Chapter Eight
“So do you have a way of getting around those heat scanner devices?” I whispered out.
Zayri nodded and motioned her head to two of her men. As far as we could tell there were only two of the scanners that picked up on people’s body heat in and around the slave city.
Time passed and in the fading rays of afternoon sunlight I saw a very strange sight. Two men with hands interlocked, as they bent over at the waist facing each other, were closing in on the farthest heat scanner. I looked at the scanner nearer to us and saw the same thing occurring.
“To the device they don’t classify as human, but rather as a four legged animal of some kind so no alarm is raised.” Zayri whispered.
“What’s that he just put over the front of the device?” I exclaimed in question.
Zayri had been rather cryptic in laying out her means of accomplishing the unified task we both faced. Instead she’d insisted it wasn’t wise to be too dialed into any one plan, because on a big job like this things would constantly be changing and any plan could prove faulty. I’d gone along trusting her, but right now I felt like I was a bit in the dark as to what was going on.
“Bags of ice.” She said.
My brow furrowed before straightening in surprise. Looking to her I said, “
She gave me an affronted look and said, “You know I am! I’m the best!”
“I’m inclined to agree with you on all points, when it comes to you being the best.”
She smiled, but then quickly sobered as she said, “You need to start the evacuation of your people quickly. At best you have four hours until the ice melts and the heat scanners are back online.”
I nodded and started to leave. I stopped and looking back I noticed her already looking at me. Staring deeply into her eyes I said, “You take care of yourself now!”
“Aye aye Marshal.”
“Taran.”
“Yes, Taran.” She said patiently and I hurried on to my task not liking the fact that I couldn’t be of help to her with hers.
I needed to get my people out. As uneducated slaves they stood very little chance in the coming technological struggle other than for being cannon fodder. Zayri and I had both agreed it was best to get them out of the equation as soon as possible.
Reaching the city I was ushered into a packed house full of waiting people. I recognized some of the older ones, but the younger faces were new to me.
Royan stepped forward, “You have a plan?”
“I do. Everyone is leaving. Now!” I emphasized heavily.
They stared at me aghast, “How?” Royan asked doubtfully.
“Why you’re going to walk right out of here. The devices that keep track of you are currently blind, but they’ll only be so for about three more hours. We’ve got to be out of here and have you all back on the planet before then. Alright now, I’m sorry there’s not more time to explain, but we need to move!”
The room came unglued and dispersed as the room of people spread out to inform nearly forty thousand people that the time to leave was now.
“Tell everyone to dress warmly!” I called out after the departing people.
Royan caught my hand, “If we get past these devices and to the planet beyond, how will we survive?”
“Where you’re going will only be temporary. There’s a series of caves where some friends of mine have been living. There should be enough room to hold us all until…….” My voice trailed off as I listened for a moment to what had sounded like a cry of alarm, but had really only been a baby crying out instead.
“Until what?” Royan asked impatiently.
“Until the planet is set back into harmony.”
“You really think that’s possible?”
“I do, but it does no good for your people to be slaughtered here if the fighting should spill over from the upper city.”
“If we are leaving then who is to help you overcome the enemy?”
“I found some friends who are willing to help us. Even now a plan is being enacted to cause the beast men to greatly doubt their abilities. My hope is that most of them will flee instead of putting up a fight. Hey you two over there! I’m going to need you to carry him.”
Royan protested, but eventually gave up and allowed himself to be carried along in the flow of humanity exiting the city. Forty thousand of the quietest people I’d ever heard shifted out of the city virtually noiselessly as shadows drew dark upon the land.
Pushing them hard I led them to the cliff and there I had to cajole them to jump. Once a few jumped and the others saw the wind portal in action the others boldly stepped forward and jumped.
It had taken me almost three hours to get the people the short journey from the city to the cliff portal. We were here now though and people were disappearing quickly.
Once the beast men were aware of an incursion being made they most likely would have terminated the slave city fearing that the only incursion that could occur would be from them and not from some outside source. As if to echo that sentiment the sound of loud explosions and the resulting trembling of the surface of the moon beneath my feet had people jumping over the cliff in double-time.
I ran back through the woods until I had an overview of the valley below. The slave city was gone as if detonated in place!
They must’ve had the location of the city ready to blow at a moment’s notice as I saw none of their ships in the air by which such total destruction could have occurred so quickly. Concern for Zayri lit up brightly in my mind, but I forced myself to run back and check up on the status of my people’s exodus.
The last few hundred of them were jumping unimpeded over the cliff and confident that Zayri’s minions that we’d left behind back on the surface of the planet, in order to direct the people to the cave systems, would do their job I in turn raced off through the forest for the upper city.
What I would do I was not sure. Most likely get in the way, but I had to be involved. Quite a few people were risking their lives for a cause not their own and it was high time that I did too.