Chapter 38 - Enemies and Allies
Finally Kryslie came to a city where the Ciriot were in full control. This was Losk, one of the cities she had visited with her father on his tour. That seemed like decades ago, not merely months. She transmitted herself, Jonko and Keleb to the open central square, and if not for her power cloaking them, they would have been instant targets. As it was, several groups of Ciriot seemed to sense something and began to turn around slowly, looking for the cause. She took in the situation and mentally spoke to her companions. “Edge aside, very slowly, when these nearest ones are looking away. Transmit to the shadows beside the two-storey trading centre. I have told you how to cloak your self with power, do that, but remember, we might be invisible, but they can walk into us.”
She knew that both her friends were itching to draw and fire their disintegrators. “Not yet,” she warned them. “For as long as possible, we need to be anonymous. I must find the councillors, and find out what the Ciriot interest is in this town.”
From the shadows, they watched the Ciriot patrolling in groups of three, and saw the results when they took interest in a foolish citizen. One of the few Tymoreans to be seen. If the man had not died too quickly for them to help, Kryslie would have acted.
“We need a base, somewhere these beasts would not choose to be,” Kryslie thought her idea. She watched two of the Ciriot forcing a young woman to carry things for them. The woman was wearing a collar attached to a chain.
Keleb touched her arm, and jerked back when he felt a jolt of power.
“Sorry,” Kryslie whispered. She grounded the energy that anger was drawing to her. “What did you want?”
Keleb pictured the area of the city where travellers usually penned their animals, and parked their carriages and drays. It was dusty, low-tech, and should have no one staying there. It would also be of no interest to the Ciriot. With a hand on Jonko’s shoulder, and Keleb holding her arm, Kryslie transmitted there. She looked around, with her eyes adjusted for the dark, and all her senses alert.
“We are safe for now, but don’t assume we won’t be seen or found.”
“How can we seal this city?” Keleb asked. “The Ciriot are everywhere – like a plague of cockroaches.”
Kryslie didn’t recall what cockroaches were, but Keleb was picturing them – and it seemed an apt analogy. Both had hard black armoured bodies.
“What is the general feeling of the city, Kel?” she asked, making her own analysis at the same time. Even though it was night, many people were awake.
“Fear, of course,” Keleb considered as he tasted the emotional aura. “Anger, determination, frustration…”
It was exactly as Kryslie hoped. The people were not defeated.
“Okay – I need to find the city leaders. Since I have met them before, I should be able to find their minds if they are alive and conscious.”
“What about Kel and I?” Jonko asked.
“Find the people in charge of the resistance – look for the commoners from the Peace Corps, town guards and so forth. I also need to know where the College of Scientists are hiding. I hope they had enough warning to hide. The Ciriot like controlling scientists and stripping their minds of knowledge.”
Keleb shuddered.
“I don’t intend to risk them,” Kryslie assured him. “However, before that, I need to get you both a set of protective armour, and get their help to find ways to deter or exterminate the Ciriot.”
“Won’t you need armour too?” Keleb asked. He caught Jonko shaking his head.
“I can’t draw on the aura in armour,” Kryslie told him. “Keep alert. I am going to try to find where the leaders are.” She seemed to be staring at the horse stalls opposite as her mind went searching.
Jonko quickly whispered to Keleb, “Anyone with the power to withstand a disintegrator or energy beam, doesn’t need armour.”
“Does that mean they can’t kill her?” Keleb marvelled.
“I’m beginning to think so,” Jonko admitted. “But there is only one of her here, and she can’t be everywhere at once. I’m going to watch the gate.”
Neither Keleb nor Jonko were comfortable in the dusty stabling area. It felt too exposed and they had heard altogether too much about the Ciriot in Amik. At least if they wanted to try sleeping there, there was a supply of dried grasses to use for bedding, and small pump for water. Both wondered how the three of them could succeed in removing so many inhuman monsters.
Finally, Kryslie returned her attention to her present surroundings and said, “The mayor and the surviving councillors are being held in the recycle plant in the room with the incinerators. It is hot and generally noisome.” She didn’t describe the poor state all the men and women were in. “The scientists went to an underground bunker, where they once did dangerous experiments. I reached the chief scientist, and he told me where the shield generators are for the emergency shelters. They had not finished installing them when the city was breached. They have the list of shelters and the ones with out protection.”
