Chronicles of the Kiridians
Chapter 10

For it is written in the Chronicles of the Kiridians:

Show mercy to adversaries.

Coldness is not a strength, and often times can be your greatest weakness.

To remain tender-hearted is to keep humanity.

Humanity is what keeps us all alive.

Brandon and Ralph stare at us, their Kiridian guns pointed at us with dastardly intent. I look around and try to measure any vantage point that we can use to get away from the two men that are currently after us.

“What do you see, Earth girl?” asks Brodie.

He looks at me with eagerness, and Raina and Joey do the same. The two men with the guns have yet to make a move, but surely that will change the second we let our guard down. “I don’t know,” I whisper back to him not taking my eyes from the guns. “Aren’t you a prince? Don’t you have some military training? What’s the plan here?”

“Raina,” he says looking at her. “Activate plan Alpha, Beta, Gamma,” he says with a wink.

“What does that even mean?!” says Joey

“1,” says Brodie from in front of me. “2,” he says reaching over and grabbing my hand. “3!” he says.

Upon saying 3, Raina and Brodie grab ahold of Joey and me and run in opposite directions. We dive into the forest, and I hear Ralph and Brandon curse as they try and figure out what they should do.

“How did you know what plan to use on Earth?” I ask him curiously.

“I didn’t,” he says. “I just told her to split up,”

He winks at me as we dodge in and out of the forestry. I hear trampling footsteps from behind us, and when I turn my head around I see Ralph chasing after us. If looks could kill, both Brodie and I would drop dead from the rage that is projecting from his eyes. “I’ll get you two one way or another!” he screams. “Might as well just give up now!”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Brodie calls back as he yanks my body to left. He ducks behind a tree and we watch as Ralph runs by. He bends down to the ground and sniffs it, and then stands straight up again looking for where we could have gone.

He turns toward our tree, and I pick up a rock and toss it in the opposite direction. He turns and quickly runs in the direction that the rock was thrown. Brodie watches him go, and then relaxes against the three and sits for a second.

“What a way to wake up,” he says with a chuckle. “Are you okay? This probably wasn’t how you wanted to spend your day,”

“I’m okay,” I say to him. “I think.”

It’s at this moment I realize what Brodie is wearing. His shorts are puffy and they form a big ball right at the base of his knee. They’re bright purple, and the top he has on is almost like an overly fancy romper. He has multiple gemstones lining up and down the front of his outfit, and he has a hat with a feather in it that matches.

“How long was I out?” he asks me snapping me back into reality. “Or do you want to continue to check me out? I can pose if you want?”

“I wasn’t checking you out,” I say with an eye-roll. “Your outfit is ridiculous,”

“Back on Kirdia it was all the rage,” he says. For the first time since I met him a look of vulnerability falls over his face. “This whole situation sucks, Earth Girl. One second you’re living the high life as a prince, and the next you’re being tracked by your father so he can kill you, and running away from some of the best guards your planet has to offer with a girl from the earth. Funny how all of that works, huh?”

“It’s been sixteen years,” I tell him remembering I didn’t answer his initial question. “You’ve been in the pod for sixteen years. Raina has only been out for about a week and a half. We’ve been searching for a way to make contact with all of you guys.”

“Sixteen years,” whispers Brodie shocked. “Wow,” he says. “That’s a long time to be locked in a pod.” He looks down at his outfit and chuckles. “Maybe my outfit is ridiculous now.” He sinks back against the tree and a solemn look falls over his face.

“At least you didn’t age?” I offer to help. He smiles at my attempt to cheer him up. “I can’t imagine what it feels like to have to go through that,”

A lot of things can change in sixteen years, even looking past the obvious things like fashion. People can pass on, environments can change. The technology alone can be overwhelming. How many iPhones do we have now? It’s a culture shock that the royal family is going through right now, and I wish I could do more to help make them feel more adjusted.

A twig snapping catches my attention and Brodie puts his hand over my mouth telling me to be quiet. My heart starts to pound in my chest as the sound echoes throughout the quiet forest. Another twig snaps and they continue to get closer to where Brodie and I are hiding. Grabbing my face, he turns it toward him and mouths “Get ready to run.”

