her off her feet and they both began their slow ascent.

Kairin’s fingers were close to her mouth again, in the same familiar sign. A veil of mist circled them as they went up.

“It’s not very effective when we move,” Kairin explained. “But some invisibility is better than no invisibility, I guess.”

They soon reached the top of the ten-storey building. Kairin got off her snow cloud, but she still held her fingers close to her mouth, sustaining the mist cloud around them.

“This is how we travel, then,” said Kairin. “From rooftop to rooftop of these shorter buildings. Slowly, and partially concealed. Okay?”

She looked at Alex expecting a response, but then quickly gave up when she realized it was hopeless. “I wish your body would recover sooner!”

Yes, Kairin. I wish the same!

“Malti says it could be a while,” said Kairin. “But he also said you wouldn’t regain consciousness for a week. As good of a healer that he is, I think he’s wrong about you. I think you’ll get better sooner than he thinks. The only question is whe—”

SWOOSH!

Kairin suddenly stopped and stumbled backward on her feet, almost losing balance. The bed of ice abruptly came to a halt right behind her.

The ground just ahead of them had cracked.

A long, smooth arrow made of gleaming blue ice struck it from an elevated angle. It froze the concrete at its point of contact.

“Damn eagle eyes!” Kairin cursed and turned to look.

From somewhere far behind, southwest of him, which is where his apartment building should be, Alex faintly heard another shot go off.

Kairin jumped out of the way and pulled Alex’s bed of ice away from the line of fire with her hand.

Why was she physically moving it out of the way?

The quick follow-up attack seemed to have caught her by surprise, dislodged her focus.

Or was there something in the arrows? Some magic-numbing powder that it had emitted?

Can’t be… something like that should have dispelled the bed of ice too.

Alex forced his brain to stop speculating. It wasn’t like he had any idea on how ice sorcery worked on Kairin’s world, or any other planet for that matter.

The crater caused by the second shot, on the ground that Kairin was standing on just a few moments ago, was much larger and wider than the one caused by the shot before.

The arrow itself was shorter, but looked far fiercer than the first one.

The magic ice that it was made of, and the cold mist emanating from it, felt different somehow. Cruder.

Kairin and Alex hid behind a small concrete wall. Another arrow, a large one this time around, smashed onto the other side of the wall they were cowering behind.

The same crude mist splashed over to the front.

“Damn Jovar,” Kairin breathed. “I didn’t know you were this serious about the mission!”

The mission is to bring the princess home alive, Jovar!

There were no further arrow attacks for a small while. The night turned dead calm. A sinister silence fell around them as they tried to anticipate when the next attack would come.

“We cannot move out,” said Kairin. “Not with his eagle eyes keeping watch.”

Damn this guy! Wasn’t he on the fiftieth floor or something? And a good three to four blocks away?

How was he landing such precise shots?

Eagle eyes!

He must have some genetic propensity, or mutation, or maybe a spell, or something!

How were they going to get out of here now?

Dammit! If only he could move!

A large arrow smashed into the concrete behind them with way too much force, much greater than the one fired earlier. A charged shot! Alex was sure that it had halved the wall’s width.

“Damn you, Jovar!” Kairin yelped. “You want to get serious, huh? Sure, then. I’ll show you serious.”

She made the same, familiar sign with her fingers that summoned the veil of mist around her and carefully stood up.

She was only partially concealed by the wall, which was crumbling.

But the invisibility must work much better now, compared to when they were on the move.

Kairin closed her eyes and spread her arms. The mist veiled sustained itself even though she wasn’t holding the sign up. In a couple seconds, she rose a few inches above ground.

Oh shit!

It was the same spell she used against the demon ape.

Blizzard.

But hadn’t she just learnt it?

She didn’t seem to care. A bright blue light, swirling with magic mist, glowed from the center of her chest and under her feet. Her eyes were blank; not too different from the demon ape’s during berserk mode.

Cold winds blew from behind Kairin. Above them, a strangely thick, faintly glowing mist covered the night sky.

