Unexpected - Chapter 7

Unexpected

by Orion9

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

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Chapter Seven: Wrong Place, Wrong Time

The Conservatory, The Royal Zenandrian Palace Grounds
Zenandria
1530 hours

Once the door closed behind him, Trip had to pause for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting inside. He then moved silently towards the middle of the room, making his way to the steps there. They were well hidden by a huge potted plant and he wouldn’t have noticed them at all if Xanindra hadn’t taken the time to point them out to him. Squeezing past the large pot, he paused at the bottom, listening hard. At first, he heard nothing. Then came the unmistakable sound of a child’s whimper from above him. He looked up, his heart pounding.

Gripping his makeshift weapon tightly, he crept slowly up the steps. At the top, he went down on one knee, peered out cautiously through the mass of plants, and quickly took stock of the situation. There were several shadowy figures at both ends of the building but it was too dark to see who they were. He counted four altogether, two on each side. Both teams were doing exactly the same thing. While one stood guard at the steps, the other moved slowly towards the middle.

They were obviously searching for someone, which meant that they had not found Xanindra yet. Good. Trip hoped that her Imperial Guards were with her, although deep down, he knew that the chances of them being there were very slim. The scream that he had heard before he ran in here had come from a man, not a child.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” one of the men called out.

Trip frowned. The speaker’s voice sounded strange – synthesised. It was as if a machine was talking, instead of a living being. He also held a piece of cloth in one hand, which he used to wipe his eyes every few minutes or so.

“There’s no one here to help you, little girl,” the man continued smugly. “Your guards are gone and so is your friend.”

Suppressing the urge to groan out loud at that remark, Trip closed his eyes briefly and dropped his head to his arm. The situation seemed worse by the minute. One against four was not what anyone would call fair odds. It didn’t help matters that he was unarmed. Trip looked at the branch he was still holding and grimaced. Maybe I’ll just poke them full of holes until they surrender…

The man spoke again and Trip’s face was grim as he listened.

“Make things easier on yourself and come out, child. No one’s going to hurt you!” His tone belied his words as he started to sound angry and impatient.

“Don’t make us come get you!” he yelled suddenly.

His voice echoed loudly throughout the building, startling even his own men, not to mention Trip, who almost fell back down the steps. The silence that followed was almost deafening in comparison. The men had stopped moving and were scanning the area, clearly hoping that their leader had managed to scare the young princess into showing herself.

Steadying himself, Trip was preparing to move to a less precarious position when a slight sound caught his attention. He cautiously pushed a few leaves aside. His eyes widened when he saw Xanindra, crouched underneath a table a few metres away directly in front of him. She was alone.

He quickly assessed the distance that separated them. While they were currently hidden from the eyes of the men, there was an open space between him and the table. There wasn’t any way to get across without being seen as long as the men still stood there.

He looked around and found a pot filled with tiny green stones. Putting down the stick, he proceeded to pick up several of the pebbles. Keeping an eye out for the men, he threw one pebble after another at her direction. The first few bounced noiselessly off the many leaves that were in the way. Finally, one of the stones hit the little girl in the arm and she looked up, startled. Trip immediately put his finger to his mouth to stop her from crying out his name. She stared wide-eyed at him, her hands covering her mouth in her surprise.

Even in the dimness of the building, he could see that she was terrified and her eyes were brimming with tears. Trip swore inwardly. Only monsters would terrorise innocent young children. He signed to her to wait until he gave her the signal to move. She nodded jerkily, her dark blue eyes wide in her small, pale face.

He picked up several larger stones and threw as hard as he could towards a far end of the building. Immediately, both men changed directions and started to move stealthily towards the sound. Trip waited until they were almost blocked by several thick leaves before he gestured at Xanindra to run towards him.

She was almost halfway through when she accidentally kicked over a long slim pot. It shattered into pieces on the floor. The men spun around and she froze in terror at the sound of their voices.

“There!” One of them pointed at her. Both men raised their arms; they were each holding a strange device in their hands.

Upon seeing that, Trip swore and broke cover.

“What the–?” Another man yelled in surprise when Trip popped up from nowhere.

“I thought you said he had already left for the palace!” The leader yelled in anger. “Get him!”

Shots whizzed past his ears as Trip ran desperately towards the young girl. Reaching her side, he grabbed her and ran back the way he came, shielding her with his body. He had just reached the steps when he felt a sharp pain in his right leg. Ignoring it, he ran down the steps as quickly as he could, carrying the young princess. He could hear the men shouting upstairs and knew they would eventually find the set of step that he had used.