I nod, and we both get into a squatting position.

“One,” he whispers.

The twig snapping continues to get closer. I want to peak my head around the trunk of the tree to see who it is, but I don’t know if I can take it if I am standing face to face with Ralph again. I brace my hands on the ground like a track runner gets ready for a race, but with every move I make it feels like it’s in slow motion. We aren’t at my house anymore. There aren’t a million people that can see what happens. They don’t have to be careful anymore in the woods. We are the prey, only this time we’ve no advantages to help us get out of this situation.

“Two,” whispers Brodie.

Lena, where are you? I need your help!

“Three!” says Brodie.

We take off running and we whip in and out of the trees. The twig snapping intensifies, and we hear the familiar heavy breathing of Ralph as he chased us earlier. “You two can’t run forever,”

“From the sound of it you can’t either!” says Brodie over his shoulder. “We don’t have to run forever. We just have to outrun you!”

Last time Ralph and Brandon were chasing us, Lena interfered and helped us during that situation. Now she’s nowhere to be seen, or even heard. She sent me on this mission, and now won’t even contact me anymore. Did I do something wrong? Is she not happy with how I’m handling this? Has she abandoned hope? Or has something happened to her?

Brodie grabs my hand and yanks my arm to follow him as he veers off to the right. A flash of green light shoots out directly to the right of me, and a tree catches on fire. “STOP RUNNING!” screams Ralph in a rage.

I hear his gun sound off again, and feel the heat as the green light narrowly misses my head. I let out a yelp, and Brodie turns me in a new direction. I’m not even sure what’s going on anymore, I just know for the first time since we’ve started this mission I’m scared. I was just an “ignorant Earth Girl” at first. I am now actively going against a monarchy that has reigned for God knows how long.

We continue to run when my foot gets caught in a root on the ground. I fall to the floor with a thud, and the wind leaves my lungs as I hit the floor. Brodie doesn’t realize that I’m not behind him anymore and runs for a few more steps before he turns around and starts to run back to get me.

“Run!” I manage to squeak out before Ralph’s thudding appears behind me. He grabs me by my hair and pulls me up to my feet in a headlock. He holds his gun to my head and smiles as Brodie just watches us from afar. Ralph smiles and begins to laugh, the stink of his breath is nauseating. I would rather get the wind knocked out of me a hundred times over than ever be this close to him again.

“Come with me, Brodie, and I won’t kill her.”

Brodie looks at me with a sad expression, and I can tell that he’s contemplating running. He just met me. He owes me nothing. While him getting away is terrific for the mission, it’s terrifying for me. What’s waiting after all of this for me? It’s not ever something I thought of. I just knew I had to help. Maybe this is my swan song.

“Or,” says Brodie as he looks around on the ground and picks up a sharp stone. He holds it to his throat and looks at Ralph defiantly. “You let her go, or I slit my throat right now and you explain to my father why his ritual won’t work,”

What is he doing? He needs to run! He needs to go replace Raina and get out of here. “Brodie! Just run!” I say. “Focus on finishing the mission!”

“Can’t do that, Earth Girl,” says Brodie holding the rock firmly to his neck. There’s a look in his eyes that is surprising. He seems like the overly goofy type, but seeing him in this position, being so strong and regal, it’s not something I expected him to be able to turn on from the countless stories Raina told us before we met him.

“Prince Brodie, we both know that you won’t do that,” says Ralph. “There’s a lot of little ladies back on Kiridia that would be devastated to have their Prince slaughtered.”

“Yes, because working for my father and getting me to die in some ancient ritual is better. I’m sure the little ladies would be overjoyed to know I died another way,” says Brodie mockingly. He turns his attention to me and smiles. “We tend to do a lot of countdowns, don’t we Earth Girl?” he says. “3,”

Ralph’s grip on me tightens and he clears his throat as Brodie gives him a glare from across the clearing. “2,” says Brodie holding the rock and placing it in a more precise location on his neck. Ralph’s heart starts to beat faster as Brodie flexes the muscles in his neck and shows us where his veins are. “3,” he says as he pushes the rock down and a thin line of blood starts to pour down his neck.