“Would there be Aeronites here too?” Keleb asked.
“Probably, Kel. For now, we will treat them exactly like the common people. They are all warriors, and I hope by now they have discovered the treachery of their allies.”
Despite the consternation when Kryslie arrived abruptly within the sealed dugout rock bunker, she was instantly recognised. However, it was the state of her two companions that immediately took everyone’s attention. They scarcely even noticed Keleb.
“I am going back for the other four councillors,” Kryslie announced before she and Keleb disappeared again.
In her absence, those scientists who were also medically trained began treating the Mayor and his senior advisor. The rest began preparing sleeping pallets for six patients.
After her third appearance, bringing the last two surviving councillors and accompanied by Jonko and Keleb, the senior scientist ran to her, bowed, and spoke quickly.
“Your Highness, these people need a lot of help, but be have very few supplies.”
Kryslie stopped his babble. “I cannot bring heavy equipment, but I can take you to where you can get the supplies you need. Where must you go?”
“The main infirmary, your Highness.”
In her previous visit, she and Tymos had accompanied their father on tours through many important city buildings. Every moment of that time returned to her mind and she considered the safest place to transmit to. Not the laboratories, or the scientist’s offices as the Ciriot would go there looking for information. She hoped they had not raided or wrecked the storerooms out of sheer spite or wanton vandalism. Her mind settled on a Spartan looking meeting room, where the walls seemed like blank panels when the display screens were off.
The senior scientist would have run off at once had Kryslie not held his arm.
“Where do you need to go from here?” she asked him.
He spoke directions, and had images in his mind. Kryslie sent Jonko and Keleb to scout the way. She was aware of their ‘all clear report’ and transmitted to the passage outside the storeroom. Then when her depth perception proved it to be empty, transmitted in. Jonko and Keleb followed.
“We will probably only have one chance at this,” Kryslie warned. “And probably only a very short time, if they have found a way to watch the parts of this building.”
She knew they had, for she sensed a purposeful sense of malice and anticipation. However, while being alert for their approach, she helped select supplies and load the two trolleys they had found in the room. Then, after five minutes, she told them to keep working.
Jonko glanced her way, and wondered what she was doing. When he saw a purple glow over the door and the frame, he knew. The wooden door exploded, not inwards, but back at the attackers.
“Go. Jon, Kel, get this stuff and our friend here, back to the bunker.”
The scientist had no chance to protest her staying, but she waited only long enough for the others to leave safely before transmitting away to join them.
When the patients were being tended, the non-medical scientists gathered around Kryslie, relieved to have one of the Royals in charge. “What can we do?” they asked.
“Do you know where there might be two sets of armour?” she asked them.
The men and women seemed to glance at each other, but they were all thinking, considering.
“There might be some in the guard house – near the council building,” one of the women suggested. “When most of the Peace Corps people were recalled, they might have left some behind. All those that stayed are common born.”
“Do you know where those people are?” Kryslie asked. She needed the help of those trained fighters.
The woman shrugged, but one of the men said, “Some of our communicators still work. I will try to find something out for you.”
Word came back, some hours later, that the Peace Corpsmen were currently hiding in a warehouse on the far side of the city. They kept moving away from the Ciriot hunts. They said they would come to see Kryslie, but did not dare move before dark.
Kryslie left the councillor that she was counselling, and asked for the address of the building. She knew where it was situated and transmitted there with Jonko and Keleb. She gave the scientists no chance to try to stop her.
As with the scientists, Kryslie was instantly recognised, and here at least, the men were used to the transmitting ability of the Royals. When they finished giving her the traditional bows of greeting, they brought to her two sets of armour, and apologised for not having more spare.
“One of us will give you a third,” Corporal Pritz promised. He was the senior ranked Peace Corpsman out of the other eleven.
“Two is all I need,” Kryslie assured him. “Jon, Kel, put these on.”
“But you, your Highness, you mustn’t risk yourself,” Pritz objected.
“I’m fine, and I don’t need armour,” Kryslie assured him, and asked quickly, “How many of you are there?”
Pritz responded immediately. “Just the twelve of us. We are yours to command. Until now, we have been doing what we can to reduce Ciriot numbers. Have you orders for us?”
“I need information first,” Kryslie began. “What is your estimate of Ciriot numbers in the city?”