The leader was yelling in anger, his synthesised voice echoing eerily around them.

“Use the other gun, you fools! We need her alive!”

Reaching the bottom and completely out of breath, Trip put Xanindra down and whispered urgently, “I need you to run with me, okay?”

She nodded mutely. He grabbed her hand and they made their way as silently as they could to the left main entrance of the building. They were almost there when a man suddenly appeared on the bottom step. Trip quickly ducked behind a nearby cupboard, pulling Xanindra along with him. They crouched there, their hearts pounding as they tried to breathe quietly through their mouths.

Trip was just about to sneak a look at the man standing guard when Xanindra shifted slightly and bumped into him. He hissed in surprise at the stab of pain he felt. He didn’t realise that he had been hit until his hand, which had automatically gone there to his left side, came away bloody. He looked down in almost comical surprise. A dark stain was already spreading through the cloth. There was another on his right leg. He looked them over and was relieved to find the wounds were not too serious. In fact, the one on his leg had almost stopped bleeding. Too bad I can’t say the same for the pain though, he thought as he bit back a groan.

Wishing he had something to take the edge off the pain, he glanced up and was disconcerted to find Xanindra looking wide-eyed at his wounds. Her lower mouth quivered suddenly and she looked almost ready to burst into tears. Injuries temporarily forgotten, he hugged her to him, trying wordlessly to comfort the frightened child. She sagged against him for a moment before hugging him back fiercely, eliciting a slight smile from the engineer. Perhaps they had more than a chance of getting out of here after all.

“Make sure they don’t get away!” Someone yelled directly above, startling them badly. “Remember, do not hurt the girl.”

Another man cursed loudly before yelling in anger, “I can’t see anything! There are too many plants blocking the way! It’s like a freaking jungle in here!”

“That’s why it’s a conservatory, you idiot!” The first man snarled in reply. “Now quit whining and find them!”

“Is there another way outta here?” Trip whispered. He noticed no one said anything about not hurting him.

Xanindra sniffed and wiped her eyes. She answered shakily, “There–there’s a side d–door but no one h–has used it in a l–long time.”

“Where is it?”

Xanindra pointed to their right. Trip could see a small metal door hidden by some foliage. He eyed it, trying to judge the distance between them. There were several exposed areas along the way. On the whole, it was a risky move but right now, it was their only way out. He could hear the men coming nearer. He checked the communicator again but all he got was static. Beside him, Xanindra whimpered softly.

“Shhh…,” he said softly, stroking her hair. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. We’ll get out of this, okay?”

He waited for her nod before taking her hand again.

”C’mon.”

They moved as silently as possible towards the door. Although he tried to ignore them, Trip knew that his injuries were slowing them down. He bit his lip to keep from crying out when he accidentally bumped into a table. They were almost at the door when he felt a pinprick at the back of his arm. He looked down and found a tiny dart there.

His head was already spinning by the time the next two darts hit him. He struggled to stay conscious as the powerful drugs swiftly coursed through his system. He looked back up at the door but it seemed to be moving rapidly away from them. He reached out a hand towards it and tried to move forward. As he did so, his legs buckled from under him and he crashed painfully to the ground.

“Go…” He managed to whisper to the terrified child before the darkness overtook him.

Xanindra looked down in horror at her unconscious friend. She turned to run but the next dart found its target and she too slumped to the ground unconscious.

The three men looked expressionlessly down at Trip.

“What do we do with him?” one of them asked.

“Leave him,” growled the leader as he paused to wipe his watering eyes. He had always hated this place. When he was in charge, one of the first things he would do would be to level it to the ground.

He turned off the vocal synthesiser. He didn’t need it anymore, now that the child and her interfering friend were out cold. He continued in his natural voice, “It’s not that he would be able to tell them anything anyway.”

As the man bent down to pick up the princess, he glanced at Trip’s direction and paused in disbelief. He straightened slowly, the child in his arms.

“Wait! Here, hold her for a minute.”

Passing his load over, he crouched down and studied the unconscious figure on the floor. His eyes glinted with malicious pleasure and he gave a cruel laugh as he stood up.

“Well, well, well … if it isn’t Commander Tucker. Now this is an unexpected bonus.”

He gestured to one of his men.

“Bring him along. We could always do with a little fun.”

TBC

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