Aurora Saga 2 Immortality for Life (10 page)

Immediately the sound of gunfire filled the air.

Zoren cowered at the base of the bar behind Kalrea as shot after shot struck her. She was surrounded by a halo of white light, which was protecting her from the plasma fire and the telementor on his wrist was also glowing white. The noise of the gunfire echoed loudly around the room.

Bloody hell! I’ve got to get out of here,
Zoren thought, as pieces of the bar rained down on him.

He flinched when a stray plasma round struck his leg, but his body was also instantly surrounded by white light, preventing him from any harm. His adrenaline was pumping as the gunfire lessened, then it stopped abruptly.

Most of the Frinduls had emptied a full magazine of plasma shells and were looking astounded that Kalrea was still standing there.

‘Have you all finished,’ Kalrea said in an angry voice. ‘I did warn you. Now it’s my turn!’

Zoren looked up to see Kalrea point at one of the Frinduls. A bolt of white light left her finger and struck him. He collapsed to the ground.

Panic filled the room as Kalrea pointed to more Frinduls. One by one she killed them as they rushed towards the doors.

The captain was now being protected by some of his men, who had surrounded him, but they seemed unsure what to do next. Kalrea walked casually towards them. One of the Frinduls panicked and fired his railgun at her again. She approached him and when he was about to turn and flee, touched him on the shoulder. With a blaze of white light, he faded away. She looked in turn at the captain’s men and pointing at the main entrance to the bar, ordered,

‘If you want to live, leave your captain and go out that door now. Stay and I will kill you. Do you understand?’

‘You’re staying here with me,’ the captain said aggressively to his men. ‘That’s an order!’

Zoren picked himself off the floor. He brushed his habit and then the top of his head with his hand to remove all the pieces of debris, before glancing back at the bar. It had been almost completely destroyed, apart from one untouched piece, which was in the silhouette of Kalrea’s lower body.

All except one of the Frinduls had now decided to leave and were filing quickly out the main exit.

‘Come back here you cowards!’ the captain shouted at them in desperation.

Kalrea was staring at the remaining Frindul who was standing behind his captain. That was enough to persuade him to go and he rushed to the door. He was about to open it when Kalrea shouted out to him,

‘Hay you!’

The Frindul froze and turned nervously around.

‘Ask the Drulfian at the entrance not to let anyone else in, will you, please?’ Kalrea said calmly to him.

The Frindul seemed startled and nodded, before quickly disappearing out the door. The captain had now been completed deserted by his men and the bar was very quiet.

Zoren inched over to the main exit to check if anyone was there. He opened the door slightly and to his surprise the Drulfian was still standing outside. It glanced at Zoren, but seemed totally unmoved by the events that had happened within the bar.

Gulco and the others rose from their seats.

‘Stay there!’ Kalrea shouted, pointing to them.

Zoren watched Kalrea place her hand on the captain’s shoulder. He shouted out, expecting to be killed, but Kalrea pushed him firmly back into his seat. She then sat on his lap, her legs either side of his, face to face. The captain looked terrified, sweat glistened on his forehead. She ran her fingers through the few strands of hair on the back of his head.

‘Do you see my friend there?’ she said, pointing to Zoren. ‘You took his wife. Did you know she was pregnant?’

The captain shook his head quickly and said, ‘No…’

Kalrea continued, ‘You took an entire race and killed countless creatures on that Polnozoo, and just for the money. They were all afraid to die you know, all those creatures that you killed.’

Kalrea was staring into the captain’s eyes and asked him, ‘Are you afraid to die?’

The captain was trying not to make eye contact with her.

‘Yes, you are. I can sense your fear. That’s what all those helpless creatures felt when you left them on the Polnozoo to die. You disgust me!’

What’s she doing? Why doesn’t she find out where Sabri and the others are?

‘Kalrea! We need to know where my people are,’ Zoren said with urgency.

Suddenly the main door to the bar opened slightly and the barrel of a railgun edged through the gap.

‘Kalrea! Kalrea!’ Zoren said fearfully. ‘The door!’

‘It looks like security has arrived,’ Kalrea replied.

Zoren could just about hear the guards talking to each other outside the door. They sounded nervous and had obviously seen what had happened on the security monitors. He listened carefully.

‘...I can see her with a Frindul. What do we do? Our weapons and body-armour would be useless against her,’ one of the Gullin guards said.

‘I’ve never seen anyone with such powers,’ another replied. ‘What do we do?’

‘I don’t know! You’re the chief, you deal with her,’ the guard said.

Kalrea got off the captain’s lap and marched to the door. Zoren put his arm out in front of her to stop her opening it.

‘What are you going to do, Kalrea? They probably have wives and children. Please, don’t kill them.’

By the look on Kalrea’s face, he knew she was slightly annoyed by his comment.

‘Zoren, I don’t just kill people for no reason. Those in here tried to kill us.’

She pushed his arm out of her way and opened the door. The guards instinctively pointed their guns at her to protect themselves.

Kalrea raised her hands in a submissive gesture, and then said, ‘I have no argument with you. Now, who’s in charge here?’ she asked.

Zoren peered over her shoulder at the Gullin guards. They all looked as if they just wanted to be somewhere else. A nearby guard pointed to the chief guard, who was standing next to him. Kalrea stared at the chief guard and asked him nicely,

‘I need five more minutes alone, please. Afterwards, you can come in. Is that ok?’

The chief guard gulped and then shook his head in agreement.

Kalrea closed the door on him and traipsed back over to the Frindul captain, who was still sitting completely motionless. She sat alongside him.

Zoren rushed over to Gulco, Diean and Vinuar. Gulco was adjusting the inuple cap covering the stump of his right arm to lessen an irritation, which Zoren knew was caused by him being nervous.

‘Are you all ok?’

