Chapter 20: The Shadow of Ra
Vision returned to Nia with one hell of a headache; warm bright lights soon revealed ornate floors and a beautiful glass chandelier; a luxurious bedroom meant for a Queen. Her arms felt chill, a reminder that her custom-cut uniform had left them bare; yet it was a relief that it had remained, though somehow cleaner than it had any right to after the battle in the camp. Nia held the back of hear head—still heavy with pain—trying her best to remember how she got herself into this mess when she heard an all too familiar feminine voice, the last voice she wanted to hear…
“So you’re finally awake, Sethite woman,” Thalya said, her voice contemptuous.
“P-princess Thalya?” responded Nia, her shock outweighed her antipathy. “What happened?”
Thalya crossed her arms. “The hawks have captured us and are holding us captive.
“Although,” she continued, pointing to the huge window behind her which displayed the rows of skyscrapers of the city outside, and the white clouds amongst them. “It seems quite the gilded cage they’re holding us in, which certainly explains how you were so comfortable taking your beauty sleep here.”
Ignoring the jab, Nia instead looked around. The UEC Lieutenant saw a wooden gate of a double door which surely served as the way out of this room.
“You’re wasting your time,” Thalya said. “I’ve woken up hours before, so I already had a look around. I tried to wake you up, but you were simply too out cold. I suppose I might have hit you a little too hard.”
Then, memories returned to Nia, as she remembered what had happened before everything went dark. She had knelt before a dying hawkman, ready to heal, and right behind her was…
“It was you,” Nia cried, pointing at Thalya. “You knocked me out!”
Thalya grinned, and shrugged. “Guilty as charged.”
“Then what are you up to?” Nia asked accusingly. “Is this another one of your sick games to get Abel for yourself?”
The claims of Nia turned Thalya’s grin into a frown, and she spoke as if discombobulated, “As I have said before, we have been captured by the hawks. Both of us. Yes, I knocked you out, and I would do it again…”
“Wonderful,” Nia quipped.
“… yet I myself had been double-crossed,” Thalya continued, “by that traitorous dandy Horus.”
“Horus?” Nia said, her eyes widened. “You mean the hawk king?”
“Did I hit you so hard you became stupid?” Thalya snapped. “Of course I spoke of that King Horus.
“Hear me, Sethite woman. We are currently in the Floating City of Ra, prisoners of King Horus of the Hawk Tribe. He is known for his… taste in women, though his whim changes like the wind, as his three beheaded wives may attest to.”
Nia frowned. “Sounds like a charming guy.” Then she looked to the Kruptosian Princess. “So how are we going to get out of here?”
“I don’t know,” Thalya said.
“You mean you haven’t figured it out yet,” responded Nia. “Right?”
“No, I mean I don’t know,” Thalya repeated, her voice hurried, her tone defensive.
At first, Nia thought Thalya was feigning, scheming as per her usual self. But a closer look at her expression—especially her eyes—showed a woman utterly at a loss; she had been outmaneuvered, and now she had no idea how to extricate herself out of her troubles. If there was ever any doubt of the Kruptosian Princess’s sincerity regarding her captivity, that doubt was all but gone now. In all honesty and despite everything that had happened, Nia Ennis felt sorry for Thalya daughter of Cain.
Suddenly but slowly, the double door began to open, revealing a woman with a reddish hair with wings on her back, grace came very much naturally to this hawkwoman, even as she bowed both Thalya and Nia couldn’t help but be awed.
“Greetings,” she said. “I am Actae, favored servant of His Majesty. And I am here to welcome ye brides of Horus. Your king will soon be here, I bid ye to prepare thyself.”
And with that, Actae retreated through the double-door before it closed.
Nia raised an eye. “Prepare… ourselves?”
“You know what she means, Sethite woman,” Thalya said. “Be sure to get dressed and be at your very best… or else. Get yourself some new clothes, there’s a fabric materializer in the closet.”
Nia looked down at her own clothes, the custom UEC Space Force uniform. “Looks good to me.”
Thalya looked at Nia with confusion and disbelief, she thought it was a joke at first. But Nia ignored Thalya’s stare, and she remained adamant.
If it’s good enough for Abel, it should be good enough for that Horus guy, Nia thought. Oh, Abel.
Somehow—she didn’t know how—Lieutenant Nia Ennis knew that Captain Abel Ramsey, her Captain, was her only hope out of this nightmare.
***
The soft electric sunlight of the Kruptosian dawn shone upon the wrecked ruins of what was once the Cainite concentration camp. It was upon this camp, where Nia was taken by the hawkmen, that Abel now stood ready to face Cain the Conqueror once more.
Even with two of his companions—Rick and Muwatalli—by his side, Abel couldn’t help but find the prospect of meeting the Emperor of Kruptos to be intimidating. But instead of the towering leader of the Dragon Tribe, Abel was greeted by another red-skinned man—one he had never met; unlike Cain, the man was no giant, though he was equally black-armored with a similarly red sword, though more proportioned for him. As he stepped forward, the redskin gave Abel a bow.
“Captain Abel Ramsey?”
“I am,” Abel said. “And you are?”
“My name is Enosh, Captain of the Dragonguards. And I am here to inform you that His Majesty Emperor Cain the Conqueror is to arrive soon.”
Rick, standing next to Abel, interjected, “I wish I have an errand boy to order around when I’m running late.”
