SHADOWED MINDS

CHAPTER 3

“LET ME OUT!” Jewelia screamed, banging against the cell bars. “LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! I’m not going to stay trapped in here forever, you know! There are men out there who follow me, are willing to die for me! It’s Sternum you should have locked up in here, not me! Let me OUT!”

Jewelia’s tirade had been going on long enough for the guards to come and report her to King Cryos and the others. Now that they had arrived in the prison, Jewelia’s screaming had increased. So Graveheart tried some diplomacy.

“Jewelia, be quiet! You know that it is you that should be in here, now be quiet or else we will be forced to sedate you again!” Unfortunately, this tactic did not work, and Jewelia continued to abuse them.

“Why don’t we just shoot her mouth off?” This frightening suggestion had been made in a calm and practical voice by Ratel. “Or you could slice her throat. If you do so in just the right place she’ll live, but she’ll never scream again.” Ratel looked around, confused by the others’ shocked expressions. “What? Don’t you know how? Oh all right you guys, I’ll show you.” As Ratel moved forward, her claws in striking position, Zera recovered enough to say:

“Don’t!”

“Why not?” Ratel stopped and turned to look at her, genuine surprise showing in her features.

“You just...don’t do that sort of thing.” Zera was rather shaken. How do you explain to someone that they shouldn’t slit another person’s throat?

“It wouldn’t kill her, if that’s what you mean.” Ratel, thinking she had cleared up the misunderstanding, turned back towards Jewelia, who had stopped screaming and was looking at Ratel with surprise and slight fear in her eyes.

“No. Zera’s right.” Graveheart cut in, ignoring a furiously blushing Zera. “We do not harm people just because they are annoying us. You would be destroying any chance Jewelia had of repenting. You do not harm people here without very good reason.” Ratel looked like she might argue with this logic, but stopped and simply shrugged.

“Whatever.”

As Ratel walked away, Graveheart watched, a slight frown marring his features. ‘I think Jade was right,’ he thought ‘the creature is unbalanced, and may be too dangerous to use, even with the information she could give us.’

***

Beast Planet

“We are planning the attack as we speak, Almighty Beast.” Lamprey was uncharacteristically anxious. After all, one of the experiments due for termination had escaped and they had lost quite a few Drones in that fiasco. Plus, she now had to answer to the Beast, who was not happy about the fact that their presence had been revealed, before they were ready to attack. The Beast was not going to make the mistake of misjudging the Alliance twice.

“This time, do not fail. Or the result will be...fatal.”

“Yes, Almighty Beast.” Inwardly, Lamprey shuddered. If there was one thing she feared, it was the wrath of the Beast. Its punishments were excessively cruel. She cursed the soldier that had turned the Beast’s anger upon her. Experiment 3460 was about to learn that no one who had felt the touch of the Beast Planet ever escaped...alive.

***

Ice Planet - Guards room

“Incoming Beast Drones!” The Glacial Trooper on duty started to panic. “Warn everyone that a large concentration of Beast Drones is coming from the west! No, wait! Others are coming from the east! By the Great Glacier! They’re everywhere!”

“King Cryos!” The Glacial Trooper opened up a communication link into the throne room. “King Cryos, there’s an attack of Beast Drones coming in from all areas!”

“Thank you, soldier.” As Cryos closed the link, he turned to the others in the room. “Graveheart, Jade and Sternum, please come with me. Tekla, can you stay here and work on the securities to make sure that the Beast Drones are all accounted for?” As Pyrus and Zera had already left an hour before, in order to train, that left only Ratel, who looked rather scared. “Ratel, I think it would be wisest if you retired to your room right now.”

“What room?” Ratel asked, “You guys haven’t given me a room.”

“Oh.” Cryos was a little non-plussed. “Well then, go and join Zera and Pyrus in the training room. It is a secure enough area. Right,” Cryos said to Jade, Graveheart and Sternum, “let us go and rid ourselves of this threat.”

