Twenty-Nine
 
Kon hit the ground and groaned in pain as he bounced one and then rolled to a stop as goblins surrounded him. Black boots impacted his sides, gut, arms, legs, but they kept the thick leather away from his face. Diur was in an unconscious pile to the side, her sword tossed to the corner while a pair of the mercenaries kept weapons aimed at her.
“Enough.” The command stopped everything instantly. Kon didn’t know how long he had been getting pummeled but it had left him hunched over and groaning.Pain pulsated through his body with every breath and he tried to get control of himself. Part of his brain knew he was lucky to be low on rift energy right now otherwise his senses would have made that a much worse experience.
Goblins pulled back and Kon looked up with hooded eyes to see a Lupine stalk forward through the rough door frame. It was hunched over, shoulders sloped with age, white fur covering its muzzle, one eye cloudy and covered in scar tissue. An axe dangled from its belt, a twin of the one Alice had won.
“I really hope that’s not Alice’s axe.” The thought flashed through his mind and he nearly froze up as the Lupine stopped its walk with its boots inches from his face. The warrior twisted its arm and a holo came to life and Kon saw himself and Alice in the hallway of the Dragon’s Maw. Every sound froze as the holo played out and Kon felt a sinking in his gut as he realized it was a personal cam for the Lupine Alice had killed. It ended with the sight of her knee rising up to block at the entire camera.
“My nephew. Kana. He was supposed to be my heir. A new Packmaster. What am I to tell his mother? That her son was killed over some unknown planet by an unarmored human Knight? That she stole our pack’s heirloom?” The Lupine spoke slowly and in halting sentences. Each word rasped out as if he struggled to speak and the translator behind his ear worked overtime to discern the rasping sounds.
“Shouldn’t fuck with humans,” Kon spat out. His mind was racing as he thought of what had happened.
“The drones. Without Alice’s cloaking they saw us. But she sent us there. She had to know,” his thoughts were cut off as the Lupind casually palmed his skull and lifted him up by his head. Higher and higher until his feet dangled and it felt like his neck was about to pop free from his body. A strangled cry slipped past his teeth and the wolf grinned.
“I normally don’t. The contract was too tasty to leave. Enough to buy a battlecruiser. To buy the loyalty of tribes of these…vermin,” the Lupine Packmaster glared at the black armored goblins.
“Even with Kana’s death. Good contract. You should know about good contracts little Knight. It is all your race is good for.”
They stared at each other, the wolf’s one good golden eye meeting Kon’s own. Fetid breath washed over Kon’s face smelling like tooth decay and raw meat. The wolf finally dropped him and his legs buckled instantly and he fell flat ot the ground as he stared up at the large wolf.
“Where is the warrior? The thief.” Another pair of Lupine appeared in the doorway and Kon realized this wasn’t a prison, but a war room. There were maps pasted to walls, a shelf with spare weapons, tables loaded down with equipment. Dozens filled the room and glared at him.
“Who hired you?” Kon asked, trying to buy time even as he mentally cursed Alice. The psycho had used him as bait.
A boot hit his stomach and he folded in half and had to try to stop from throwing up. Rasping sounds came from the Lupine behind the Packmaster, laughter.
“The thief. Where is she?”
“Fuck you!” Kon spat out, rage and fear boiling in equal measure in his body. The goblins closed in and started lifting the butts of their rifles, but they stopped when the Packmaster raised a single paw.
“It’s stalling. Send out more drones. Double the,” a crash interrupted the Packmaster. The sound of metal wood shattering as the ground trembled beneath him. All three Lupine disappeared as a screaming klaxon shrieked through the room. Goblins raced out but a pair stayed where they were, one keeping a rifle on Diur while the other kept their gun on Kon. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
A primal scream rang out and reverberated through his skull and Kon reached up to wrap his hands around his ears. The bark of kinetic weapons and then the muffled whumph of explosives followed. The goblin’s helmets tilted away from Diur and Kon and looked toward the door. Diur’s guard waved a hand toward the exit and Kon’s guard ran instantly away.
Diur’s guard backed away from them to stand at the back of the room with his gun barrel aimed in the space between the two of them. Kon watched it but kept himself curled up and looking harmless. He was fast, but he wasn’t faster than a laser rifle. He just had to wait for his moment.