This was completely different than what she’d done before to the demon ape.

Wind speed increased violently by the second. Snow had already begun to gather on the parapets of the rooftop. The yellow glow coming from the streets disappeared as, surely, the numerous fires in the barrels and the emptied car hoods were snuffed out, all at once.

The fierce blizzard now covered both the snowy ground and the dark sky.

The thick layer of mist that hovered a few feet above them had now expanded to an area covering ten, maybe fifteen, blocks; concealing them, presumably, from the frost archer fifty storeys above.

“Try spotting us through that!” said Kairin, smirking at the sky above, facing the roof of Alex’s apartment building.

“I knew it!” She jumped in place in celebration for a couple seconds, clapping excitedly, proud of herself that she had finally been able to pull it off. “I knew I’d gotten the hang of it the moment I was able to call forth the Blizzard against that ape!”

“Come on, Alex,” she said and began to run. The bed of ice followed. “We don’t have much time!”

The concealing mist that she had cast when carefully standing up now expanded to house Alex within it.

Once they reached the edge of the roof, Kairin jumped off once again.

Oh no, thought Alex. Roller coaster round two!

But it wasn’t that. Thankfully!

Small platforms of ice appeared in the air at the exact spot where Kairin placed her feet. She was practically walking through air, hopping off each of the miniature magic-ice platforms with graceful ease, as the bed of ice closely followed suit. The concealing mist remained circling around them.

“He can’t see us through the thick mist, even with his eagle eyes!” Kairin shouted. “Plus, he has no idea which way we went!” She added excitedly. “If he did, he would have taken a shot already to try and break through the mold, that eager bastard!”

They went from rooftop to rooftop with Kairin hopping through ice platforms appearing and disappearing under her feet with rhythmic accuracy, and the floating bed of ice effortlessly carrying Alex across.

“The concealing mist is for the people below us,” she explained. “We don’t wanna raise too many eyebrows now, do we? Good thing they’re distracted by the blizzard. I promise I’ll dispel it as soon as we’re a safe distance away.”

Once they were sufficiently far away, as judged by Kairin, they took cover behind a tall wall once again.

“Okay, Alex,” she said. “I need you to try your hardest to move a few muscles and point me to exactly where your friends live. We need to find some safe shelter, and your house is clearly no longer an option. I’m sure they’d understand and not mind the intrusion, yes?”

She waited for a response. Alex managed the slightest nod.

“Good!” she said. “Perfect. Now, point me in the right direction.”

North! thought Alex. If only he could move his arm!

Alex tried. But the arm would only raise a few millimeters, before collapsing. He tried to point north with just his fingers, but he could only move it by a quarter of an inch.

“North?” asked Kairin. She seemed to have guessed by the slight change in her fingers. “This isn’t going to work. You can’t navigate like this!”

No shit, Kairin!

“Here.” She brought her iPad-like device out from one of her pockets. “It’s the map of the city and its surrounding areas. Point it out to me here.”

It was the map of Sol City all right. But it was incredibly detailed; much, much more than anything mere Earthlings were used to.

Alex focused hard on lifting his index finger. Miniscule puffs of steam puffed out of its base and tip.

Movement. Finally!

Kairin brought the device closer to his trembling finger. Alex managed to touch the cliff where Clark’s mansion was.

“Perfect, Alex! Good job!” She sounded like a nurse praising a little kid for getting through his shots without screaming. “Let’s keep moving now!”

They continued hopping from rooftop to rooftop at impressive speed, as the thick mist above continued to veil them from the frost archer, and the concealing mist circling them kept them invisible to the people below.

As they flew through the cold sky, Alex felt more of his movement return.

He was able to crane his neck now, and move his right wrist slightly. He looked down to see them move effortlessly past the military blockade at the north exit.

What a way to dodge the military’s robot guard dogs! Just fly over them.

Alex was surprised how he wasn’t frostbitten yet, flying through the night sky in a magical blizzard at considerable speed, wearing a thin t-shirt while rested upon a literal bed of ice.