“Not now, Rick,” Abel whispered back.
Muwatalli chimed in, “I thought that was funny.”
And it was as Enosh said, as a black airship flew over the camp, revealing itself as it came out of camouflage. The airlock door opened, and the towering figure of Cain jumped out of it, and began to slowly hover down; attached to the back of his dark armor was a square contraption unleashing combustion upwards and downwards in an alternating fashion.
Soon, Cain finally made his landing: right next to Enosh, just in front of Abel.
“Hah,” Cain said. “So the Sethite decided to show his face after all.”
But Abel, far from awed, looked at the Emperor with intensity. “You’re late.”
“All the better for you,” responded Cain. “After all, that gave you more time to evacuate your prisoners back to the Forests of Light.”
Abel’s eyes widened; Rick and Muwatalli was shocked as well.
“Surprised?” Cain said, smirking. “You shouldn’t be. I know everything that goes on this planet. After all, we the Dragon Tribe control where all Kruptos goes, it is in my city where the planetary steer rests. Despite the hawk king’s pretensions, it is I who has the all-seeing eye.”
Upon hearing that last phrase, Abel looked to his lower arm, where he had attached the hawk bracer he recovered, which turned out to be a perfect fit for him.
Cain pointed to Abel. “You’ve figured it out, haven’t you?”
“I have,” Abe said, nodding. And he was not referring to the identity of the kidnapper, that was obvious. Rather, he thought of the nature of the wandering Planet Kruptos—a redundant term if there was any for planets are wanderers by their very term. The arrival of Planet Kruptos to Earth Space, the disruption of the Electrosphere, those things were no accident. Cain’s desire to conquer Earth, it wasn’t some spur of the moment thing; the emperor had had his sight on it for some time. And why shouldn’t he? In Cain’s own words, Earth was the center of the universe—to control Earth was to control the universe.
This alliance was always going to be temporary, Abel knew that in his mind, if not his heart.
“And yet,” Abel said, “I have need of you, Your Majesty. Is your offer still active, or is this yet another trap.”
Cain shook his head. “No trap, Abel Ramsey.”
Thus, the two men shook hands.
***
In the cloudy skies above the Dour Plains, close to the Desert of Death, the Cainite Air Fleet had amassed itself, rows and columns of airships lined up. In the middle was Cain’s flagship, the Avenger of Sevenfold, which was easily the largest of the airships, and looked to be a carrier as it held inside of it other airships and surely some planes, if the swarm of smaller aircrafts around it was any indication. The fleet was a fearsome sight, surely even King Horus of Ra would tremble in fear when, not if, he caught sight of it.
Tailing close behind it was the Star Surfer, neither Abel nor the rest of the crew had any desire to get caught in the middle of Cain’s fleet, even if they were allies for the moment.
The control room of the ship was rather crowded for the moment, numerous lion warriors were occupying the place; though most of the freed prisoners that had made camp the night before had been returned back to the Forests of Light in the morning, a significant number remained in the ship for the assault on Ra. Most of them were content to be at the dining room or the middle quarters, but many had to be brought up to the upper deck, thus their presence in the Star Surfer’s control room.
Nothing to worry, though. Asmunikal remained in the middle deck to keep things calm while Melia and Turtey kept any overly curious lions from entering the lower deck. At the upper deck, Chief Muwatalli was there to keep order while Abel and Rick were at the main seats as pilot and navigator respectively.
“Readings remain normal, Cap,” Rick said to Abel, then paused. “I think I can take it from here.”
“You sure?” asked Abel.
Rick nodded. “Definitely. It’s high time you take a look at that jetpack, I mean… wings of fire Cain gave you. I left it in your quarters to make sure no curious cat would tinker about it.”
“Right,” Abel said.
The UEC Captain remembered Emperor Cain’s words when the Dragonguard Captain Enosh gave it to him…
“The hawks are an aerial people Their cities have… gaps, places impossible for us to reach but mundane for those with the gift of flight. I’m sure you can use them well. The hawks think they have the advantage over us because they can fly, the Wings of Fire nullifies that advantage.”
“Thanks for the gift… I think. But what of the lionmen?”
“We have none that fits their broad physique. And even if we do, I am not stupid enough to arm the lions with the gift of flight.”
“I see.”
***
Nia looked out the window to see the Floating City of Ra below. The place looked rather… inviting; hawks flying around as if they were their own flying cars, and on the ground they walked as well. There were even lionmen and even red-skinned Cainites on the streets.
In truth, Ra looked to be a place Nia would enjoy visiting. If she had arrived here under different circumstances, she was sure she would have loved it.
But behind Nia, quite a distance away but perhaps too close, was Thalya, clad in what could only be called clothing in the loosest sense of the word; the dark haired, red-skinned Princess was ready to use the only thing she had left. And as she saw Nia, not even bothering to change—seemingly calm, assured even, despite the both of them having been reduced to members of a harem—Thalya seethed with hatred as she remembered that look of pity she had given her…
You think you have me figured out, haven’t you, Nia Ennis? Wrong. You know nothing about me, Nia Ennis. Nothing! I will make sure you perish, Nia Ennis. And in your dying moments, you will regret ever having pity on me.
The double door shook, and slowly began to open. Thalya and Nia both quickly made their way to the center, ready to see the person waiting behind.
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