Chapter 46: Chapter 46

ISABELLE

As she ran through the forest, the beast never wavered from its position at her side. Ahead, through the tree trunks, she saw a brighter section of forest, and the beast gave a soft growl.

She stopped, breathing hard, and the black creature moved its head in another direction as if to say, “Let’s go this way instead.”

She crouched down as shadows moved ahead of her in the filtered moonlight. She dove to the ground and watched as she saw three guards walking toward her. The beast lay next to her, its yellow eyes focused on the men, and its large nostrils twitching.

“How about you clear me a path, big guy?” she said to it.

Silently, it rose to its immense feet and, flexing its claws, leaped into the nearest tree.

As the guards moved closer, the beast gave no warning as it dropped down behind them and quickly spun.

The clubbed end of its tail smashed two men off their feet, and its claws opened up the third with a single swipe that nearly tore the man in half.

It came back to her, casually, and sat down next to her. It gave her a look that Izzy understood as “There you go.”

She smiled at it, tempted to give it a pat on the head before she stood up and moved quietly again, past the mauled remains of the guards. She felt sadness for them. They were just following orders.

~They didn’t deserve to die like this because of one crazy woman. No more killing,~ she told herself. She wasn’t going to start her rule like this.

“Iz!” She heard a voice come from the darkness. She knew that voice, and the only person in this world who would call her that. ~Amy.~

She spun around quickly, frowning when she couldn’t see anything. Her giant protector stood up again and began to growl toward a part of the forest that looked no different from the rest.

“Rippers on,” she heard Amy say.

“Whoa, there,” she said, looking back and forth between the empty air where Amy’s voice came from and the growling black beast.

The fur on his shoulders rose into the air, and its bloodied claws dug into the soft loam of the forest floor.

“No one is killing anyone. Easy, big boy,” she said. It looked at her, and then at the trees again. It calmed and sat down next to her.

“Rippers off.”

Izzy turned to the sound of the voice and saw Amy blink into existence as if teleported, wearing some kind of lightly armored suit.

She ran for Amy and wrapped her arms around her neck, feeling hard metal under her arms.

“Get away from that thing,” Amy said.

“No, it’s okay. He’s on my side. He understands me. I think it might be Garia doing it,” she said, looking at it.

The Sirmax turned its head up toward the sky and showed its teeth again. It stood and began to swing its tail.

“What is it, boy?” Izzy asked the creature, but Amy answered.

“It’s the rest of the team. They’re in the trees. Silian is back there with the doc,” Amy said, pointing off at an oblique angle. “We were attacked by one of those things.”

“Is he okay?”

“No,” Izzy heard the unshed tears in her voice. “He’s hurt really bad, and they are poisonous. I think he’s going to die, Iz.”

“Oh no!” Izzy said. “Where is he?”

Amy turned and ran back, Izzy following, and she felt the heavy tread of her new friend trailing them.

“Silian!” Izzy called out when she saw him, sitting on a fallen tree with an Orbanite standing in front of him, looking at his chest.

“Dakira. Thank the Sentinels you’re alive,” he said.

~He looks awful,~ she thought. “Look at me,” she said when she got close.

She dropped to her knees and took his pulse, looking at his unfocused eyes.

She watched his pupils dilate and saw the blue begin to change to a deep red. She glanced quickly behind her and saw the reason for his reaction. Her black friend stood behind her, its eyes fixed on Silian.

“Silian, relax. He’s with me. He won’t hurt anyone,” she said.

His eyes quickly darted from the monster to her and then back again. She stood up and looked at the other Orbanites. They all had the same anger and fear in their eyes.

She looked at the yellow eyes of the animal and could sense the fear there too. She took a step closer to it and raised her hand.

“No, Izzy, don’t…,” Silian said, trying to get up.

Izzy lifted her hand to him and spoke without taking her eyes off the animal’s eyes. “Sit your ass down, soldier. Look, it’s okay,” she said.

Like some magic trick, the animal lay down, watching her.

“Izzy, what are you doing?” Amy whispered.

“Shh,” Izzy replied and slowly placed her hand on its blocky head. The animal let out a strange sound as it rubbed itself against her hand. It sounded like a very fast clicking.

Izzy dug her nails into the thick fur to get to its skin. She scratched a few times and when the animal stood, she stepped back.

It looked at her and nudged her with its nose in the chest. She followed its eyes and saw Silian, barely awake, slumped over.