He should have frozen to death.

But, somehow, the strange heat housed within his body fought against the cold and kept him warm.

The same heat that had erupted in violent flames against the demon ape.

Just what was he exactly?

They soon arrived on the cliff at the back of the mansion, the same one that Alex had jumped off of with Clark and Blob just a few hundred years ago.

Kairin landed gracefully on the dirt. She seemed to have done this several times before.

And why not? Alex would only travel like this if he could.

Once they were past the bench and through the bushes, a large garden lamp suddenly turned on ahead of them. The sudden, blinding light forced Kairin to shield her eyes with her own hands, and Alex’s eyes with a small block of opaque ice that conjured out of thin air right in front of him.

The lamp went out as quickly as it had turned on.

A robotic voice spoke through what Alex presumed was a motion camera attached to the mansion wall. “Sorry about that! I saw you guys flying in only a couple minutes ago, but totally forgot about the motion lights.”

Alex knew this voice all too well.

Clark!

“Go around and come inside through the front door,” said Clark. “I’ll wake the others.”

A neon red holographic arrow appeared in front of them, pointing them in the right direction.

Kairin looked impressed. “He’s good with high-tech stuff, huh?”

Lady, you have no idea.

“Oh, and,” came Clark’s voice through the camera speaker once again. “Make a run for it please; especially you, ice witch. If you run into a boy about yay-high, just nab him. You’re allowed to use magic. Go quick!”

Clark drew a holographic figure of a short human in the air ahead of them.

Aiden? Or someone else?

A thief?

“Quick, he’s almost out the front door!” yelled Clark. “There’s no time to waste!”

They bolted through the stone path that led to the front entrance after charting a wide curve around the front lawn. They could have cut straight to the main door if they went through the lawn, but Kairin refused to step on such beautifully-kept grass—her words after she first set eyes on them. So they went all the way around, sticking to the stone pathway.

She seemed to have great respect and admiration for vegetation. Understandable, since she did come from an ice planet.

Besides, taking the wide path also helped them better intercept whoever it was that was going to emerge out of the front door; the one they were supposed to nab.

All lights were off, which meant that the vast expanse of land on this side of the mansion was pitch dark.

Alex still didn’t understand what was going on.

They reached the end of the curved path and stood facing the front entrance straight ahead, with the northern forest behind them.

Then, suddenly, all the lights in the mansion turned on. A warm, welcoming glow illuminated the expansive grounds before it and the two lawns close to the front entrance on either side.

For some inexplicable reason, Alex felt like he’d returned home.

The lights also illuminated a dangly teenager sneaking out of the mansion, barely a few paces away from the front door, accompanied by what looked like a robot puppy.

Aiden.

And blob.

All four of them stopped in their tracks for a second after noticing one another.

After a brief second that he took to recognize them, Aiden excitedly gasped “Alex!”

The robot puppy bolted toward them, barking and wagging its metal tail merrily. Kairin was momentarily spooked into a defensive stance at first, but she quickly eased up.

Good boy, thought Alex as the blob clung to the sides of the ice bed with his metal paws. I missed you too.

Aiden ran toward them as well. “Alex, what the hell happened to you?!” he said after noticing the ice bed. “And you!” he said to Kairin. “You’re that ice witch lady who saved us from the ape, aren’t you?”

“Guilty,” said Kairin, smiling. “Not an ice witch yet though,” she muttered inaudibly.

Aiden stared at Alex and the ice bed, trying to make sense of it all. “You don’t look so good. Why aren’t you walking? Did they break your legs?”

Alex couldn’t manage a sound.

“His whole body is still healing from his fight with the demon ape,” Kairin responded for him. “The monster got him pretty bad. He can barely move, if at all.”

“My god…” He eyed Alex’s body in awe of the fact that there was anything left at all. “Did you rescue him from the kidnappers?” Aiden asked Kairin.

“I, uh…” Kairin hesitated. “Yeah… yes, you could say that.”

Aiden looked impressed. “Thank you, ice witch lady!”

