Chapter 23

6 1 0
                                    

Red and gold were the colors of the leaves of the trees that lined the road. They rustled in the cool wind and caught her admiring attention. The day itself was bright, crisp and clear...altogether a beautiful one, Keika thought. She loved this time of year; the color of the leaves, the coolness of autumn banishing the heat of summer, even the smells were special. Valerie rode to her left with their party trailing behind them. Both of them were dressed in their white outfits today on Keika's whim. Anubis trotted at the edge of the road to her right, his usual place. The horses were at a walk and there was little sound except for the clomping hooves and the breeze. The day had been uneventful, in fact nothing had happened since they had been back on the road for the past three days, but that all was about to change.

A distant sound came dimly to her ears and broke her attention to the beauty of the day. She focused on the sound and amplified it. It was the sound of fighting somewhere on the road ahead. "Combat! Follow me!" she shouted as she spurred Zenobia into a full gallop from the walk. Her party responded immediately and followed close behind her. Action at last, Keika thought. Those that she closed on would soon find out exactly what she could do in a fight, and there would be no quarter given or taken.

Over her shoulder, she looked back at Anubis trying to keep up and caught his red brown eyes. She pointed to the direction of the sounds of combat over the hill. "Ani...Kill!," she ordered. It was a dangerous order. Anubis was highly trained and could recognize friendly and enemy uniforms, as well as Otani citizens, as they were so boringly dressed. The "Kill" command allowed him to attack unrestrained, and to eliminate any humans that did not look or smell Otani. The road to the sounds was a curving one around a wooded hill to the right. Ani knew he was unable to keep up with galloping horses...he had tried before. Fortunately, the breeze was blowing from the direction of the sounds and he quickly caught the scent of the enemy. He bolted directly into the woods, traveling in a straight line for the source of the smell. Dodging snags and leaping over logs in head long flight, the big dog shot through the forest, growling low, his eyes bright in anticipation of battle.

As the sounds grew more distinct Keika could make out men yelling, women screaming and metal striking metal. She whispered into Zenobia's ear for her utmost, and the horse heard and responded. With a gaping mouth, straining muscle and tendon and heaving lungs the huge and powerful black mare increased her pace, giving her mistress all she had. It was a sprint that she could only hold for so long. They began to pull away from the others.

The sounds grew closer and then they finally turned the last bend and were upon the scene, only forty yards away. Keika was already in AP and her mind went into its tactical mode. Her internal tactical HUD was brought up. She scanned the battlefield and within five seconds had determined what was happening, and calculated what actions needed to be taken. Both hostiles and non-hostiles were identified, targeted and entered into her data base for the battle. In this case there were twenty-four hostiles, and they were engaged in attacking, what had been, a small trading caravan. Four wagons lay scattered about in disarray, one of them on fire, and there were numerous bodies on the ground. Three of the bandits were laughingly ripping the clothes off of a young girl, their intent clear. Her screams filled the air. Another four were wrestling with a powerful looking man, who apparently wasn't going down without a fight. At the moment she spotted them they were just plunging the man's head into the side of the burning wagon. The others were busy looting the bodies and remaining wagons. Valerie, astride her white horse, the swift and beautiful Cleopatra, was not far behind, but the others trailed significantly. The girls would have to fight on their own for a couple of minutes. It was too bad there wouldn't be anything left for the rest.

Keika smiled.

She would consider this a small down payment on that debt father had mentioned. She would go left to help the girl and pointed to the right as a signal to Valerie behind her to try to save that unfortunate young man whose hair was on fire.

Firefly LightWhere stories live. Discover now