“What’s wrong with him?” Izzy asked.

“It’s the Sirmax poison. He needs a blood transfusion,” Amy said. As Izzy tried to remember how to leech poison out of the bloodstream without antivenom, the black giant pushed past Izzy.

It sniffed at Silian. Izzy moved out of the way as it settled down on the ground next to him, and began licking at his chest. Silian moaned once and passed out.

“What is it doing?” Izzy asked.

“Haark spoke of this. It’s healing him,” Amy said.

“Who is Haark?”

“He’s the leader of the rebel team Hemlon sent to help us. He’s gone with his team to set explosives to blow the refueling reactor for the fighter planes,” Amy said.

“Rebels?” Izzy asked, looking at Amy.

“Look, Iz, there is a lot we need to catch you up on.”

“Yeah, me too, but not now. I need to get the boys. They were with Mikhlas and Iry. I hope they’re in the woods somewhere. I have to find them.”

“Silian can’t go anywhere. He needs to stay here with the doc. I can help you look for them,” Amy said.

“You should stay here with him. I will take the others.”

“No way am I letting you go out there alone, Iz. Don’t be crazy,” Amy shot back.

“I’m not. I can feel Infernia starting to wake up. Trust me, she is going to wake up on the wrong side of the bed.”

“Infernia? What do you mean?”

“I’ll explain later. I have to get my sons. Stay here and look after Silian. If I’m not back in an hour, then I’m probably not coming back,” Izzy said.

“Izzy, don’t do this. Not on your own. At least let me come with you.”

The black Sirmax got to its feet and nudged her with his head. “What?”

“I think he is saying he will go look,” the Orbanite said, looking up from Silian’s wounds.

~Infernia said Garia is in the forest. What if I summon her? Oh, but Trynak said I’m a trap for the Sentinels. If I summon her, will it trap her?~

The thought of her boys and Mikhlas in trouble decided for her. No matter the cost, she had to protect her family.

Izzy closed her eyes and thought about what Mikhlas said to her about Garia. She was the Sentinel of all the land and animals. She closed her eyes and pictured it in her mind.

A soft breeze touched her face. She took in a deep lung full and felt it spread to her arms and legs. A cool, fresh feeling, like the wind, moved through her.

“I need your help…,” Izzy whispered. “…Please, help them.” She thought about what they needed to do. She let out a breath and the light feeling left her.

~That’s nothing like what it was with Infernia. ~She opened her eyes and Amy stared at her.

“And?” Amy asked.

“I don’t know,” Izzy frowned and looked around. The black Sirmax flung his head up and howled. It was so loud, Izzy and Amy both covered their ears.

When it stopped, Izzy heard the same howl come from a distance. Then from all directions a chorus of howls.

“I believe that’s your answer,” Amy said. Izzy turned to the Sirmax and looked into its eyes.

“Find my boys. Bring them back to me,” she said and placed her hand on its head. She kept it there for a moment, and then the Sirmax ran off into the darkness.

“I need to go check on Silian,” Amy said, shaking her head.

“How is he?” Amy asked.

“I’m fine,” Silian said.

“You were gone there for a bit,” Amy said with a trembling smile.

“The Sirmax has antivenom in its saliva. That is why it does not poison itself but can kill another with its bite,” Igraak said.

“Good. So, he’s going to be fine?”

“Yes, for now, but the chest wounds are worrying me. The bio filler is not holding. He needs to get back to the ship.”

“We can’t get back now. We need to help him here. Now,” Amy said, her voice breaking a little.

“I am limited with the tools I have. I could not pack the entire infirmary into a small bag,” Igraak shot back. The man looked stressed.

“What can we do?” Amy asked.

Izzy went over to Silian and looked at his wounds. Three bloody gashes, deep in his skin, were still seeping blood.

~He looks weak and pale from the blood loss. If he loses much more he could go into shock. I need to deal with this now.~

“Igraak. Do you have a suture kit in that bag?” she asked.

“No. We do not use such things. The bio filler should be holding, but it isn’t,” he said.

“Do you have a needle?” Izzy asked, annoyed that something as basic as a stitch kit wasn’t part of the go bag.

“No,” he said. Izzy bit her lip as she looked around, hoping to get some inspiration from the trees around her. A gust of wind blew over her face, and a branch fell from the trees above her.

When she looked closer at it, it was covered in long, thin spikes. She picked it up and broke one of the spikes off.