“BRODIE!” I scream.

“Okay!” screams Ralph as he pushes me forward, once again causing me to fall on my face. “You win, Prince Brodie. She’s free. Drop the rock,”

My heart begins to race as the severity of the situation I was just in dawns on me. Panic sweeps over me as I realize I could have very easily just died. My breathing begins to get shallow, and I feel my chest tighten as I struggle to take a deep breath. Ralph and Brodie continue to talk, I know they’re talking English, but none of it is making sense. Everything feels like one big blur right now.

“Kara!” says Brodie authoritatively. “Come over here.”

I realize I haven’t gotten off the ground and start to take deep breaths.

Now is not the time to fall apart, Kara.

Getting up from the ground I begin to walk over to Brodie with shaking legs. Ralph is continuing to talk, and once again everything is moving fast. “You can still fix this, Ralph,” says Brodie. “Just walk away. No one has to know you found us. You could have easily lost us in the vast woods.”

Deep breaths, Kara. Lena, can you help me in this situation?! Where are you?

“Forget this!” screams Ralph. “I’m tired, Prince Brodie! I’ve been searching for you brats for sixteen years! I will not let you getaway today. We are so close!” I hear an unknown sound, and see Brodie’s face drop.

“KARA!” screams Brodie. “DOWN!”

I snap back into reality and instantly hit the ground chest first. A green light flashes right where my body would have been and hits a tree on the opposite end of the clearing. Brodie’s eyes are ablaze with anger as he and Ralph continue to argue.

“I cannot let you just leave!” says Ralph. “I was given a mission. I take out this Earth Girl and things go back to normal. She’s the problem here! We would have had Raina weeks ago had it not been for her! Your people need you, Prince Brodie!” I hear Ralph saying as tears start to well up in my eyes.

Lena! I’m about to die!

“I will slash this rock across my neck, Ralph,” says Brodie defiantly. “I swear I will,”

“We both know you won’t,” says Ralph. Brodie’s face drops and I frown as I turn around and face Ralph. “You’ve always been a showoff, Brodie. You fear death. Ever since your mother died. His Kiridian gun is pointed at me, and I know it’s only moments before he shoots it again.

“You leave my mother out of this!” says Brodie. His once stoic face is beginning to show signs of emotions. I no longer see a regal young man standing before me, he now is showing signs of being a normal teenager. “You have no right to mention the Queen,”

I get up and try to run, but a green light shoots from behind me, and I scream and once again fall to the ground. Brodie is frantically searching on the ground for the rock as Ralph looks at me with a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry it came down to this, Earth Girl,” he says. “You were brave.”

A green light shoots out of the barrel of his gun, and I shield my face as the light comes closer to me.

Lena...I’m sorry.

As I hold my hands over my face, a weird sensation starts to overwhelm my body. A silver light erupts in my hands, and right before the light hits me, a giant sword appears and takes the blow. I don’t even feel blast push against the sword, it just takes the blast, and then bounces in the other direction.

I gasp as a scene quickly plays in my head. In it I can see Lena fighting a battle. She swings her sword with great power and passion, and one by one her enemies fall before her. Her sword shines brilliantly in the midst of the battle, and I’m awestruck at the sheer radiance that it gives off.

“What the-” says Brodie as my brain returns back into reality. I watch in horror as the blast goes back and hits Ralph directly in the chest. My heart stops as I watch him fly a few feet backward and fall to the ground.

“What just happened?!” I ask not taking my eyes off the sword. The battle scene I saw in my head continues to play in my head.

A low moan erupts from Ralph as he lies on the floor, and I snap back into the reality of what just happened. I get up and run over to him and sink to my knees. He looks at me with a shocked expression and his breathing is heavy as the wound on his chest gets worse by the minute. The undeniable stench of blood fills the air as his uniform steadily gets stained with the crimson liquid pouring out of him.

“You’re full of surprises,” says the guard with a bewildered face. “How’d you manage to do that?” His face drains of color as he continues to breathe heavy.

