When he emerged he dressed quickly in his normal clothes and headed to the Tech Room where he was expected to meet Jones in a half hour; Pat was always early to meetings despite his “bad boy” attitude. Tucking his top into his trousers he sat down to lace up his spotless boots which he had spent the evening before polishing. With a sigh he stood and began the walk to the Main Building; as he walked he was deep in thought. He was thinking about the planet he had left behind and even the family; soldiers were not permitted to take their wives and family out with them to the new planets but they were nearly always the first to be taken to other planets so there wasn’t a distraction from their vital work in making the planet habitable for the Rhesii. His planet had once been an amazing place and full of life, but it had begun to die from the inside which left them unable to sustain life. He shook his head as he walked and punched the code into the door and strode into the building, as he thudded up the stairs he found himself face to face with Jones who was also heading towards the Tech Room.
“Pat.” Said Jones tensely.
“Jones,” was the simple reply from Pat. They walked awkwardly towards the Tech Room in silence; as they entered they switched straight into work mode.
“Update,” Jones said, his voice echoing over the hubbub of the workers. He was rapidly told that there had been a breach which had been neutralised and then he paused and gaped open mouthed for a moment.
“What happened?” interjected Pat stepping forwards frowning. The man turned to Pat instead of Jones,
“The First Flux was attacked by natives. They are all in one piece however one of them was injured by an arrow.” As he spoke his voice quivered as he was fully aware of the ramifications of what was being said.
“Why weren’t we informed before now?” demanded Jones, his voice full of anger.
“It has only just been patched through, Sir. They were logging and they were attacked by arrows but they couldn’t see a person firing them. They all made it back to the Circle with the help of two of the men and the attack ceased once they were in the perimeter.” He paused and flicked his microphone back up to his face, “copy that,” he said before pushing it back down. “I just had another report that the man who was hit with the arrow is fine and back logging albeit one handed.”
“Thank you,” said Pat with a small smile. “We need to get out there and reassure them before they realise the danger that the natives are.” Jones nodded, he motioned to a black haired man who was sitting a few desks away from where he was stood.
“You. The Second Flux need their chips putting in, delay it until tomorrow morning, I’m not going to have time to supervise with this happening.”
“Sir, yes sir.” Was the quick curt reply and he swivelled his chair back to his computer and tapped in a short code. “Chip implantation has been delayed, Sir. Shall I book it for tomorrow at oh nine hundred hours?”
“Yes, make sure that the chip reader is working this time. And I want the chips scanned and set to the right frequency before they are put in. I do not want a repeat of what happened with the First Flux.” He commanded before leaving the Tech room closely followed by Pat, who was stripping off his smart jacket and as they passed his quarters he ran in to pick up his thicker one which he would need for the night air in Skyeyla could sometimes drop suddenly; as they were planning on being out until after dark he was definitely going to need it. Although it was after nine pm in the evening it was still bright out and it would be for another three hours or so according to the information they had been sent. They boarded the hover bikes and started to head out to the First Flux’s village.
Sam was working with the others out in the trees with his shoulder heavily bandaged; the head of the arrow had gone all the way through but the shaft had stuck firmly in the muscle. The village Doctor had been unsure how to remove it until Sam snapped the arrow head off and told him to pull it out so he could go back to work. He pulled it out slowly and cleanly leaving Sam with a hole through his arm but even that couldn’t stop him from working. It was about time for them to finish up and the two soldiers who had come to check on them had been informed of the incident that had happened earlier in the day. They trooped back to the circle and entered the village, Sam and Craig lived next to one another and they walked together to hand in their saws as they both had children at home and they didn’t want heavy items lying around with curious youngster so they kept their saws in a specially designed locker. Making their way across the centre of the village they said their farewells to each other and entered their homes to a chorus of “Daddy!”’s.
“Hey, little buddy,” Sam said hauling his five year old son up off the floor and dangling him upside down by one foot. “What are you doing that way up?” He said with a laugh, his son’s peal of laughter echoing through the house drawing out his seven year old daughter. Nahla, his wife came from the kitchen a smile playing on her lips until she saw the bandaged arm.
“Sam?” she said concerned a hand crossing her mouth as she walked quickly towards him. “What happened?”
“I’ll tell you once we’ve fed these two rascals,” he said wrapping his arms around them. “I’m fine,” he mouthed to her with a smile. He was crouched on the floor with his children and he stood to hug his wife. “You are looking particularly beautiful this evening,” he said with a grin as he caught her in a bear hug and lifted her off her feet.
“Sam!” She laughed tipping her head back and wrapping her arms around his neck; she planted a kiss on his forehead much to the disgust of her children who shouted “ew!” then went running into the play room. “Dinner is in half an hour,” she called after them as Sam put her back on her feet. “What happened to your arm today?” she said fingering the edge of the bandage gently.
