THE KEEPERS RISE

Chapter 15 - Black Sheep - Part 1

*Remember to click the play button to listen to the soundtrack as you read!*

"Will'ym!" Velda sputtered, leaning over her knees to steady herself. "How could you do that?"

The tarrephaene glanced apologetically down at her as he wiped sweat from his brow. "You have to know when to cut your losses," he said simply.

"Those were our friends!" she snapped. "They're not just disposable soldiers!"

Will'ym laid a hand on her shoulder. "We have the leverage to come back for them now. That's better than being captured together. They can take care of themselves; they are immortal, after all."

"I doubt they'll have quite the same perspective," she fumed, pushing his hand away. Ozul looked like he was about to add something, but thought better of it and started anxiously cleaning one of his ears, tail twitching madly behind him.

Will'ym had been preparing a sterner reply when they all felt a surge of forward momentum. "We're moving?" Ivy asked nobody in particular, staring into the darkness. Now that the boarding ramp had been raised fully, becoming the floor of a long, doorless hallway, the only lights were their Powerstones. Will'ym's magic stream was still connected to the dagger in his hand, and it emitted a sheer white glow that carried down the hall in both directions.

The four Keepers headed for the bridge. While Ozul and Velda exchanged concerned looks, Will'ym checked for nearby auras and was startled to discover that he couldn't sense the other four Keepers anymore. Dismayed, he quickened his pace. Then he realized something. Dameon, are you still there? What's going on? The connection that the Councilor had prepared earlier was weaker than he had expected, and at first, there was no reply. Councilor?

The thin streams of Light magic around his mind suddenly glowed and brightened. Oh, hello, Keeper, the Councilor replied smugly.

Dameon, you have to help us! Will'ym stammered as he made a quick turn into the ship's central hallway. We were ambushed by a fleet of Red Wolves in the hangar and only half of us managed to get away.

The Councilor's feelings of shock and outrage shot through Will'ym like a jolt of adrenaline. What? Impossible!

Can you keep them from leaving?

Dameon paused to collect his thoughts. Eventually, he told Will'ym, Whichever Red Wolf ships were here are long gone. I've just ordered a search for such a fleet, but we have no visuals on them and it's highly likely that they have already cloaked and made themselves scarce.

Will'ym swore out loud, inviting some pointed looks from his companions. What about us? he asked. Why are we moving?

I had the autopilot on that Dark ship preprogrammed to activate once the boarding ramp was raised, Dameon explained. I'd assumed that all of you would be together when that happened. His focus abruptly drifted from the connection, and after a minute or so, Will'ym started to nervously wonder if something had happened to him.

Finally, as the bridge door came into view, the Councilor returned. The strings of magic twisted and interwove uncomfortably as they became active again. We've spotted them, and just in time. They were about to cross the Border. Hurry to a control panel and I can help you use it. I'll send Light ships after you as soon as possible, but the ship you're on right now is the best equipped to keep up with the Red Wolves anyway.

Will'ym took out the key card that Trycho had given him and unlocked the bridge door, which seemed to have either been replaced or reformed after the anthrod's forced entry. Outside the expansive window, points of light were shooting past the ship, and slight hints of spatial distortion indicated that the Gray-Light Border was approaching. Ignoring the other Keepers' confusion, he rushed to a wall computer and mentally looked to Dameon for further instructions. The screen was completely black, like everything else on the ship, so there was no way that he could work out how to use it himself.

I could instruct you to tap parts of the screen in turn, Dameon mused, but that would be rather inefficient. There is a faster way, if you would allow me to take a little more control. Will'ym nodded in agreement, stoically watching the Border approach, and the Light magic in his mind tightened further, multiplying and branching out in new directions.

Will'ym noticed with near indifference that he had lost control of his right arm. He passively observed his arm lift and his fingers begin to fly across the control panel with a mind of their own. If the ship's course did adjust, it was very slight. As Dameon finished, the magical tendrils gently recoiled and Will'ym's hand became his own again. The ship's computer system intoned, "COURSE LOCKED."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Will'ym turned back to his friends. Ozul and Ivy had ventured closer to the window to watch the Border close in, but Velda was still standing just past the doorway, staring at him. "What did you just do?" she asked skeptically.

"I set a course to follow the Red Wolves. They've already gotten ahead of us."

"The what?"

Will'ym raised an eyebrow. "You've never heard of Red Wolves?" After seeing Ivy and Ozul were similarly confused, he told them, "The Red Wolves are an organization of mercenaries rather well-known for their ruthlessness. They're the kind of people that you hire when you value efficiency over empathy. Supreme Admiral Nicolai is their leader." He chuckled darkly. "I never thought I'd actually meet the man. Despite his fearsome reputation, he's a brilliant inventor, and he's discovered many new ways to blend magic and technology that give the Red Wolves their edge: those wulves, for example."

"That means that someone must have paid them to hunt us down," Velda said.

"Well, not necessarily. The Red Wolves have been gathering power and resources for a long time now, though nobody's sure who their supplier is. Nicolai could be drunk enough on power to want us or our stones for himself."

Velda nodded in understanding and tried to get back to her main concern. "How could you use that screen?"

"Dameon explained the button layout to me earlier," he told her, regretting the white lie as soon as he said it. Seeing Velda's unease as he mentioned the Councilor's name, though, he resolved to not tell her about the connection that he and Dameon had. He knew she would be more focused on the task at hand if she wasn't needlessly worrying like she had been the night before.