She smiled when she felt the stiffness of it. Now all she needed was some thread. She looked at her shirt, and using the tip of the spike pulled a thread out of it.

“I need something to sterilize with,” she said to Igraak. He pulled out a bottle with a thin cap on the top. She held out the thread and the needle to him, and he sprayed a gas-like substance onto it, and her hands.

“Do we have clean water?” she asked. Amy handed her a bottle. Izzy poured the water over the wounds, and the blood washed away.

“I’m sorry, Silian. This is going to hurt,” Izzy said, gently placing her hand on his chest.

He nodded and closed his eyes. Beneath her fingers, she could feel his heartbeat. And a strange echo. ~I’ve felt that before, when I touched Mikhlas on the chest back in the cabin kitchen.~

“Silian, do you have two hearts?” Izzy asked.

“Yes,” he said simply.

Izzy filed that away and pinched the first cut together to make the first stitch. Igraak stood next to her, watching her work. It didn’t take Izzy long to have the first and smallest cut stitched closed.

She paused for a few minutes to let Silian have a rest. He had sat there, not moving at all, not even a twitch or a hiss once from him.

“How are you doing, Silian?” she asked. He turned his head around to her and gave her a soft smile.

“Your hands are far gentler than that of my medical officers, Dakira,” he said, and Igraak shifted and gave him a look.

“Let’s get the rest of these done,” she said, returning to work. As the last stitch went in, she stood and stretched.

“What’s the verdict?” Amy asked her.

“Well, there is no major damage to any of his organs, which is a very good thing, but he lost a lot of blood, and I’m worried about his kidneys, if he has any.

“The fact that he has two hearts isn’t all that good either, not in his situation. I don’t know how they work, but if I had to fathom a guess, I would say that he needs more blood than a person with one heart.

“I don’t know what happens if one of them stops.” Izzy said.

“Is there anything else we can do for him?” Amy asked, her eyes beginning to well up.

“Not here. He needs a blood transfusion, dopamine, and epinephrine. None of which we have here.”

“Is he going to die?” Amy whispered.

“I don’t know. If he gets an infection…” Izzy shook her head and trailed off. She didn’t want to say the words.

Not just because she saw the reaction on Amy’s face, but she felt dread fill her at the thought of him dying. She watched Amy’s eyes well up and she pulled her friend into a hug.

“I’m sorry, Amy. I don’t know what else I can do.” Izzy said, feeling heartbroken.

Off in the distance, she could hear the sounds of Sirmax fighting, all across the forest in a band that stretched out to the east of them. ~It sounds like the whole forest is fighting the base soldiers.~

The sounds grew closer and with a thundering roar, the black Sirmax she’d met before burst out of the forest behind them, placing himself between them and the sound like an impressive guard dog.

“What’s happening?” Izzy asked.

“The base soldiers have formed a wide firing line. They are coming this way,” Silian said. “Go! Leave me behind.”

“Not going to happen, mister,” Amy said, turning an angry gaze out beyond the black Sirmax.

“I cannot run, my love. You have the Dakira. She is all that matters. Go while you still can. Hide in the forest until Prime can teleport you back.”

As the sounds of weapons grew closer, parts of the forest lit up from explosions and gunfire to the backdrop sound of dying Sirmax and dying men.

“Rippers ON!” Amy said, and the mounts on her shoulders spun at astonishing speeds.

Izzy looked up at the sounds of fighter planes roared toward them.

“They’re going to bomb the forest!” Igraak yelled.

Above the treeline, Izzy heard one jet heading straight for them, a dull thump hitting the ground ever closer to them.

“Fire!” Amy said, and from her shoulders, two streams of black projectiles tore through a tree wider than a bus as if it were paper.

The stream stopped, and the top of the immense tree tumbled to one side, revealing the fighter plane and an open bomb bay where small projectiles streamed out after it.

“Fire!” Amy said, and the twin black streams shot out toward the speeding aircraft. At that range, they weren’t accurate, but Amy still managed to lop a wing off the plane.

Izzy saw the pilot eject, but the projectiles still rolled forward. She expected to die, but instead of burning death when the bombs hit the ground, they didn’t explode.

Instead, a hissing orange gas blanketed the entire area. Izzy tried to hold her breath, but just the touch of that gas drew the strength from her limbs, and she fell to the ground.

She heard other bodies strike the forest floor, and she lay there, paralyzed and barely awake, just wondering how long it would be until she heard the cruel voice of Kasana again.