Rag'ell knew it was a setup.
Everything suggested it. He could feel the strange tension hovering around them, as if the trap were about to snap shut.
The tall, damaged buildings they passed on their way provided perfect hiding places for the rebels.
The collapsed houses, overturned cars and debris prevented them from moving faster and scanning the area more carefully, which played into the hands of their enemies.
"Our sensors have picked up signs of life, my lord," Maw-ghet informed the Supreme. "They are everywhere."
"How many?"
"About fifty." Ardanians were slightly fewer in force, but numerical superiority was not a major factor at the moment.
Although they were walking into an obvious trap, Rag'ell did not give the order to retreat. Perhaps he did not believe that any attack would threaten them, perhaps it was his overconfidence in the superior abilities of Ardanians.
Or perhaps he ignored all his instincts and experience because he finally had Gabriel Cassel within his grasp and didn't want the man to escape at any cost.
He longed to meet him, to challenge him, to look into those proud eyes and bring the rebel leader to his knees.
Rag'ell was protected by an electromagnetic shield that the most powerful blast or missile could not penetrate. It made him feel safe. But he was the only one of their group to wear this latest marvel of Ardanian technology.
The regular soldiers weren't equipped with them, only Maw-ghet owned one, but he hadn't thought it necessary to take it on this routine mission.
This turned out to be a big mistake when the humans actually attacked a few moments later.
Against all logic and common sense, they suddenly charged, firing from behind the ruins, hidden in the rubble of the destroyed buildings.
"Defensive position!" Maw-ghet shouted to his soldiers, who were in perfect formation, ready to fight and, more importantly, to protect their Supreme.
Rag'ell was undeterred by the firefight between his soldiers and the Earthlings. Although the humans had acquired several Ardanian weapons and were outnumbered, the tactical advantage was clearly on the side of his highly trained soldiers.
He glanced at the attacking figures in their filthy clothes and old uniforms. Gaunt, desperate and ill-equipped, they were no match for a perfectly armed force of the best Ardanian warriors.
Did they think, in their naivety, that they could surprise them with stolen weapons? They might succeed at wounding a few of his soldiers, but the human casualties would be many times greater. This brief skirmish would soon end in the bloody defeat of the rebels.
Maw-ghet stayed near their leader, ready to defend him. But none of the enemies were able to get close enough to threaten their Supreme. Precise Ardanian fire stopped anyone who wasn't hiding behind the ruined walls of houses and wrecked vehicles.
Several explosions rang out, fires broke out. Black smoke billowed into the air, but the choking fumes did not reach Rag'ell through the air filter in his helmet. He could hear the screams and cries of the wounded, mostly humans, though the number of casualties on their own side was beginning to increase as well.
Was Gabriel Cassel among the attackers?
Perhaps in response to that thought, a familiar figure emerged from the burning wreckage.
The dark-haired man, whose face he had remembered from the footage, skilfully moved through the rubble and car wrecks, using the debris for cover. And he was closing in on him.
As if completely devoid of any instinct for self-preservation, the rebel leader charged into the middle of the fiercest firefight, ignoring the purple flashes of energy missiles flying past his head. One hit and he would have died.
Cassel's courage, bordering on insanity, fascinated Rag'ell. Maw-ghet, spotting the man, immediately fired at him, and although the order was to take the rebel alive, the shot was aimed right at the enemy's chest.
And it hit its target.
The Supreme felt disappointment, expecting the quick death of the daring Earthling. Disappointment was quickly replaced by amazement. Maw-ghet's shot was swallowed by the energy barrier.
"He's got our shield!" The unit commander shouted, a hint of panic in his voice.
Maw-ghet realised what this meant, how dangerous the enemy attack had become, how serious his failure really was.
And he understood what the rebels were trying to do. He already knew the goal of this suicide mission. To kill their Supreme.
He set out to meet the dangerously approaching man, ready to eliminate the huge threat even at the cost of his own life. Ardanian soldiers, who also understood the gravity of the situation, quickly joined him, concentrating all their attacks on the dark-haired rebel.
But protected by their own shield, Gabriel Cassel had become immune to their firearms. Only brute force could stop him now.
Rag'ell watched in fascination as the Maw-ghet attempted to incapacitate the swiftly approaching rebel, who had already dodged the five Ardanians attempting to take him down.
Gabriel, however, had a considerable advantage over them. He had hit the Ardanians with his stolen weapon before they could get close to him. The wounded Maw-ghet slumped to the ground, but still had enough strength to contact a nearby base via communicator and request reinforcements.
Though the dark-haired man fought tirelessly, the rest of the rebels were nearly scattered. And despite the surprise attack, even Cassel was running out of time. The metal bracelet on his forearm flashed warningly, indicating that the shield was almost depleted.
