Rise or Burn

Chapter Seventeen

Two guards led them to a jump ship. The same sleek black model as the ship that had taken Andy away back on the small island of Elth. It had a pointed nose, narrow two hundred feet wide wings, massive twin turbo jets at the rear and a laden looking cargo hold. At the side of it was the Wythyn insignia, a pair of white wings and two gold blades crossed over them.

Kol was brought back to that day. The day Andy was taken. He'd been so afraid. Immobilized by it. He hadn't done a thing to stop the Wythynians. He'd ran. He'd let Andy down.

But today would be different. Today he was getting Andy back. Finally, after all the traveling they were going back home. Back to Dorian's Isle. Even if it was just until Andy and Anna went back to earth. They were going back to the palace today.

"There you are," Bedric said. He was standing in the threshold of the ship's open door in full gear. His black armour fitted with a large blaster at the back and a hood hiding his pointed tip ears. He looked down at them and sneered then he called, "Dillion, Sep." his gaze shifted to the guards. "Bring them in."

Dillion and Sep brought them into the ship were they set them in the cargo hold. There were built in seats in the steal wall interior of the ship. Dillion, the soldier Kol thought was Dillion, instructed them to buckle up. They did just that. A few minutes later another Valek soldier climbed into the ship. She had her hood pulled off, revealing a bobbed head of flame red hair. She had grey eyes the colour of granite. Kol remembered her from the island as well. Remembered how she'd ordered his and Hae's death. He clenched his jaw as she stopped in front of them.

"I am Captain Cheshia Lycrest of the Valek Imperial Forces," she started. Her voice firm and commanding. "You have been put in my charge and it my duty that we reach Zouye and retrieve Andrew Echowood, the second bearer of the Foxton amulet. Your job," she turned her eyes to Anna, "is to issue that he comes quietly. You are to follow my instruction and orders. Understood?"

"My job is to find my brother," Anna countered. "We're not part of the Valek, we don't have to follow your orders. I made a deal with your commander but it doesn't mean we're submitting to you."

A tick formed in the captain's jaw but she didn't say anything more. Instead she turned and walked to the cockpit. Dillion followed after her, leaving Sep to keep guard of the three of them.

It was another few minutes before the ship started moving. There were two quick, loud thumps from under the jump ship, and a repeated whooshing noise that sounded like a spinning propellers as the ship moved from the hanging. Once out in the open it moved down the runway, working its way to a climb before it was levelling off and then cruising. Kol was clinging tightly to his seatbelts throughout the whole process. He was decidedly not a fan of flying.

To take his mind off the experience he took deep breaths and tried to think of the things that calmed him. The first was easy: cookies. The second: his sister. Then the ocean. Walking around in the palace's secret tunnels. The view of Oak Point. Samma's folktales. Annoying Sevan. All the things that made up home.

"How are we going to find him?" he eventually asked as they soared through the night's sky. "Bebet is a pretty big kingdom. How are we going to know where he is?"

Anna pulled out a piece of paper from her cloak. "Commander Grydon gave me a spell to help with that," she explained.

Hae huffed. "The witch hunter gave you a spell," she said. "Isn't that a bit hypocritical of her. Her people have been hunting and killing anyone who uses magic for the last century and she just gives you a spell to use."

Kol looked to Sep, expecting them to say something but they remained unmoving. Their blue gaze focused straight ahead as if they couldn't hear the conversion at all. Kol whispered, "Does it matter?" He leaned closer to Hae and Anna. "I mean as long as we get Andy does it really matter how."