“Some of the natives fired arrows at us as we were eating lunch and I got caught in the shoulder. It’s clean, it’s been looked after and more importantly, I got to keep the arrow head!” He grinned excitedly as he tugged it from his back pocket. “Look at how amazing it is,” he exclaimed holding it in the flat of his hand. It had been carved from bone and was triangular with cut outs throughout it in different shapes. “The soldiers said they are all different, this is entirely unique!” He was so excited she couldn’t keep a straight face for long.
“Come on, let me look.” He whined loudly and she shot him her best mum look and he sat down heavily on the arm of the sofa with a fake scowl. She unwound the bandage carefully making sure to keep it clear of the floor so it could be washed and used again. As she saw the extent of the damage to his arm she gasped, “oh Sam,” she said softly. She ran her fingers gently across it feeling the ridge where the arrow had pierced the skin; she looked carefully over the stitches the Doctor had put in and was sufficiently happy with the result. Nahla walked to the side unit and opened the top drawer which was full of medical equipment and pulled a fresh bandage out which he proceeded to wrap around his arm and secure safely with a pin.
“I told you I was okay,” he said standing and wrapping his arms around her middle looking deeply into her dark eyes.
“It worries me you being outside the circle,” she said quietly tearing her eyes away.
“I will always come home to you,” he said kissing her softly on the lips.
“Daaaaad!” shouted Kaylee, the seven year old. “Everett’s not playing fair!”
“I’m five!” he shouted back making everyone but Kaylee laugh.
Jones and Pat arrived on their hover bikes and jumped straight off them and powered through the ring into the village. They made their way to Sam’s house and rapped loudly on the door; a short while later Sam opened the door bleary eyed. He was wearing only his boxer shorts and his shoulders was bandage with a small blood spot marring the pure whiteness of the bandage. He looked at Jones and Pat blankly and blinked slowly.
“Who are you?” He said sleepily looking at them while rubbing his eyes. Jones and Pat exchanged a glance.
“I am Chief Commander Jones and this is Co-Commander Patrick. We heard about the attack and that you were wounded and we wanted to ensure you were okay and check out the sight.”
“Sam? Who is it?” came Nahla’s voice from the bedroom.
“Jones and Pat,” he said talking over his shoulder. Nahla quickly dressed and quickly came out adjusted her belt; she said hello to them both and handed Sam his pyjama bottoms which he tugged on.
“Can I get you a fruit tea?” she asked politely.
“Yes, please” replied Pat with a smile. His eyes flicked to something just behind her and she turned to find Everett standing in his pyjamas clutching his teddy and his blanket. “Hey little guy,” he said, his voice much softer. Sam extended his arm and Everett ran over and climbed on his lap and curled up watching to the two strange adults in the room. Nahla left the room to make the tea and bought Everett some warm milk to help him get back to sleep.
“Can you tell us what happened when you were injured?” Jones asked, leaning forward as he spoke.
“We were cutting wood and we took a break for lunch and suddenly arrows were being fired at us; Craig and I helped some of the boys which had been left behind and just before we broke the circle I got hit. Craig hauled me over the circle and the arrows stopped and now I’m here.”
“Where did the arrows come from?” Asked Pat
“A bow?” Sam said with a grin, “I don’t know, we couldn’t see anything or anyone except the trees and besides we were kind of busy trying not to get killed.” Nahla walked in with a tray holding the cups of varying flavour fruit teas; she leant round Sam to scoop up Everett who was curled up fast asleep.
“Please, help yourself,” she said as she took Everett back to his room; she returned shortly afterwards minus a child and settled on the sofa beside Sam. “His shoulder is okay, but how can we stop it from getting infected if he refuses to stop working?” She scowled at him as she spoke.
“I can get our medic down here to assist your doctor,” Jones said clutching his mug of apple and raspberry tea.
“Would you be willing to work with us until your shoulder is healed?” Pat asked looking straight at Sam. He looked across to Nahla who reached a hand out which she placed on his knee, he wrapped his hand around hers and smiled to her.
“Of course, would I still receive the same amount of food that we are getting now?” He asked tearing his eyes away from Nahla.
“Definitely, I’ll set that up tonight when we get back to the Hold and I will send someone to collect you in the morning to begin your first day as a soldier,” he grinned.
“We will collect you in the morning so that we can see where the incident occurred.” Jones paused remembering the chip implantation that he had scheduled for the morning. “It will be around midday actually, we have a prior engagement before then.”
“Sure, I’ll be here.” He said smiling to Nahla, she smiled back and leant her head against his shoulder.
Mycah lay on her back watching the fire flickering in front of her casting shadows across her face; the fire was bright on the dragon’s scales as they lay curled up beside the chosen ones. She rolled over onto her side leaning on her hand; she looked over to Sorrel and Dio who were playing with the fire. They were both trying to mould it and failing but both had burnt their fingers and even their arms from playing. Mycah lifted a hand and a ball of fire separated from the main flame and flew across to her hand; she rolled it through her fingers before closing her hand tightly around it. The flickering light was still visible through her fingers.