The klaxon continued to blare and sounds of fighting only intensified as the seconds became minutes. Their guard continued to stand there, unmoving, but Diur started to stir. Kon didn’t know how they had incapacitated her, but she was coming around.
She groaned and put a hand on her head and tried to stand up. The goblin guard lurched forward and stuck its gun in her face and she froze. The black armored figure had turned its back to him and Kon used the moment to get to his feet silently and crouch, ready to spring into action.
The guard spun around instantly, rifle swinging around in a blur. Kon froze at the instant reaction, but Diur scythed her feet and took the guard’s legs out from under him. Diur grunted as the goblin landed on her and a bolt of light seared Kon’s retinue as it scorched the wooden roof above his head.
His momentary pause lasted only a moment before he was jumping, landing on top of the goblin and Diur. The goblin was thrashing, trying to get its rifle lowered and pointed at him, but Kon used his body weight to keep it pinned to the goblin’s chest, pointed away from them. Diur had managed to get one of her arm’s around the goblin’s and was pulling it away from the rifle.
It was smaller and more wiry than the armor made it look and its strength was extraordinary. Both Diur and Kon were straining to hold it down as it thrashed around, not a sound escaping its helmet as it fought.
“Hold him down, just for a moment,” Diur commanded as her aura burst around her as she twisted her hips and lifted with her feet planted firmly on the ground. It caused Kon and the goblin to roll off of her and land heavily on the ground. This time it was the goblin on top and Kon felt his breath cut off as the savage mercenary rammed the barrel against his throat, barrel pointed toward the door. Panic filled him as he couldn’t breath, he tried to shove the goblin, but it was in advantageous position and leaning down to press its weight on him.
Kon looked out of the corner of his eye to see Diur sprint and grab her sword, unsheathing it in a single motion and bounding back toward him, all in one smooth motion. The goblin’s head turned to look at her and it threw itself off of him, forfeiting the rifle to avoid Diur’s upward slash that parted the air inches from Kon’s nose. It would have cut through the goblin’s neck in the thin gap where the helmet met its armor.
Diur blurred forward and Kon hardly tracked her as she landed in front of the mercenary as it pulled a long, plain, steel knife from a hidden sheathe behind its back. Diur struck before it could get in position; sword wreathed in her power, it plunged through the goblin’s armor like it was paper. She twisted and the mercenary exploded in a spray of blood.
“Kon, do you know how to use that?” Diur said. She flicked her wrist and the blood on her blade sluiced off and to the ground. She poked her head out the door and looked around, but in the chaos of the attack, no one had noticed the fight.
“No. Can’t be hard though,” Kon picked up the rifle and quickly examined it. It was a sleek weapon, just a barrel and handle. There was no trigger guard and Kon was careful not to accidentally fire the laser weapon.
“Do they not have some sort of sights on these?”
“Probably in their helmets. There’s lot of tech in those guns, but most connect with armor.” Kon looked over to the helmet and decided it wasn’t worth it. He recognized the small, yellow, charge cartridges on the weapons rack as batteries that were used to fire the lasers. He grabbed a pair of them and then looked around to see what else he could liberate while Diur watched the door.
There were a series of packs off to the side of the room, stacked neatly, and they had all sorts of goods in them. Kon didn’t have time to go through all of it, but he saw medical kits, rations, and other emergency survival gear. He grabbed a pair of them and strapped one on after shoving more of the charge cartridges into it and grabbing a second rifle.
“Here!” Kon said and tossed the second pack to Diur. She rolled her eyes but carefully put it on and Kon loaded it with more ammo and rations from the other packs along with a third medical pack.
“Come on. The sounds of fighting are dying down. Either they killed the beast or the beast is about to be victorious. Regardless, I don’t want to be here to find out,” Diur chided him to move faster. Kon took one last look around the room and didn’t see anything else of value to steal.
“Where would the shuttle or long range communication equipment be? That’s where Alice will go,” Kon asked her.
“The shuttle will need space, so probably right in the middle of the camp. The long range equipment is likely in another secured room. Just stick near me and watch my back.” Diur took a deep breath and slowly released it. Her aura strengthened, growing thicker around her. She wheeled around the corner of the doorway and Kon followed behind her, rifle held against his shoulder and pointed behind them as the dim hallway was lit by Diur’s power.