Athyyah

Chapter Twenty-Three The power of words

Kris and Anthieyah sat in her kitchen when a knock came from outside. With some difficulty from the bandages Anthieyah got up to see who was there. Waiting at the entrance was Arnold and Kaitlyn.

"What brings you here?" she asked.

"Well, that's kind of what we were going to ask you," replied Arnold in an irritated tone. "Yesterday, we come here to meet up with Kris and Valerie to find you and them gone. So we go to the ruins and you weren't there either. The same was with Alex and Ellenah. We decided to try here again. Finally we found you. Where are Kris, Valerie and Alex?" He was clearly frustrated. Which for Arnold was a rare sight. "I would think someone would have the decency to tell us something."

"I'm right here," answered Kris as he came over to the door. He felt a bit ashamed that they had completely forgotten about them.

"Why in the world are you in that thing?" asked Kaitlyn.

"It's a long story, but it's why you couldn't find us and why the other two still aren't here," Kris answered.

"Well, we've got all day," replied Arnold. "Why don't you let us in and tell us the whole thing. It's the least you could do after running off and not even leaving a note for us."

Kris felt really bad, he had not thought about them when they left and he hadn't considered what would happen with them suddenly gone.

"Of course, would you come in?" Anthieyah replied moving aside to let them through. Though Kris had to move into the first room in order for them to pass. They gathered in the small kitchen and sat around the table.

"Alright, now tell us, just what happened?"

"Well, it started by Anthieyah getting captured by some vorlixx. So Ellenah and the three of us went to the ruins and put on these suits. We then went after Anthieyah in the hope she was still alive. When we found her we freed her and made a run for it with vorlixx hot on our tail. We eventually lost them, but at some point Valerie fell behind, possibly due to a suit malfunction. In any case, Alex and Ellenah went to find where she might be while I returned here with Anthieyah." Kris explained keeping the explanation as short as he could.

"Oh, my," exclaimed Kaitlyn when Kris had finished. "That's awful."

"Well, should we just sit here, or should we go out and help them find her?" asked Arnold standing up.

"No offence, but none of use are really cut out for this sort of thing and frankly if we're going to mount a rescue, we might as well get those who are actually qualified," Kris answered. "I feel that was already our mistake with Anthieyah."

"I suppose you're right," replied Arnold seating himself. Kris was unsure if he detected relief or disappointment in his tone.

"That means we'll have to go see Melan, doesn't it?" asked Kaitlyn.

"That's right," answered Kris. "We'll need her okay to enlist the aid of her warriors."

"Well, why don't we head over to see her? Getting in shouldn't even be a problem seeing as you are basically her secretary," Kaitlyn said looking at Anthieyah.

"True it will be easy to get in to see her if she is not currently occupied by town matters. However, Ellenah has been trying for several years to get Melan to authorize an attack on the vorlixx, with no success," Anthieyah replied.

"Well, this isn't exactly going to be an attack, merely a rescue operation," Kris clarified. "We'd only take what was necessary to get in and out without problem. Though I'm unsure as to just how many that would actually be."