“Catch,” she said throwing it to Sorrel, who yelped but managed to catch it without burning himself.
“It’s so warm, but without being burning hot.” He said turning it from hand to hand looking at it intently.
“Pass?” Dio said sitting up and preparing himself for the fire. As Sorrel threw it, he tapped into his magic and caught it easily. He grinned as he felt the tickling heat.
“How did you get it out of the fire?” Sorrel asked staring into the fire.
“Focus on it and tap into your magic; you need to will the fire towards you and when you reach out your hand the fire will bend towards you but you need a portion of it to separate so as you reach release some magic and it should come towards you.” She said as she rolled back onto her back; she tipped her head back to see Raffy who was looking straight down at her. He puffed smoke out of his nose into her face, coughing violently and sat up waving her hand by her face. “Raffy!” She coughed out, “that’s gross!” With a push of her arm she sent a wave of water towards him which seemed to materialise out of thin air; in reality she had drawn it out of the ground below her. It hit him in the chest and pushed him into his hind legs with a look of shock on his face. He grumbled and took in a deep breath, anticipating the flame she shifted into a small bird and shot over his head easily avoiding his huge jaws which snapped shut behind her. With a chirping laugh she spun in the air and twisted around his body, zipping under his belly and between his front legs. He snapped at her lazily before shooting a long spurt of fire from his mouth; she rolled around it, shifting in mid air and landing on one knee human. She had one hand outstretched, palm wide facing Raffy; the fire parted around her hand and passed her body not harming her. She could feel the heat but it wasn’t painful and she enjoyed the blue hue his fire cast over the dark world. Sorrel, Dio, Red and Loki sat and watched the goings on with amusement, they were firmly aware that Raffy wasn’t going to get Mycah not even when he tried. Mycah’s natural magical ability beat the rest of them by far even the dragons; they could match up to her speed and her ability to do magic without uttering a word. When the fire ended Mycah stood up and grinned to Raffy who released a ground shaking roar which echoed across the forest disturbing birds in trees, sending them screaming into the air. Red and Loki tilted their heads back and release ear ripping roars with Raffy. Mycah joined the action by shifting into a wolf and howling loudly although the noise coming from her mouth was barely audible over the dragons. Sorrel and Dio concentrated and managed to shift into wolves too; they added their own voices to the melee and soon the whole forest was alive with them. Every bird, mammal and lizard shouted into the night air filling it with a cacophony of sounds which melded together to make the planet feel alive; it echoed in waves across the trees weaving in and out of the trunks until finally they all stopped. The silence following it was eerily quiet; nothing moved or even breathed for a long time until the quietest whisper of wind wound its way through the canopy causing gentle ripples across the lake. Slowly the forest returned to normal, the gentle croaking of the frogs in the reeds beside the lake; the haunting bark of the foxes hunting in the brush and the crackle of the fire in front of the chosen ones.
“We should get back...” Mycah started confident that Chenyo and the other Dragon Master would have heard that. Sorrel and Dio nodded and climbed aboard their dragons; Raffy stamped on the fire before he took off sending sparks shooting outwards bouncing up his leg. As he took off his tail whipped wildly to one side as an extremely strong gust of wind caught him in the side, both he and Mycah felt the magic in the air and turned ready to attack but instead found Sorrel barely hanging onto Red who looked displeased with his actions. Raffy barrel rolled over Red and as they were directly over her, Mycah reached down and grasped the shoulders of Sorrel’s tunic hauling him off of her and into the air where Raffy caught him expertly with one leg. Howling, this time not from laughter, Sorrel shriek was ear splitting. Red retaliated by flipping and catching him with her own talons and pulled him free where he climbed carefully up her leg and back between her wing muscles. Dio watched from the sidelines until he and Loki attacked in unison; Dio ran down his tail and perched on the tip, suddenly he was flung headlong towards an unsuspecting Mycah. He collided with her in the air and the pair of them went spiralling down towards the canopy below them as Loki knocked Sorrel out of his precarious seat with a tip of one wing. All three dragons dipped their wings and tucked them in, shooting down at speed; each of them caught their chosen one with not a lot of room to spare between them and the trees.
“No more now,” laughed Mycah settling into her position. She leant backwards and watched the stars go by as they flew. When they finally landed back at the Dragon Centre she was exhausted and slid off Raffy’s back landing on her feet but over balancing and landing on her backside. With a tired giggle, Sorrel pulled her up and they said their goodnights to one another and their dragons and headed to their quarters to sleep. Mycah tugged her top and trousers off and slid between the covers on her bed, as soon as her head hit her pillow she was fast asleep.
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