The King's Knights

Chapter Twenty-Two: Crash Site

Despite having one of his engines shot out, Renfield made a smooth landing in a clearing in the forest. The craft was partially broken in half; the automated systems handily put out the first. It all looked very repairable to Fate.

Fate had expected to descend like lightning from heaven, collide with the earth, and wake up in a trench. All while under fire by hostile pirates. Instead, he'd woken up with his seat belt still buckled and no sign of attackers. Other than bugs anyway, which had flown in through the emergency exit Renfield opened.

"You play too many video games," said Renfield.

"What?" said Fate.

"You were expecting us to crashland into a warzone and wake up being shot at in a crater somewhere, weren't you?" asked Renfield.

"No, I wasn't," said Fate.

"Contrary to popular belief, not every emergency landing is a crash," said Renfield. "If flying machines got shot down like they do in those games, nobody would use them. It's just a cheap and lazy way to establish tension.

"And you usually slaughter the guys that shot it down five minutes later. So why even have the state-of-the-art war machine? Also, militaries don't fly state-of-the-art weapon systems into a range of anti-aircraft. It's called anti-aircraft because it provides a counter to aircraft."

"So why did we?" asked Fate, a little annoyed at the death of his fantasy.

"Because we didn't even know somebody had them," said Renfield. "The craft is totaled, by the way. We've got emergency power, but one of the engines is shot. The other got under strain, keeping the craft up while doing crazy evasive maneuvers.

"It's nearly shot."

"How are we alive?" asked Fate.

"Shock absorbers," said Renfield. "Designed for a smooth landing.

"And a good landing. These transports would move VIPs and wealthy people, so they had all the top-of-the-line stuff.

"Lucky us.

"We made a landing. Now, we have to stay alive. How many fingers am I holding up?" He raised four.

"Twenty," said Fate in irritation.

"Good enough," said Renfield.

"If we were sheltered from the shock, why was I knocked unconscious," said Fate.

Renfield walked over to one of the benches and pulled up a belt with a plug. "What is this I'm holding?"

"A seatbelt," said Fate.

"Right," said Renfield. "Seatbelts were created by sentient creatures eons ago when the stars were young. All to ensure safety in the event of a crash.

"You weren't wearing one."

"Oh, shut up," said Fate. "Where are we anyway?"

"We were passing over the Black Mountain when we got hit," said Renfield. "Someone blasted us. It's a major local landmark in the Harlenor; the three major nations surround it.

"Well, except Haldren, I think."

"What did it?" asked Fate.

"No idea," said Renfield, peering out the craft. "But from the marks, I think it was plasma-based. There shouldn't be anything out here."

Outside was a tranquil green forest and a breezy air that blew away the bugs. Fate didn't like the look of the trees as they peered out. "So what now?"

"Now," said Renfield. "I've set a distress that should draw us some evac. We should have someone else able to come down here sooner or later.