Still, he kept going.
He disposed of another pair of soldiers and headed straight for Rag'ell, who should have been alarmed by this bold assailant, but instead felt only excitement and impatience.
How long had it been since the Ardanian leader had faced anyone in hand-to-hand combat? He was looking forward to it, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He grabbed one of his blades, ready to meet his opponent.
But the fight never happened. Gabriel didn't get to him.
The finest Ardanian warriors would not allow their lord to be threatened. At the cost of injury, at the cost of their own lives, they charged the attacker, finally stopping him a few metres short of his target.
They brought the man to the ground, pinned him down and disarmed him. As he lay in the dust, they pressed him down hard, his arms pinned behind his back.
The red blinking shield went out. It was discharged.
Quite irrationally, Rag'ell felt disappointed and reluctantly returned the blade in his hand to the scabbard on the side of his battle suit.
"Bring him here," he ordered the soldiers, "and contact the base and have them send a medical team immediately. Tell them we have wounded."
The Supreme looked around, trying to estimate the casualties. Maw-ghet was shot but alive, yet three of his fighters were down, and if help didn't arrive quickly, that number could increase. However, there were many more dead enemies.
The two Ardanians roughly lifted the man from the ground and brought him to their master.
"You accepted my invitation after all, Rag'ell," Gabriel said mockingly in fluent Ardanese.
"How dare you address our Supreme by name?" One of the soldiers snapped and hit the man hard in the face.
He would have struck him again if Rag'ell hadn't stopped him with a wave of his hand.
"Release him," he ordered.
The two soldiers holding Cassel reluctantly let go of the prisoner's arms. Their Supreme's order didn't seem reasonable, but they obeyed. The rebel was practically helpless without his Ardanian weapon and shield anyway. He could do nothing against a fully armed Rag'ell.
Gabriel stood tall and proud before the Silver-Haired Butcher, whose proverbial silver-white hair and most of his face were hidden beneath an impenetrable helmet. Only those purple eyes shone brightly and piercingly through the helmet's visor.
The Supreme inspected the captive in detail, from the dirty, tattered uniform to the defiant eyes that returned his gaze without the slightest hint of fear.
The rebel had shown great intelligence and strategic thinking in setting this trap. Moreover, he had taught himself their language and could speak it with near-perfect intonation. Even a tricky vowel like the silent 'g' in Rag'ell's name he pronounced with the precision of a native Ardanian.
The sound of Gabriel's voice speaking Ardanese, daring to call Rag'ell by his own name, awakened something in his heart. Something forbidden and dangerous.
And he didn't want to admit that Cassel's appearance was also strangely appealing.
He liked those blue eyes, whose vibrant colour reminded him of the planet he'd spent months gazing at through the porthole of his spaceship.
He liked the wild, unruly hair so in contrast to Rag'ell's silvery white. None of the Ardanians had such dark hair, and he wondered what it would feel like to touch those black strands.
He liked the sun-tanned face, bronzed by the unpleasant glow of this system's star. The skin of the Ardanians, on the other hand, was alabaster white and prone to nasty sunburns if exposed to direct Sun's light for too long.
Where did these thoughts come from? Judging that man by his appearance was illogical and irrelevant.
Yet he couldn't help himself. Gabriel Cassel intrigued him and he became more and more fascinated by that Earthling.
For a moment he toyed with the idea of opening the visor of his helmet and looking into the man's eyes without any barrier, but he knew it would be unwise. Enemies were still moving around them, even though the fighting was nearing its end.
Reinforcements had arrived from the base.
Some of the soldiers chased the fleeing rebels, while the medical team immediately started treating the wounded.
Cassel was also wounded, his face bruised, blood glistening on his cut lip.
The Ardanians were bleeding the same red blood.
Mindlessly, Rag'ell stepped close to the prisoner and wiped the few drops of blood from Gabriel's lip with his gloved hand.
Looking back, he realised that this had been the main mistake.
Rag'ell underestimated him, he didn't think clearly. He allowed himself to be enraptured by those beautiful blue eyes; eyes that shared the very same colour as this planet, how he remembered it from the orbit.
Deep blue eyes that reflected hatred, defiance and determination.
Mesmerising eyes whose owner suddenly held the Ardanian dagger, Qar'a.
The laser blade sparkled in the blinding rays of the Sun, which had chosen this moment to peer through the grey clouds.
A swift and unexpected movement of the enemy's hand.
The blade slipped easily through the shield, penetrating even the hard material of the battle suit, and buried itself in Rag'ell's neck.
"Welcome to Earth," he heard Cassel's mocking words before falling to his knees, holding the bleeding wound.
~~~
I love the music of Thomas Bergersen and 2steps from hell, I often listen to it when I'm writing, so maybe you'll like it too. Check out the video.🙂