“Well over a thousand,” Pritz decided and the other men nodded. “We have killed over two hundred, but the hooded aliens are onto us now, and it is getting harder to find targets.”
“Then we will devise new tricks,” Kryslie announced. “What is the status of the city shields?”
“The initial shields are still operating,” Pritz told her. “The perimeter shields were activated on receipt of Governor Xyron’s orders, but they were sabotaged by some damn Aeronite infiltrator. That is how the Ciriot came in.”
Jonko spoke up, “By now, the Aeronites will realise that they are as much targets for the Ciriot as we are. Do you want me to find them, Krys?”
“Later, come here.”
Kryslie checked his armour and asked, “Do you have your personal force screens on the outside?”
“Our guardian told us they were more effective there,” Keleb explained coming over from the side room where he had been donning his armour.
“Well, they work better switched on,” she reminded them.
Pritz looked on with interest. “I haven’t heard of such things.”
“There are not a lot around yet, and I haven’t any spares,” Kryslie apologised. “In this case it is just added protection. The normal armour, such as you are wearing, has a force field impregnated in the metal. It should protect you from all the Ciriot weapons we have encountered so far. Now, Pritz, what have you found to be successful against the Ciriot?”
“Their disintegrators, when we get a lucky shot, and dropping heavy bits of rubble on them. We don’t like to get too close,” Pritz told her.
“Fair enough. Now, listen carefully,” Kryslie said. “The Ciriot armour has weaknesses…” and she explained what she knew. “The trick is, getting in and out fast. They are very strong creatures.”
“Too bad, we can’t shoot poison tipped darts,” Jonko mused. “A nice quiet means of assassination. A dart would probably penetrate that joint fabric, since knives can. And if we could fire it from some kind of gun, we don’t have to be too close.”
The suggestion caused the Peace Corpsmen to go into a huddle. The audible snippets of their conversation held promise of a solution. Kryslie left them at it. Jonko caught her eye and asked, “Is there a poison that will kill the Ciriot?”
“I don’t know of any and we don’t have time to experiment. I do have another idea, and it will require the three of us to prepare the darts.”
Pritz suddenly spun around.
“You’ve thought of something?” Kryslie asked.
“Yes, we can collect darts from the drinking houses and the barracks, and we can try launching them from the gas grenade launchers – but poison?”
“Burnfire,” Kryslie told him, but needed to describe what it was.
“Yes, I know what you must mean, but it is chancy…” Pritz warned. “And I am not sure how accurate we can aim the darts.”
“I think we can iron out the accuracy problems easily enough,” Kryslie told him. “I have the idea of using syringe needles, filled with a trace of Burnfire, and covered with a light metallic seal and these will be inserted onto the tip of the darts. I will handle the Burnfire, along with Jonko and Keleb, as their force shields will protect them if the armour does not. We brought boxes of the needles from the infirmary, and can get more if we need to.”
Pritz sent off half of his men to look for darts, even though it was still daylight. The rest listened as Kryslie explained what the effect would be.
“Once even a trace of the Burnfire gets inside the Ciriot armour, the Ciriot will die, and nothing will remain in the suit. When there is no more fuel, the Burnfire dies out and the armour can be reused by others. Though I suggest that we only use this plan when our targets are outside. That way, if Burnfire ignites outside of the armour, there is less chance of other people or buildings igniting and burning.”
Pritz’s mind was on another point. “With more armour, we can let more of the commoners fight. We’ve been training them, but we will have to mark the armour so we don’t shoot our own people.”
“Do you know where all the emergency shelters are?” Kryslie asked.
“Yes, of course,” Pritz said. “Though not all have the shields installed.”
“I know where the rest of the generators are, so leave that to me for now, but the ones that have the shields, need to be checked and we need to start moving citizens into them. Previously, we have instigated stage two of the census at this point, but that is too dangerous now. If any Aeronites remain, I will sort them out later. For now, they and we have a common enemy. I am hoping they will join us.”
Pritz pursed his lips for a moment, but did not voice his distrust of the idea.
Kryslie quickly delegated tasks. Jonko went off to check the city shields, Keleb went with him to retrieve the unused shield generators, and then went to show Pritz’s men how to install and activate them. At each place, they checked for Ciriot interference, before moving onto the next. Once Keleb was sure the Peace Corpsmen had the knack, he went to inspect strategic targets for sabotage.