‘Yes, we’re fine,’ Gulco replied, ‘Diean’s got a deep cut to her arm, but Vinuar’s managed to stop the bleeding.’

‘I only started to learn medicine five weeks ago,’ Vinuar said, looking stressed. ‘Doc Korye will need to check it over when we next see him.’

‘That’s if we ever see him again,’ Gulco added. ‘I’m afraid we were split from the others. They were taken away some time ago.’

Zoren glanced over at Kalrea. She was caressing the side of the captain’s head with her finger tips.

‘Now where was I? Oh, yes. Tell me where the other Agonians are?’ she asked him in a soft voice.

‘Please don’t kill me,’ the captain pleaded with her.

‘Then, tell me what I need to know.’

Kalrea placed her hand perniciously on his shoulder. The man appeared to be in great pain. He was unable to move and his hands were visibly shaking.

‘Who’s she?’ Gulco asked Zoren.

‘That’s Kalrea,’ Zoren replied. ‘She’s a… well she’s kind of a friend.’

‘A friend!’ Gulco replied.

‘She saved my life, Gulco. So yes, she’s my friend.’

The captain screamed in pain, ‘No! Please, just stop,’ and then speaking very quickly said, ‘It was all prearranged… I was told to sell ten of them and the children to a man from Onliv-’

Kalrea interrupted him. ‘What was his name?’

The captain immediately replied, ‘I don’t know!’ but then the intensity of the pain made him scream, and he quickly told her, ‘His name is H’furni Raxom... a Gullin called H’furni Raxom.’

‘See that wasn’t so hard, was it? What about the other Agonians?’

‘The rest were handed over to a representative of Lady Sathodee. His name… was Hifmo. Please, don’t kill me.’

‘Do you know which ships took them?’

‘H’furni Raxom’s ship is called the
Firehun
. The others were moved to the
De’fego
.’

‘We’re too late, aren’t we?’ Zoren said, seeing that Kalrea was concerned.

‘Yes, both ships left over an hour ago,’ she replied, looking to him.

The captain looked surprised that Kalrea knew when the ships left.

Zoren felt as if all his energy had been zapped from him in that single moment of realisation.
No! They can’t have left. I thought we’d find them here. Why aren’t they here?

Kalrea turned back to the captain. ‘Don’t worry, this won’t hurt,’ she said to him calmly.

‘No, please! I’ve told you what you needed to know.’

But in an instant he vanished.

Zoren was shocked by what he had just seen Kalrea do in the bar.

My God! She killed him, just like that. She doesn’t even look moved by what she’s done. Look at all the Frinduls she killed.

Gulco and the others were also glancing around the room at the dead bodies.

I didn’t realise how powerful Kalrea is. If she wants my people for the money, then I’ve no way of fighting her.

Kalrea got up, before saying, ‘It’s time to leave.’

Zoren stood there, motionless, deep in thought.

But that doesn’t make sense. She could have taken all my people any time she wanted from the Polnozoo. No one would have been able to stop her.

Kalrea touched him on the shoulder, making him jump. He turned towards her and said, ‘Kalrea!’

‘It’s time to leave,’ she repeated, and then addressing Gulco and the others and added, ‘Hello, my name’s Kalrea.’

They all half-heartedly gestured in acknowledgement.

‘I’m sorry you had to see that, Zoren,’ she said quietly to him, so the others could not hear. ‘You must think I’m very ruthless, but remember all those creatures he killed, and all because of money. Trust me, the universe is a safer place without people like him.’

And Zoren’s immediate thought was,
But is it safe from you?

‘Zoren, we need to go. You three, make sure you stay close to me. Understood?’

They all glanced to Zoren for reassurance, who added,

‘Like Kalrea said, keep close.’

Kalrea opened the door. The security guards were still waiting patiently outside.

‘You can come in now,’ she said. Then, looking to the chief guard as she passed him added, ‘Thank you.’

A crowd of people had gathered, drawn by the intensity of gun-fire that had erupted inside the bar.

‘Er… Excuse me miss,’ the chief guard said nervously. ‘I’m… I’m going to have to... Er... I have to ask you to leave Xim’gu.’

Zoren watched him gulp and as Kalrea turned, the chief guard took a step backward.

She smiled at him, and then said, ‘Yes, of course. I’m sorry for any trouble I might have caused. We’ll leave straight away.’

The chief guard gestured to his people and then said, ‘We’ll escort you to your ship.’

‘Well, if you really have to,’ Kalrea replied.

As they began to walk back, Zoren felt the intense gaze of several people, who had assembled out of curiosity. Meanwhile Kalrea, who was walking beside the chief guard, asked him, ‘Do you have a wife and children?’

The man was taken completely by surprise.

‘What? Er… Yes,’ he replied. ‘Two boys.’

‘What are their names?’

‘Er… Gimri and Jong.’

He seemed slightly confused.

Kalrea turned to Zoren and then said,

‘You were right. He did have a wife and children.’

While they strolled back around the edge of the circular space towards the corridor leading to the transit station, Zoren noticed one of the Frinduls who had fled the bar in the background.

‘Don’t let her look at you,’ the Frindul shouted in the distance. ‘She will consume you. She’s evil!’

Kalrea turned her head and stared him straight in the eyes. He instantly cowered away out of sight.

The guards escorted them all the way back to the space port. On arrival at the entrance to the shuttle, Kalrea thanked the chief guard once more, who seemed totally confused by the way she had behaved towards him.

They entered their shuttle and, as the entry door closed, Zoren glanced back to the chief guard, who looked completely overwhelmed by the fear that he must have been feeling and was almost in tears.

The poor man! What must he be thinking now?

‘Take a seat,’ Kalrea said to the others, before entering the cockpit of the shuttle and sitting in the pilot’s seat.