Chapter 2

Sahmad roared, unleashing a chilling cry as the Baranus V7 drew within inches of the Thornatus. The deadly blades attached to his chariot nearly ripped holes in the tires of the opposing vehicle. But at the last minute, Perditus swerved at the controls, and half of the Thornatus V9 rose into the air as it banked out of the way.

Now the Thornatus was caught in an uncontrollable spin. Sahmad reined his Spikits to a halt as he jeered, but at the last minute, the Thornatus righted itself, and a barrage of force blasts fired directly for where Sahmad was waiting. The iron tribe slaver yelped before narrowly escaping.

Perditus smiled grimly: the deception had worked. The Thornatus’ engines blazed to life as it roared in pursuit of the fleeing slaver, who was racing at full speed to where the Kaxium was waiting.

Kirbraz and Scodonius exchanged glances.

“Should we help?”

“Probably.”

The Kaxium stirred and roared to life as if, upon waking, it were met by the sight of the Baranus heading straight for it.

As it blazed forward, Sahmad’s eyes widened, then narrowed as he noticed for the first time the new arrivals. Snarling in anger, the slaver crouched, fully prepared for impact.

Chariot and motorcycle raced for each other, its riders grimly realizing that none of them would back down.

All seemed lost.

Then, with a shout, Kirbraz triggered a mechanism that threw the two cycles of the Kaxium apart with a small force, as the two motorcycles shot apart. Scodonius looked startled, but his reflexes kicked in, and both he and Kirbraz moved like one, drifting and skidding their motorcycles around. A devastating Thornax launched from Scodonius’ smaller half of the Kaxium, while Kirbraz’s larger half lurched forward, ramming the Baranus and sending it tumbling over. The prisoners’ binding came loose and they along with Sahmad were hurled headlong into the sand, while the panicking Spikits scrambled for control as they rolled over each other.

The Kaxium slowed. Perditus had disembarked the Thornatus and was hurrying over to the two prisoners, while Scodonius and Kirbraz were trained on Sahmad.

“What was that for?” exploded Scodonius. “We were all set to ram him from the front! Destroy the Baranus for good!”

“Yes, and ourselves besides. The tactic worked, stop screeching about it,” Kirbraz shot back.

Sahmad picked himself up woozily from the sand.

“The cavalry arrives,” he sneered. “Even in matters that wouldn’t have concerned any of you.”

Perditus stalked forward.

“When you raid traveling caravans and sweep Agori from their homes —- their loved ones —- it doesn’t just concern us,” the Fire Glatorian frowned. “It concerns all the villages.”

“These prisoners are not from your villages — though I would be happy to trade them for ones that are.”

Perditus threw a glance at the slaves and realized for the first time in the night that their armor was brown.

Seeing Perditus’ expression, Sahmad sneered. “We live in a society that exiles and estranges on the flip of a coin. These, too, are exiles. And the realm of exiles is my domain to rule.”

“Oh, stop wallowing in your self-pity,” Scodonius rolled his eyes.

“You’re disease-ridden, Sahmad,” Kirbraz added. “It’s a wonder you haven’t infected us yet.”

At this, the iron tribe Agori actually froze. The words must have cut deep.

“So, after all this time, there is still no mercy left for me,” he said hoarsely, as if a lump had formed in his throat.

The Agori looked like he wanted to say something more, but a large thud in the sand beside him, signaled that the Spikit had somehow disentangled and righted the chariot. With a glance at his attackers as well as the prisoners, the Iron Agori leaped into his chariot and yanked on the reins, seeming to choke as he fled.

The Water Agori exchanged glances and shrugged. Perditus looked in their direction.

“It’s you two,” he said, with a less-than-enthusiastic tone.

“It is us!” Scodonius announced proudly, rolling forward in his motorcycle. “We have arrived. In the nick of time, it seems. And not for the first time.”