Pritz remained with Kryslie to liaise with the city folk, but he finally voiced the question that worried him. “Why seal the city if we wish to drive the Ciriot out?”
“I doubt they will leave. However, to them, the more strongly defended a target is the more valuable they perceive it to be. And I do not think they realise that what is of value to us, has no trade value.”
“The people,” Pritz deduced, “would only have value as slaves.”
Kryslie nodded. “Once we start protecting more places, and killing Ciriot, we don’t want them to call in reinforcements. When they discover the new shields, we will reactivate the rest of the city shields. Until then, they will think nothing has changed.”
No one expected the Ciriot to remain ignorant of the presence of new shields for long, but people were moving into the designated shelters steadily for almost a week before the Ciriot suddenly swarmed to one of the areas. One unlucky family was caught in the glare of a powerful Ciriot light source, and tried to hide behind the armoured form of one of Pritz’s troop.
Kryslie left off her efforts to help the mayor to heal, when Keleb’s thought alerted her. She went to where he was observing the situation. Jonko joined them after reactivating the city shields. Even in that short time, the Ciriot had overcome the group. Pritz’s man had exhausted power and ammunition in his weapons, and although three Ciriot lay dead on the ground, he was a limp form in the grasp of one Ciriot, and the man, woman and two children were held by others. The woman was screaming, the man struggling to reach his children, who were whimpering in terror. The Ciriot were demanding some answer from them, and poking them with one of their rod like weapons.
This situation had been planned for, and already Pritz’s men had begun to edge into a circle around the Ciriot. All were armed with Burnfire tipped darts, prepared by Kryslie.
“Jonko, move around to where the man is being held. Take that Ciriot first and then the one with the woman. Kel, go near where the children are and do the same.”
Both of her friends were wearing stolen Ciriot over robes that were made of loosely woven metal, and in the dark shadows beyond the circle of light, would pass as Ciriot. The Tymoreans knew how to tell the difference.
When all her companions were in place, Kryslie transmitted into the centre of the circle of Ciriot and immediately challenged them.
“What power do you expect to get from children? Are you all cowards?”
Every hooded face turned to watch her and an outbreak of agitated clicking betrayed their recognition of her, and the circle began to close in on her until a louder series of clicking noises stopped them.
Another Ciriot strutted into her line of sight, and walked arrogantly up to her. Nearby, the captured civilians, while still being held, were being ignored.
“We’ll have you, foolish worm,” his clicks translated mechanically. He glanced around at the other prisoners and found them gone. Four more Ciriot were on the ground with a glow coming from the area of the armour’s faceplate. He spun back and aimed a gauntleted fist at the unarmed red head woman, only to feel the woman’s arm blocking his blow.
“You will tell all of your kind to assemble at the traveller’s gate,” Kryslie told the creature. “Those that do, will be allowed to leave the city unharmed.”
The sudden burst of noise from his translator suggested either amusement or anger. It shook its fist free and countered, “And you will make us, worm?”
It tired to grab Kryslie, but was jolted back. He felt the power in the woman and craved to control it. An energy beam lanced out at her, but it simply lit up a nimbus of light around her.
Then the attention of the Ciriot turned to self-preservation as the circle realised that some of them were falling to the ground. Another two dozen of their number were dead and burning within their armour and there was no sign of the cause. The agitated movements distracted Kryslie’s ‘captor’, but then it drew a knife and attacked her. He didn’t live to regret it, for Kryslie’s knife found its mark in the creature’s neck. She withdrew her knife, glanced around the scene, saw that all the guards, the prisoners and her friends were gone, and transmitted away.
Keleb found her back with the traumatised councillors.
“Dom, the guard that protected the family, will be fine,” he told her. “Only a mild concussion. The children were scared silly until they realised that you – the Princess - had saved them. The parents have some badly wrenched muscles, but are otherwise fine. How about here?”
“Improving,” Kryslie told him. She had been using her mind-healing gift on the six councillors in turn. “They have some food ready for us – you had better eat while you can.”
“I will, and I am glad someone thinks of food,” Keleb said with a look better suited to a stern parent. “I will eat if you do.”
Jonko arrived later with Pritz and the darts recovered from the Ciriot armour. He and Keleb had been in stealth mode – invisible to Ciriot sight – when they had attacked and recovered the prisoners.