***

Training Room

“You fight like a girl!”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, I AM a girl!”

“Oh yeah, a real princess! Go do something else and stop bothering me! Go train with someone else!”

“Why should I? You’re right here, unless...”

“Unless what?” Pyrus asked, rather unwisely.

“Unless you’re too afraid to fight me!”

“RIGHT!” Pyrus shouted, “Choose your weapon!”

Ratel entered the room, just in time to see Zera pick up a stick and hit Pyrus across the back of the knees, knocking him to the floor.

“Ah, young love...” she sighed.

“With HIM?” Zera exclaimed, at the same time as Pyrus was shouting:

“You’ve GOT to be joking!”

“Oh?” Zera turned to him, antennae quivering with anger. “And exactly WHAT is wrong with me, might I ask?” Pyrus, sensing that this was very dangerous ground, wisely refrained from retorting with his first instinct, which was a long and complicated list of EXACTLY what was wrong with her, and simply replied:

“Fire and Ice don’t mix.”

“Ok...I’ll be...leaving now.” Ratel said, “I just wanted to ask you Zera, if I could use your room, because the Beast Drones are attacking, and I want a safe room from which to watch the fun.”

“Yeah sure...” Zera said, not really paying attention, being far to busy in a stand off with Pyrus. “Go ahead. Now Pyrus...” she said, as Ratel left the room, “I think we had some training to do? Unless you can’t get up from the floor.”

“Girls.” Pyrus lamented, as he scrambled to his feet, his face turning a deep red. “You took me by surprise. Like THIS!” It was as Pyrus was battling with Zera that the realization of what Ratel had told them hit them.

“BEAST DRONES?”

***

The hallway

“Go and join Zera and Pyrus.” Ratel muttered to herself. “Pity that they’re too busy fighting to pay attention. Oh well, may as well get to Zera’s room.”

“I shall save you the journey, child.” Ratel whipped around, looking for the source of the voice.

“Lamprey!” Ratel ran screaming into an ammunition room. “Ok” she admitted when the door clanged shut behind her, “now THAT was stupid.”

“But then that’s what you’re famous for, isn’t it?” All of a sudden Lamprey was beside Ratel, digging her claws into Ratel’s sensitive palms. The screams of agony rocketed through the room and into the hallway.

“Don’t get too attached, Experiment 3460.” Lamprey managed to sneer through the screams,” You know what will happen to them. You know what you were created to do. And I know, as well as you do, where your loyalty lies. Now the Beast blames me for your ‘little fiasco’ and the blind fool will punish me if I don’t show some results. So I’m afraid that whatever little attachments you’ve made to these weaklings are about to be...severed.”

“What in Lord Mantle’s Crown is going on here?” Jade shouted, bursting into the ammunition room. What she saw there brought her up short. Ratel’s skin had changed. What was once a rather crystallized blue had changed into red-hot lava.

”Get out of here, Lamprey!” Jade cried, hate searing through her. The Beast and its minions had caused the death of her king. And even though Jade didn’t like Ratel, the sight of anyone, especially someone with ice genealogy, being burnt to death was sickening.

“Fool!” Lamprey cried. “You protect one of us? Go back to your rocks and leave me to my business. But,” she said, her expression twisting into a predatory smile, “if you’re that trusting...” she sneered, seeing the determined look cross Jade’s face, “then I’ll leave you two alone. Experiment 3460...You know what you have to do.” And with that, Lamprey was gone.

“Uh...thanks for saving my life...and stuff.” Jade spared only a glance at the still smoking figure on the ground.

“Don’t mention it, for my sake.” As Jade turned and left, Ratel rose from the floor, still shaky. ‘Huh’ she thought ‘could have been worse. The old bat can’t do anything anymore, anyway!’ But still Ratel stood, lost in thought. And as she stood, a dark look flitted across her face, foreign and full of hate. “No,” she sneered, “nothing can touch me anymore...”