“What happened here?” Kirbraz snorted. “I don’t think we’ve seen you since our double-match a few years back.”

Perditus moved in the direction of the prisoners. “I’m not entirely sure myself. I was on my way back to Vulcanus from Tesara when I ran into him.” Leaning over, he untied and unbound the Agori that were lying helpless in the sand. Once the gag was off the first one, she coughed.

“Ack,” she sputtered. “Phooey. Yuck.” She looked up at Perditus, who was almost finished with the second prisoner. “Fire tribe!” she exclaimed, with a surprising amount of surprise.

The second prisoner rubbed her face, trying to get the sand out of her eyes. When she spoke, she seemed to have a more husky voice.

“Thank you for saving us,” she grunted, standing and shaking off her restraints. “Thought we were lost when the chariot fell over.”

“Don’t mention it,” Perditus remarked, looking over their armor in the moonlight. No, his eyes hadn’t deceived him. The armor plating was indeed brown. The Glatorian had indeed seen brown armor before… but where?

“Where do you two hail from?” he asked.

The first Agori visibly hesitated while the second looked at her.

“We’re from the northern regions. North of here.”

In spite of himself, Perditus threw a glance at the two Water Agori, who were each still in their respective halves of the Kaxium. Both of them shrugged but threw thumbs-up and encouraging looks at the Fire Glatorian.

“The northern stretches of the mountains, huh? What tribes are active up there?”

“Uh… not many, really. Just a few scattered farmers trying to extract what little food we can from the soil.”

“I see…” Perditus frowned. He hated to pry, but it hadn’t answered his question. He was only vaguely conscious that the northern regions were still populated. As far as he’d been aware, only the Skrall had inhabited the region, and they’d already evacuated the land in favor of Bara Magna. Inexplicably, he felt a tingling sensation on the rear base of his neck.

“What are you, some sort of Skrall?” Scodonius asked, again drifting forward in his cycle. “Never seen brown Agori before.”

“We’re—”

“We’re Skrall,” the first Agori interjected. “Or at least, a more peaceful side that broke off from their society.”

“Skrall aren’t too welcome around these parts,” Kirbraz grunted. Scodonius shot him a glare, “Hush.”

“We don’t like them either,” the second female Agori nodded. “That’s why we broke from them. We didn’t want to accompany them to Bara Magna, but the Skrall took us prisoners and forced us to work as guides as they came south. They were going to take us back and release us, but this slaver intercepted us before we could escape.”

“That is… distressing to hear,” Perditus mused. Their story seemed to check out, certainly, and their brown and black coloring pointed toward rock tribe rejects. Notoriously, the Bone Hunters had broken from rock tribe society eons ago, and rumor had it, many of the female Skrall had as well. As they embraced fanaticism, it seemed the rock tribe was just cutting out more and more of its members.

“And now…” the first Skrall Agori hesitated, “now we are down here in foreign lands without any clue how we can get back. I couldn’t ask anything of you, but if… if you could point us in the right direction, we would be more than appreciative.”

For a moment, no one said anything.

“Sure,” Kirbraz said suddenly. “The north is—”

“Right this way,” Scodonius smiled. “Come, we’ll take you.”

His partner shot him an expression of complete shock. “What? No, we’re due at—”

“The Dark Falls, remember? It’s on our way.”

Kirbraz leaned over so he could more discretely whisper in Kirbraz’s ear.

“And what if these ‘Skrall’ aren’t to be trusted?”

Scodonius pondered this, but soon shrugged.

“Come, now, Kirbraz,” he grinned. “Live a little.”

“I will accompany you as well,” Perditus declared. “For I am also heading in that direction.”

“Oh, really?” the second Skrall Agori gasped. “That’s perfect! Though we hate to be too much trouble…”

“Nonsense,” Perditus smiled wryly. “We will be more than happy to see you safely there. Isn’t that right, you two?”

“Some more so than others,” Kirbraz grumbled.