Kharon Chapter 80
Emma, Sparky, Luke and Jacob are walking the frozen tundra. “The suns are setting. Maybe we should find shelter for the night.”
No sooner has Jacob finished his sentence when the Ice King’s voice bellows, “We gave you a home and this is how you repay us.” The foursome turns to the sound of the voice and sees the Ice King and Ice Queen standing with an army behind them. “Now you must be terminated! Exterminator do your thing.”
A man steps out in front of the Ice King and Ice Queen heavily armed and wearing ice armor. “Marcus!” Cries Luke and Jacob in unison after laying eyes on the exterminator.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”, cries Luke.
“So my old pals show up on this berg and I get to do the honors of wasting ya. My lucky day”, says Marcus.
“Do you think Sparky has enough of a charge to wipe out all those soldiers?”, asks Jacob.
“I don’t think so.”
“Then I suggest we….RUN!”
The four of them turn around and take off in the opposite direction. “After them!”, yells Marcus as the soldiers charge in pursuit. “But I want them alive!”
Jacob, Luke, Emma and Sparky continue running until they come to a curved high wall of ice. “Shit!”, cries Luke. “Where the hell did this come from?”
“How the fuck does anyone find their way around this fucking place?!”
“I wonder if they manipulate the terrain”, Jacob ponders out loud.
“You can worry about that once we figure a way out fo this shit storm”, says Luke as he turns back and sees a horde of ice soldiers sprinting towards them. Suddenly the soldiers halt their pursuit and all look up above the four fugitives.
“Why the fuck did they stop?”
Jacob points above them. “Guessing that has something to do with it.”
The others look up and see stretching all across the ridge above them are finned fish-like humanoids.
“Are those…?”, Luke trails off.
“I think so. I thought Sarnacks went extinct when the sky was smeared”, says Jacob.
“What are Sarnacks?”, asks Emma.
“The original inhabitants of this planet, supposedly”, mutters Jacob.
One of the Sarnacks on the ridge lets out a half howl and half screech. With that they begin to pour over the ledge towards the ice soldiers. The ice soldiers also charge and the two armies collide in a bloody melee.
“What the hell is going on?”, yells Jacob as he and the others try to run for cover while the fighting rages. Just then the ice starts cracking.
Emma points to the growing crack. “Uh I think we’re fucked.”
The ice shatters beneath them and they go sliding down into the island on large sheets of ice. Luke’s map to The Gardens falls out of his belt as he is sliding and he scrambles to grab hold of it as they continue to descend down the slope. He catches it just as he comes to a ledge. He frantically uses his gun as he goes over the cliff and the coil springs out and grabs onto an icy protrusion. As he dangles over the dark chasm he reorients himself and searches for Emma and Jacob. He sees them hanging on from a small shelf in the ice several yards away and slightly above him.
Jacob is gripping onto Emma’s arm with one hand and the ledge with the other. Emma clutches Sparky tightly under her other arm. Luke realizes that they won’t be able to hang on much longer. Luke quickly tucks the map back into his belt and starts to work up momentum to swing over to them. As he swings a chunk of ice hits him and stuns him but he manages to hold on to the gun and continues to try to reach the others. Just as Luke takes one last gigantic swing over to them Jacob looses his grip and they start to fall. Just as Luke reaches for Jacob the map which was knocked loose by the falling frozen debris flies out of his belt once more from the rush of air. He doesn’t have time to grab for both it and Jacob so he extends his arm for Jacob and grabs hold of him at the last moment. Luke watches the map fall into the darkness. His head bows in defeat.
“Good thing they didn’t find the viper on you”, says Jacob breathless but not realizing the map is lost. Luke nods at him and gives a half smile. He then hits the retract button to pull them all up to safety.
Kharon Chapter 81
Emma, Jacob, Luke and Sparky are making their way through the tunnels and crevices forming deep inside the ice island. “Is it my imagination or does the ice appear to be shrinking”, asks Emma.
“Yea. I think you're right. It’s almost like the island is melting somehow”, says Jacob.
“Is that why it’s like a damn steam bath in here?”
Emma points to a weird looking mechanical ball like structure. They can barely make it out through the steam but it looks arcane yet advanced at the same time. Like something out a steampunk comic book. “Do you think that has anything to do with all this?”
“Fair bet”, says Jacob noting the glow of fire that seems to surround it.
“Hey! You found us!”, comes a familiar voice.
“Simone!”, cries Emma as she runs up and hugs the familiar figure walking through the water vapor towards them.
“We were just about to head out to try and find you once Kiarah returned.”
“Where’s Kiarah?”
“She went to go get the Sarnacks to help keep the ice people busy while we got our ship back.”
“They’re waging war on the ice people right now. How the hell does Kiarah know the Sarnacks”, asks Jacob.