“We collected most of the cleansed Ciriot armour,” Jonko told her. “Although some of those creatures had the sense to grab those they saw – probably to try to figure out what happened. However, we had already taken the darts by then.”
“Good. We will be able to repeat the trick again,” Kryslie said with satisfaction.
Pritz dared a comment, “Your Highness…” he began.
Kryslie interrupted him. “Call me Kryslie and forget the title.”
“Ah…Kryslie…all the people I spoke to are horrified at the risk you took…”
“It was not a risk,” Kryslie told him, meeting Pritz’s eyes until he looked down. “And I will do what is needed to safeguard the people of this town and rid it of Ciriot. Do not mistake me for something frail and feminine.”
Keleb and Jonko watched the confrontation with faint smiles. Keleb finally decided to comment to Pritz. “Nobody that has been personally coached by President Reslic is anything less than a highly trained nemesis.”
For a moment, Pritz could not connect that statement with the slight, not too tall figure who still stared at him. He saw the grace with which she moved, and thought female, not trained fighter. Jonko decided to add, “Kryslie has taken his Excellency to a draw, more than once.”
Now Pritz’s eyes widened and he swallowed convulsively. Kryslie ignored his discomfort, and began speaking again as if he had said nothing. “We have won this round and we need to keep up the momentum. They will soon work out what we are doing and we must be ready to adjust and change tactics.”
Pritz turned his mind back to the task under discussion.
“We must continue moving people to safety. For now, we leave the shelter nearest the last confrontation alone and concentrate on places the Ciriot have yet to discover. If they begin to take an interest in a place, we will create a diversion somewhere else to draw them away. I will be the diversion.”
Pritz did not protest the statement.
“What is your plan concerning the newly cleansed Ciriot armour?” Kryslie asked him.
“Jonko has suggested ways for us to tell the difference between Ciriot and Tymorean users of the armour.” Pritz’s eyes gleamed with anticipation. Kryslie listened to the ideas and approved. Then she went on to outline her proposed strategies. He was impressed and accepted Jonko’s offer to be transmitted back to his headquarters.
Kryslie and Keleb went to rearm the darts, going to the stone lined and windowless room. They kept the equipment they needed in there, away from accidental damage. The first batch had worked exactly as planned, because during the preparation, Kryslie had learnt a great deal about the properties of Burnfire.
In extremely clean air, the oily liquid did not spontaneously ignite. It required friction and fuel to begin burning. Tests on Ciriot armour stripped from an earlier victim, told them that the actual armour was either metal or a substance saturated with a protective force field – even in the flexible joint areas. The darts, like knives, were sharp enough to penetrate the fabric at the joints, and when the needle tips touched Ciriot flesh the Burnfire ignited. She had feared that the capes they wore over the armour might ignite it, but those capes were made of flexible, loosely woven metal threads and the dart tips simply pushed the fibres aside, and did not ignite.
The darts had been ejected with great force at the target. The scanners in the Tymorean armour, showed the bipedal shape under the capes and robes, and this gave the shooters the right place to aim. The victims had less than a second to send a warning, for the electronics in the suit burnt out quickly.
Their tactics worked for a full week, though after the third night, Jonko and Keleb reported Ciriot observers, who kept back from the ones trying to break the shields on one of the shelters. More Ciriot died without the Ciriot superiors learning anything.
On the eighth night, the scenario seemed to be the same, until Kryslie sent Jonko and Keleb out for a second scouting foray. They reported Ciriot reserve troops hiding in some of the abandoned buildings nearby.
“They have roughly a quarter of their remaining numbers either trying to break the shields or patrolling the streets,” Jonko told her. “I expect the rest will be on stand-by at their garrison.”
Kryslie considered her various plans. “How many more people do we need to get to shelters?”
“The west district is nearly deserted. North and south are well on the way. We haven’t been able to do much in the east since the first attack.”
“Let’s draw them away from the east then, Jon. Have Pritz and his recruits ready there. You, Kel and I will attack their home ground. It is time I gave them a final warning.”
“You intend to go into their garrison?” Keleb queried.
“Yes, and while they try to prove they are better than their current leader and capture me, you two can go and put little surprises in their ships – like Llaimos is doing. As many ships as you can – and look out for looted goods. If you find an