The Courier’s Collection

Chapter 7

7

Rasha’s insides threatened to bubble over and explode out of her mouth. They’d covered a lot of ground with the all-terrain vehicle, but at a price. Its wheels sped over the uneven roads. Lu sat behind the wheel like a happy little twyllo. He rushed headlong on the road, heedless of the bumps and bruises Rasha was accumulating while holding on to her insides.

“I had no idea you had such a weak stomach,” Lu said as he skidded along one edge of the road and then the other.

“Do we have to go so fast? I’m going to spill my guts.”

“Don’t be so dramatic.”

Rasha swallowed down bile and shook her head.

“Nope, not drama. Stop,” she called out grabbing his arm.

Lu came to a neck breaking halt and Rasha fell out headfirst and vomited in the trees. When she finished, she turned slowly back to the vehicle. She glared at Lu, who was looking at one of his devices.

“Next time, I drive,” she said as she leaned her head against the side of the door.

“You don’t know how.”

“Neither do you.”

“Get in,” Lu said, putting his device down and revving the engine.

“I’m not ready yet.” She shook her head and backed away.

“Rash, get in the transport, now.” The urgency on Lu’s face was unmistakable.

“What’s wrong?”

“We’ve got company. I’m going to try to outrun them.”

“It might be better to let them catch up to us,” Rasha said, half in and half out of her seat.

“Nope, there’s too many of them, they’re closing in fast on our position.”

Lu took off before she settled. Rasha looked down at the device Lu placed between them. A red dot in the center of the screen pulsed. Around it were numerous green dots coming from all directions.

“What is this?”

“It’s an ambush.”

Rasha held onto the side of the vehicle and clutched her amulet.

“May the Universal help us,” she whispered as she secured the straps around her middle.

“Hold on,” Lu said. It wasn’t necessary since Rasha hadn’t let go of the side since their journey started.

Maybe it was the speed of the vehicle or the terrain, either way they’d never know. When the all-terrain got to the felled tree in the middle of the road, there wasn’t enough time to do anything but try to go over it. The vehicle’s wheels lost traction and vaulted into the sky several feet before it rolled onto an embankment, then hit a row of trees and shut down.

Rasha came to after a few moments and realized she was hanging upside down by the security straps. Her neck already ached from the awkward angle she’d been hanging from. As she pulled her leg from the crumpled frame, she realized she was alone.

“Lu,” she groaned. Her voice didn’t carry beyond the inside of the vehicle. Rasha tugged herself free from the vehicle’s straps and searched for her partner. She stumbled twice before her balance returned.

She found the device first. It must have been thrown from the vehicle into the brush. The screen was blank. She shook it once before tossing it aside. At the moment, Lu’s whereabouts were more important to her than that of those who had ambushed them. Her head ached and she was still nauseous, but she walked on until she found the fallen tree. No wonder they’d gone flying. The tree was old and thick around the base, but it had been felled deliberately onto the road. The crash hadn’t been an accident.

Voices in the distance got her attention. Rasha crouched down behind the branches of the tree, reached for her swords and found only one, Cutter. She’d lost Blade in the crash. That would be inconvenient. Rasha watched with one short sword at the ready.

She didn’t have to wonder what they were after when she saw the damaged cargo being hauled into another vehicle. She recognized the two men doing the hauling as Gorg and his partner from the game of Hands the other night. The third man gathered his gear and started at the sound of a pebble hitting a tree on their left. Rasha threw another to their rear that forced them all to turn toward it. She watched them agree to separate, just as she hoped.

When the unknown man reached her, she swept a foot out and watched as he fell over it. Before he recovered, she leapt up and hit him in the back of the head with the butt of her sword, knocking him unconscious. The talkative man from the game heard her before she jumped on him and pulled out his own sword, blocking her. Their swords clashed several times, making her arms ache. The man’s upper body strength was solid. Every blow against Cutter reverberated through her already weakened muscles. She fell to her knees and had to get creative to avoid his sword. She rolled forward, cutting each of his thighs, slowing him down enough to slice his back. He fell forward onto his face before blacking out.

“Well, little one, aren’t you two hands full of trouble?”

“That’s what they tell me.” Rasha tried to keep from throwing up again as he circled her. He carried a long sword, which meant she’d have to avoid his lunges if she wanted to survive this fight.

He focused on her with such intensity he didn’t see Lu stumbling forward, looking greener than usual and holding something out in his hands.

“You’re going to be fun. Is that all you’ve got, purple one?”

“I don’t think so.”

Rasha stopped circling and forced him backwards right into Lu. His device zapped the man’s back and his eyes rolled up in his head before he fell forward. She heard the crunch of the small bones of his nose breaking on impact.

“You okay?” Lu asked.

“Nope,” Rasha said as she turned and vomited again.

Lu held up his tracking device.

“What’s wrong? Is it working?” she asked. The thing made a few beeping noises before turning off.

“It’s working fine, but there were at least eight dots on the screen before and there are only three men here.”

“You think the rest took off when these claimed the crate for themselves?”

“I’m not sure. It might have been a planned attack, but they weren’t here, all in on it together,” Lu said.

“These two were greedy and took care of the rest,” Rasha said, finishing his thought.

“Looks like they damaged the cargo crate. We should secure it.”

Lu followed her to the back of the new vehicle. It was almost identical to the last, which had a horrible effect on Rasha’s stomach. As she’d seen while the men were moving it, the lid had broken open and some kind of smoke was leaking out of it.

“I bet it’s new technology.” Lu’s excitement was palpable.

“No way, it’s jewels. Only jewels bring men to a fight like this one.”

Lu reached in and lifted the lid of the crate.

“Holy yahtz,” they said in unison.

Inside the crate, next to a leaking oxygen tank, was a girl, dressed in array of fine and flowing materials and her jewelry glimmering against her dark skin. She lay curled up in a ball on her side.

“It’s the princess of Sidoa,” Rasha said.

“How do you know?”

“I just do.”

The last thing she wanted was to discuss how she recognized the princess. Rasha had met the girl before in another life. She’d been much younger back then.

Lu reached in to touch her but Rasha slapped his hand away.

“What if she’s…?” Rasha asked, fearing the worst.

“That’s what I was trying to find out.” Lu reached in and felt for life signs while Rasha held her amulet.

“She’s alive,” he said.

“We’ve got to get her out of here.” Rasha said, looking into the trees. The feeling they were being watched hadn’t gone away after the fight. “She won’t make it the whole way in this broken crate, and we can’t have her waking up to another fight.”

“Why do you think she’s being transported in a crate instead of traveling to Adalu like the other princesses?” Lu asked.

“Based on what we’ve seen this afternoon, I’d say because they feared she wouldn’t make it there alive.” Rasha turned and gathered up the rest of their supplies and put them into the new vehicle.

“I need to find Temi. He jumped out of the pouch during the crash and I haven’t seen him since.” Lu walked into the woods.

It took some time to gather all of their scattered things, including her missing sword, Blade. Rasha had packed the second vehicle with their belongings and was waiting when Lu returned. He still hadn’t found Temi.

“We don’t have time for this, we’ve got a princess to protect. There will be more of them coming,” Rasha said when Lu hesitated.

Lu swore under his breath and called out for Temi one last time.

“He may have gotten scared and run off. I’m sorry.” Rasha hated to see him like this again, but she had no other words to offer. She put a hand on his shoulder and hoped it was enough. “He belongs in the wild.”

“Okay,” Lu said, his head and shoulders drooped with resignation. He took one last look around before he climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Let’s take it slow, I want my insides to stay on the inside this time.”