Once upon an orbit of planet Fait, a playful young girl and her flustered yet resourceful single father must endure sickness, encounter exotic creatures, escape a predatory government, and outwit a wicked wizard to survive just one more day. Having...
"Hello, Scythia," Rene said. "Long time no see. How is your..."
"The girl. Where is she?" Scythia and all the Sirens floated on their aerocycles above and surrounding Rene, with their blasters ready. Rene stood tall and true and unafraid. The strange sun of Fait had reached its zenith in the sky.
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The Sheriffa was asking Nariah's father where Nariah was, and Nariah was hiding only twenty paces away, off to the side of the Sylva Dome. That Sheriffa in blue—leader of the Sirens—her father had warned Nariah about her. That she was after them, always.
"Safe," Rene said.
"This how low you've sunk on your own? You're the last Tetter I expected to find killing the old man," Scythia said.
"I did not kill him."
"Wearing his cloak. Leaving the crime scene. And you're surrounded."
Rene gripped the silver staff more tightly, but kept it at his side.
"Drop the weapon," Scythia directed, her voice like hard, dry ice, "Raise your hands. Don't try any of your tricks. Tell me where the girl is, and maybe I'll let you live. That you've kept her alive this long might be worth something. Good faith. A low-level position in West Tower. Get smart. Get good with your government. You'll get to live, in law, or die outside the law."
"You think working in one of Gorchen's towers, my daughter locked away in some education camp, is letting me live? When you tried to get rid of me the first sento, you
swore I'd never see her again, remember? A father without his daughter, without freedom, without each other, is no life to live at all."
Nariah smiled to hear how much her daddy loved her, how brave he was. He would never let that horrible Sheriffa take her away. They would be together forever, and she knew this because of the invisible golden chain that connected her father's heart to her own heart. But why did the Sheriffa seem so familiar? It was only the lower half of her face that was visible, from the helmet she wore, plus the uSee visor that masked her eyes and top half of her face. Still, Nariah felt she somehow knew what the Sheriffa looked like underneath.
Scythia touched something on the handlebars of her aerocycle and raised one finger into the air for Rene to see. "You see this?"
Rene squinted. From her hiding spot, Nariah clicked her ultra-goggles to a magnifying lens and looked at the Sheriffa's raised finger. On the tip of the finger, there perched an ant. Scythia said, "My little friend here says the old man asked you for shinwha. This happened earlier this morning?" Scythia gave a forced laugh, like a quick stab. "The crazy old man said that to everyone in the Neath he healed. Nobody else took shinwha seriously. Nobody but you. You're not special, Rene, just especially stupid."
Rozy Mandias, in her red uniform, floated behind Scythia, impatient. "She said drop the weapon and raise your hands, Scarthroat. We've got better things to do today, like, getting my hair styled for the Black Banquet."
With her goggles, Nariah noticed that the Sirens on their aerocycles were each slowly floating slightly forward. Their circle above her father was drawing tighter.
Rene and Scythia were staring at each other. All Scythia could see was Rene, nothing else but him, her hate so singularly focused.
Scythia said, "Surrender in three sentos, Scarthroat, or die in four, and I'll find her before the sun sets. One."
Their eyes locked on each other, their bodies opposing each other, an impasse of such differences. Nariah found it hard to stay still, her body feeling all twisty, but she had to stay quiet, stay hidden, or else the Sirens would find her.
"Two," Scythia threatened. The Sirens on their cycles moved closer, closer.
"Day's getting longer, Scyth," Rene smiled. "See you again I hope never."
At this, Rene looked back over his shoulder, right to where Nariah was hiding with her goggles, and smiled straight at her.
Scythia began to exhale "three," then stopped short and snapped, "Sirens! Fall back!"
Wrapping the cloak around himself, Rene jumped forward in a spin just as the Sirens all flew inward at him. The shadows that the aerocycles cast from where they were floating edged closer to Shadowslider's hem. As their blasters fired and scorched the spot where he had been standing, Rene Naza had disappeared. Scythia cursed.
Nariah felt her father appear behind her, pressing his hand gently over her mouth, going, "Shh," and then, wrapping the black cloak around her, from the danger they disappeared, together.
Scythia on her aerocycle charged over to Nariah's hiding spot, but she was too late. They were both gone.
"What just happened? Where'd he go?" Rozy Mandias shrieked.
Scythia just scowled, floating next to the Sylva Dome. "That cloak, it transports the wearer in and out of shadows. Shadowslider."
"Shadow-whatter?" Mandias said. "Like, magic or something?"
"Sirens. Light this skidhole up. Burn every shroom, Every shanty hut. I want Zeal Shalva to see the Neath from the Other Side. Not one shadow anywhere. We'll flush them out. Fire."