“I-” I being to say but my words get caught. “I don’t know what happened! I didn’t mean to hurt you, Ralph, I just didn’t want to-”

“You don’t comfort a dying enemy, Earth Girl. It’s combat 101. Keep in mind I was about to kill you. Go with the prince and get out of here,”

“No one deserves to die alone,” I say.

The truth is I don’t know how to feel about Ralph. At the end of the day, he was just doing his job. He’s a pawn in the grand scheme of the king who doesn’t seem to care for anyone. Ralph isn’t blameless in this, he did just fire a gun at me, but no one deserves to die like this in a deserted forest.

“Your good heart is going to get you in trouble,” says Ralph. His voice is continuing to shake. “You’re in a war now, girl. You have to play to win.” He turns his head toward the sword and he reaches out. “Can I see the sword?”

I look at him confused but nod and hold the sword above his face. His eyes light up as he takes in every detail of the pattern etched into the silver. He smiles not taking his eyes off of it. “I’ve heard crazy things about Lena, but this is a first. I’ve always wanted to see her sword.” He winces as he continues to inspect it. “You must be pretty special if she’s willing to send it down to you.”

“I’m just Kara,” I say. “Nothing special.”

“You need to give yourself more credit. You just killed a decorated soldier,” he says with a chuckle. “The king is relentless, now more than ever, your guard has to remain up. If Lena is on your side, you must be the correct side.”

“Where is he?” I ask him.

“Good...luck...” his voice is cut off, and I cover my mouth as I watch the life drain from his eyes. His head tilts sideways, and Brodie appears behind me and places a hand on my back.

“We need to get anything Kiridian off of him,” says Brodie as he begins to search the dead man’s pockets before me. I’m unable to move as I watch the man who was chasing us only minutes ago lay lifeless on the ground. Brodie grabs a bunch of gadgets from Ralph’s pockets and then gets up standing over him.

“Deabu gon zi de” says Brodie.

“What does that mean?” I manage to ask.

“Go in peace.”

We sit there for a long time as I continue to hold the sword that appeared out of literally thin air. Lena was watching over me all this time. Maybe she just knew I could handle whatever was happening to me in those moments until now. She came and helped when it mattered most.

“How did you get that sword?” asks Brodie. “That only comes to Lena,”

“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “She’s been helping us a lot, but there’s been a couple of times she’s saved my life. I have been wondering when I would hear from her again. Maybe this is her way of letting me know she’s still watching? I saw her, Brodie. It was like a vision. She was fighting and swinging her sword, and it was so radiant.”

“That’s pretty intense,” says Brodie as he stretches out his hand asking to see it. “This is made from the finest of Kirdian metals. I didn’t realize it could reflect a blaster shot, though,” says Brodie. He looks back at Ralph laying on the floor. “I think we should go back and replace Raina and Joey now. Maybe they need help,”

Tears well up in my eyes as I take in everything that just happened, but I quickly wipe them away and clear my throat. “If there’s one person I’ve learned not to be worried about: it’s your sister. She’s a strong girl,” I say. “You’d be proud of her and how she’s handled things being the only one out of the pods.”

“I’m sure I would be,” says Brodie as he walks behind Ralph and clears his throat. “I’m-” he begins to say. “I’m going to move his body under a bush or something. You might want to look away,”

I turn around and hear the sounds of a body dragging, and then the dusting of hands. Brodie reappears next to me and hands me the sword that just saved my life. “Lena probably wants you to hold onto this,” says Brodie giving me a quizzical look. “I still want to understand how that happened,”

“Me too,” I say.

Why is Lena communicating with my through visions? What does this sword mean? How did it just come to me randomly? Oh God, how am I going to explain this to my mom and dad?

Brodie’s wrist starts lighting up and looks down at his bracelet. He quickly presses the center of the bracelet and a hologram of Raina and Joey show up. “We lost the other guard. Are you guys okay?” she asks me.

“Yes,” says Brodie looking at me. “Ralph, however, is not.”

Raina’s eyes narrow as she understands what her brother is saying. “Deabu gon zi di” she mutters under her breath. “I don’t want to think about all of this right now,” says Raina as she glances at Joey. “We need to group up and get back together. We have a lot to talk about.”

“Yeah,” says Brodie looking down at the sword and then back at me. “Yeah, we do,”