“Name’s Kairin,” she said to Aiden, who acknowledged with a nod. The weird-sounding name did catch him off guard though.

“Shit, this looks bad, huh?” said Lucy suddenly appearing beside Aiden, nodding at Alex; a futuristic smartwatch glowed blue on her wrist.

Aiden was jump scared. “Thought you were asleep,” he timidly said to Lucy.

“Thought you were too,” she snapped at him. “Your foot’s no good, you dimwit! I told you to wait until morning and we’ll go look for him together.”

“And I told you he could be dead by then!”

“Good catch,” came Clark’s voice, directed at Kairin, desperately trying to change the subject. So Aiden was his target after all. “Why does everyone think they can sneak out of my house is beyond me. I’m an advanced—way-too advanced—artificial general intelligence, you know? I’ve got eyes everywhere!”

“How did he get out the door, then?” Lucy asked him.

“I was distracted,” said Clark. “But only for a bit! And my own partner’s now turned on me, as you know.”

The robot blob acknowledged with a scornful growl.

“I’ll get to you in a bit,” said Lucy to Aiden sternly. She then turned to Alex, “What happened to you? Why are you… ice-bedridden?”

“Blink twice if you’re in danger, Alex,” said Clark. He waited for a second, then said, “Looks like he’s not in danger.”

If only he knew that Alex couldn’t do so even if he wanted to. He could only blink once every fifteen seconds or so.

“He can’t talk, guys,” said Kairin nervously. “Or move. He um… I promise you—he wasn’t put in this state by my guard.”

“So the ones who took him, they were your people?” asked Lucy, confused.

“Yes,” said Kairin. “They’re here as my royal guard and… uh… well, there’s been a misunderstanding…”

“Royal guard?! Are you a princess or something?” asked Aiden.

“Yes, actually,” Kairin said plainly. “Of Cahrim.”

“Cahrim?” Clark sounded intrigued. “I know the planet. Beautiful, lush, ice sheets everywhere. Snowclad mountains everywhere your eyes can see. Glaciers and glass palaces.”

“Sounds about right,” said Kairin. “Have you been there?”

“Nah,” said Clark. “Just reading a tourist review.”

“Oh,” said Kairin awkwardly.

“If you don’t mind me asking, princess,” Lucy eyed her suspiciously, “What sort of misunderstanding made them kidnap our friend here?”

“I will explain everything, once we’re inside,” said Kairin. She clearly looked uneasy.

Was she worried that they could still find them? Here?

“How about you explain now?” said Lucy firmly.

“Look, I know what this looks like, and I know you mean well,” said Kairin. “But I promise you, we didn’t hurt him. In fact, it was us who kept him alive!”

“So why are you here now?” Lucy was adamant. “What happened to your friends? My apologies, your royal guard?”

“We had to escape from them… because…” Kairin struggled to explain. “I’m sorry it’s just too complicated. And I don’t know how much you know, and—”

“You can start from the beginni—”

Lucy was cut off.

A lasso shot from behind them and wrapped itself around Alex’s bed of ice. A lasso made of ice.

A second later, Alex was pulled away from the others and toward the edge of the dark northern woods.

A mysterious figure held the reins. Someone Alex had never seen before. But he wore the same kind of armor that the other knights of Cahrim had on when fighting the demon ape.

Kairin’s eyes followed Alex as he was swept away, and she turned around in shock.

“Hello princess,” said the mysterious knight. “Long time no see!”

“Dale!” Kairin gasped. “This means…”

Other figures emerged through the woods.

Alex recognized the brute Kormac, the medic knight Malti, and the mysterious wizard leader of the party, Master Korne.

There was another knight that Alex had never seen before. He presumed that was the other twin, since he had a striking resemblance to the one who had just lassoed Alex away.

The frost archer who was shooting at them in Sol City, Jovar, was missing. He was probably keeping watch from a tree in the distance.

The twin holding the lasso smirked at Kairin. “You didn’t really think we couldn’t track you, did you?”