“We’ll worry about that later. We gotta get outta here. The whole island is melting”, says Luke.
“I know. Kiarah found the freeze tech they used to build the island. That’s what that thing is”, says Simone gesturing towards the weird sphere. “She rigged my fire sword to it so now it’s melting the ice instead of controlling it.”
“You’re melting the entire fucking island while we’re on it?!”
“There you are”, says Kiarah's voice. Kiarah strolls up to the group. “Good. That means we won’t have to go looking for you.”
“You could have gotten us killed!”, yells Luke as he makes a movement towards Kiarah. But he is quickly stopped by Emma who gets between them.
“You gave me your word.”
“Arrrrgghhh….fine. Can we all get off this fucking iceberg already?”
Simone smirks. “I see you’ve managed to tame the savage beast.”
Luke shoots Simone a look. “What is that supposed to mean?”
But before he can get an answer Jacob asks Kiarah, “How did you get Sarnacks to help us? I thought they were extinct.”
“They are not. They just prefer to keep to themselves. We Quarsians had a special relationship with them. They agreed to do one last favor for me. They hate the noise this island makes in the waters anyway.”
“Why do you always nearly kill us to save us. Will you fucking keep us informed of your plans next time?”, says Luke.
“The Quarsians are used to attuning to what each other’s intentions are without spoken words.”
“I ain’t good at attuning.”
“Enough talk”, Emma chimes in. “Let’s get back to the ship.”
“This way.” Kiarah turns to lead them through the tunnels.
Kharon Chapter 82
The crew of the Kharon emerge a short time later onto a snowy beach in front of the Kharon. However they quickly stop in their tracks when they spot Marcus and a group of soldiers standing between them and the ship.
“Shit! I knew this was too easy”, says Jacob.
“This island is fucked but I'm still wasting you two for the fun of it”, yells Marcus.
“Whose this asshat?”, asks Simone.
“An old friend of Luke and Jacob’s”, answers Emma.
Jacob whips his head towards the women. “Not an old friend.”
Kiarah steps forward and unsheathes her spear. “If he stands in the way of my ship I will cut him down.”
“No”, says Luke calmly. You take the soldiers. Jacob and I will take out Marcus ourselves.”
“We will?”
“As you wish”, says Kiarah handing Luke and Jacob each a large Quarsian dagger.
Simone leans over and whispers in Emma’s ear. “He trusts Jacob now?”
“They worked things out.”
“How much did I miss?”
Kharon Chapter 83
Emma, Simone, Kiarah and Sparky start fighting the soldiers to make their way to the Kharon. Meanwhile Jacob and Luke are taking on Marcus. The fighting doesn’t last for long till the ice beneath everyone starts to crack.
“We may need to wrap this up quickly”, says Simone.
Just then the ice breaks apart and everyone scrambles to avoid going into the ocean.
As luck would have it Marcus, Jacob and Luke are all stuck on a large chunk of ice. They continue fighting as it bobs in the water. Marcus has knocked the Quarsian daggers from Jacob and Luke so they are now unarmed facing him. They try to avoid Marcus as he attacks them with ferocity.
“You’re fucking insane Marcus! This entire island is literally going to pieces . Let’s all get out of here alive.”
“If I’m going under you assholes are going with me.”
Marcus lunges at them with a battle axe. Luke grabs a long piece of thick ice and uses it to block him but it shatters under the strength of Marcus' axe. As they struggle Jacob rams his shoulder into Marcus throwing him off balance. Marcus comes back at them swinging the battle axe wildly. It catches Luke’s shoulder and he begins to bleed as he goes tumbling back. Marcus then hits Jacob with the butt of the axe as he tries to come up behind him and grab it. Jacob drops to his knees with the wind knocked out of him.
Marcus turns and raises his axe about to bring it down on Jacob when Luke stabs Marcus in the back with the sharp splintered piece of ice he was using. Marcus drops the axe and falls to the ground and slides dead into the ocean. Luke extends his hand to Jacob. Jacob looks at it for a moment and then takes it and gets to his feet.
They look out into the ocean and see the women and Sparky on an ice chunk several meters away. Kiarah is using her spear as a paddle in the water.
“Hang on”, says Luke taking out his concealed Viper.
“You had that all along and didn't use it?!" Luke ignores Jacob's remark and takes aim. "Wait you're not suggesting…” But before Jacob can finish Luke fires his Viper at the ice sheet. Jacob screams as he and Luke are dragged through the water towards the rest of the crew. Simone helps them out of the ocean. All of them now together watch the legendary floating island break apart and sink into the water. The Kharon now freed from the ice floats nearby.
“Can we reach the ship on this?”, asks Luke.
“I’ve piloted smaller rafts than this”, says Kiarah. “There’s a reason all Quarsians carry a Walak spear.”
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