Little Lightning

Chapter 29

Lyrical let out a breath. Lucas, who still stood beside her, wrapped his little arms around her leg. Lyrical had a sense she wasn't the only who's life flashed in front of her eyes. 

"Wait, but isn't that unfair?" Lyrical accused, her eyes narrowing. "I mean, if you already decided beforehand, then we're going to die, either way, right?" 

"Silence!" He shouted. Lyrical flinched, that same feeling of fear rising up in her. He inhaled deeply as if calming himself. "Correct." The man conceded, nodding slightly, a slightly crazed smile on his face. "But this way, you get to live a little longer." Lyrical shivered, but not just from the cold of the cave. 

Lyrical noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that Kirtash's hands were creeping to his thighs. He must have stowed some of his knives there. The man saw it too, and without uttering a word, signaled to two of his compatriots, who moved towards Kirtash so quickly, Lyrical could barely see them. In an instant, they stood behind him and reach grabbed his wrist, and used the other hands to push his shoulders down, forcing him on the ground with his hands pulled back behind him at what must have been a painful angle. He let out a surprised cry and grunt when they pushed the side of his face into the ground. 

"What are you doing?!" Lyrical shouted, completely forgetting about any sort of etiquette she might have known. She whipped back around to face the Tribus, anger rising up and drowning out any remembrance of the fight with Kirtash that might have held her back. 

"He was reaching for weapons. For all we know, he could have been sent to kill us." The man said casually, his arms folded. He shrugged, almost as if he had no control over it. "Now, dear Zaylee, please explain." And so, Zaylee launched into her story. When it got to the part about the man that had died, she left out the fact that Lyrical was injured while pushing Kirtash out of the way. For what reason, Lyrical did not know, but she did know she was grateful for it. 

"I see..." The man mused, rubbing his chin. They held their breath. "Welp, you're dead." He clapped once, and the people who stood beside him began moving towards them at the same time.

"Wait, wait!" Zaylee cried as they grabbed her hands and forced them behind her back. Lyrical got into her fighting stance, but she knew she wouldn't be able to do much with her injured shoulder. One of the people grabbed her arm, and she wrenched it out of their grasp.

"Don't touch me." She growled.

"She's the weapon!" Zaylee cried as they forced her to her knees. "She's the weapon that the Bluetiens need so desperately!" Lyrical grimaced. She did not like being referred to like that. Not that she didn't like being a weapon, but saying that the Bluetiens needed her? That didn't exactly leave a nice taste in her mouth, especially considering the way that they had mistreated her and Azalea and Kirtash and Lucas. 

Everyone froze. 

"She is the one they believed could take us down?" The man turned to Lyrical and she shivered at the frightening intensity in his gaze. "Well, that changes things." He nodded to the people holding them, and they released them. At least, all except Kirtash. "Change of plans. You, my dear granddaughter, have convinced me." Lyrical resisted the urge to point out that Zaylee hadn't convinced him of anything. "The one that has the knives and the weapon will be locked up, for safety purposes. The rest of you, if you are sure these are the right people, I have a mission." 

"A mission?" Zyan asked. 

"You are to kill the Bluetiens leader. Make sure you do not kill the blind old woman or the man who can't speak. They are to be interrogated. Just the leader."  Lyrical blinked, taking a moment to comprehend what he meant. Wait. Yia and the Loram weren't the leaders? Neither of them was? "If you manage to do that before they can destroy us, I will let you all go. And--" He wagged a finger at Zaylee and Zyan. "--you will have your true forms returned to you."

Lyrical blew out a breath.

"And if we fail?" Zyan asked, ever the skeptic.

"You die. But you're going to die if you don't try, so its a pretty obvious which choice is the better one." The man shrugged. Zaylee glanced back at them, the wheels in her head obviously turning. "Tic tok. We don't have all day." The man said, miming looking at a watch on his wrist. The way he acted so much like a human from Earth made Lyrical uneasy.

"We'll do it."

"Great!" The man clapped his hands once. They released everyone except Lyrical and Kirtash. "As of now, because this one is dangerous--" He pointed at Kirtash. "--and that one is potentially unstable--" He pointed at Lyrical here. "--we will keep them in custody."

"Custody?" Lyrical muttered under her breath. "You mean your taking us prisoner?"

"Clever girl." The man smiled at her. "But don't worry, we'll let you out as soon as we can prove that you are not A) going to explode, and B) that you won't attack us randomly."

"Wait, but we need their help to catch the leader of the Bluetiens!" Zaylee protested. The man sighed, obviously annoyed.

"Zaylee, dear, do you remember what happened last month?" She didn't respond. "Only last month, for the first time in thousands of years, a Bluetien managed to break into the Erlax. Do you really think we can take any risks, especially now?" Zaylee looked down, a defeated sigh escaping her lips, but it was answer enough. "Exactly. Don't worry, they will be well taken care of. In the meantime, rest, and if I were you, I would already start with a plan."

"Why so soon?" Zyan asked, suspicion already in his voice.

"Oh, didn't I tell you? You have one year to catch the man, or woman, who is at the top of the Bluetiens, no more and no less. So, if I were you, I would get going." He shooed them out while they protested, an almost sadistic smile on his face the entire time.