Indigo Fire: Rescuing the Royal, P1
Indigo Fire: Rescuing the Royal
Indigo stood amongst a crowd of people observing the coronation ceremony in the grand hall of the Alabaster Palace. His mission, to kidnap the princess before the true conspirators can take her. He was not alone though. He had people surveying from balconies, and a few others patrolling halls. The main team however, was on stand-by, ready to make an escape as soon as the royal was liberated from the threat.
His target, Princes Dahlia.
He watched the fuchsia scaled serpent walk down the aisle to the throne, going through the proceedings of the coronation. She had elegantly trimmed dress. It wasn't overbearing and flashy. Nor was it too basic and common. It suited her personality. Young and simple-minded, yet woven in the complexities of royalty. It fixed on to her like a silken drape.
Indigo was sure the assailants would spring at any time. He just had to be aware of what exactly they were planning.
It was quite bright in the grand hall. The open sky shed light through the reinforced glass ceiling. The room arced in a wide circle several hundreds of feet in diameter. There were so many people, and the space left for any threat to possibly assault the princess seemed absurdly large. No one could set so much as a foot toward her without being spotted and taken down in the open area.
But in almost all defenses, there is usually some exploit lingering inside. The room was bright, a little more light in the expanse and it would have been almost blinding.
He looked up toward the highest balconies that hung on the storied observation decks built into the palace's pillars. There were a good many guards standing watch with sniper rifles primed to fire at any would be attackers.
A threat could not possibly be going through the crowd. The enemy would have to eliminate the snipers first, or find some way to distract them. The snake looked even higher above the balconies. There were more supports above the observation decks. Those supports held the glass ceiling aloft. There was just enough room to hide people on them. He suspected that is where the assailants would be, if they had access to such an area. Which in such a case, they should if they were to have any chance at kidnapping the princess.
He squinted to drown some of the rays from hurting his eyes, the open air and radiation made the entire palace feel warm as a clear summer day. It was such a grand area to view. The enormity and magnificence of the Alabaster Palace was ancient feat one could marvel at for days. What a shame that some horrible plan was taking place in the midst of such a home.
Princess Dahlia took her first step onto coronation platform. She was full of tension, yet remained outwardly calm. She thought she was too young to usurp the position of a Queen. She had grown up in the palace all her life, and not one thing was hidden from her, except for the responsibilities that she was about to take. They were the only mysteries that she had yet to know.
Her escorts stepped a bit further away, taking the ceremony in all seriousness. They sternly eyed any person who so much as leaned a little too much forward into the open. With guards like these around, the princess was definitely as safe as she could possibly be. But, even that level of security was just not quite enough.
Indigo fixed his eyes on the towering supports of the ceiling. He caught a faint shifting in the solar rays above. The assailants were ready to begin their plan. But he was going to foil it.
He saw several of them carrying weapons. He stepped forward in hesitation. Were they going to kill her? Before he could dread the thought of the princess being murdered in front of so many people, a giant flare shot down from the supporting arc. The flare blinded everyone in the building with a sphere of burning star light.
Indigo shielded his eyes and turned toward the intended target. A grappling hook shot at the wall beside the throne, the thin thread was scarcely visible in the glaring light. Three persons zipped down the line. No one could tell what was happening with that flare lighting up the room like a second sun. The snipers could not aim their weapons with that flare searing their eyes.
Indigo raced toward the throne, barely making out the figures of three people incapacitating guards and making off with the princess. One of the assailants turned around in surprise. His face was covered by dark tinted snow goggles and a hood. The kidnappers could see clearly while everyone else struggled to keep their eyes open.
Indigo threw an elbow to his chest and wrestled him upwards. He then drove the criminal to the floor with an audible crack. That should slow him down for a couple of days. The other two fired their thruster packs and floated up a balcony along their exit route. Indigo leaped up the wall and gripped up the smooth stone. He vaulted over the railing and chased after the kidnappers.
Before he could take down the duo, a large henchman rammed him off course. The force of the impact sent him into the wall, breaking a rather expensive desk and dropping an even more valuable painting. The bulky henchman charged again, attempting to ram the snake into solid stone, but the snake quickly clambered over him and kicked at his head, forcing the henchman headfirst into the alabaster wall. Forget the painting and the desk, that wall must cost a fortune to repair.
"Not my fault!" Indigo remarked as he scrambled after the two fleeing suspects, leaving the henchman there to pay for the priceless artifacts.
Indigo traced the scent of the two kidnappers making swift progress in catching up to them.
His communicator began to ping. He pressed the button to answer.
"Indigo, come in Indigo!" a voice spoke, "What happened? Where's the princess?"
"I'm in pursuit of the kidnappers. We're headed down the southern section of the palace. Can you make it to the secondary extraction point?"
"Yeah,"
"Good, I'll meet you there!"
He made a few turns down some corridors and found the assailants dragging their victim. Apparently they had put a bag over her head. That was no way to treat royalty.
Indigo hit the assailant on the right, elbowing him in the spine and causing him to fall forward onto his goggled face. He then skipped over the fallen foe and spun around to uppercut the other in the chin. The second assailant jerked into the air and fell back to the ground. It was a clean knock out. They didn't even see it coming. Perhaps their disguises limited their perception of their surroundings.
Indigo removed the bag from her head. She immediately began struggling with him. "Unhand me you fiend!"
"Hey, hey, hey! Calm down." He tried to hush her. She then threw a punch straight to the side of his jaw and ran. He rubbed his cheek as he watched her take off in the direction they had just come from. "Ow. - Hey! Hold on! You don't want to go that way! There could be more of the-"
She screamed and immediately retreated in the direction of where she was being taken. She ran past Indigo, fleeing from something he had yet to see.
Indigo turned around and saw the hulking henchman slump around the corner. They made eye contact. The henchman scowled at what he saw and charged for revenge. There was no way Indigo could challenge that beast. He turned and ran as well.
The princess was running for her life. She had no idea what was going on, but if anyone, other than her own guards, was looking for her. She was going to keep as far away as she could from them until she made it back to safety.
Indigo outran the tank that trained after him and caught up to the princess. Seeing that she was going too slow to outrun the bulging bad guy, he chose to pick her up instead. He scooped her up from her legs, carrying her like in the same manner as a storybook hero. However, she resisted being carried around so he quickly switched from cradling her in his arms to hunching her over his right shoulder.
She pounded her fists on his backside, yelling. "Let go of me! I am the princess! You'll be sorry that you ever laid a finger on me! It's against the law! I said let me go! Let me go this instant!" Her screaming hurt Indigo's sense of hearing. No wonder the others put a bag over her head.
The princess finally looked up to see the charging titan barreling down the hallway toward them. "Let me- go... Go. Go. Go. Go! GO!" her cries to be unhanded were replaced by pleads to speed up. Indigo glanced back and saw that the henchman had picked up an unstoppable momentum. "Doh!" Indigo hasted to a full sprint.
Three palace guards emerge further down the hall.
"Stop right there, criminal scum!" they commanded.
"Get out of the way!" yelled Indigo. The guards aim their weapons at the blue snake, not heeding his words.
"Let us pass!" ordered the princess. The guards withdrew their weapons and made way. They were unsure of their actions, but compliant to royal command. Indigo charged passed by them. Followed by the henchmen bulldozing through the three guards.
"Krshh Indigo, have you intercepted the princess yet?" the communicator asked.
"Kind of worried about being intercepted myself!" he replied.
"Uhhh," the princess interjected, "I think he's gaining on us!"
Indigo glanced back again. The train was running on full steam, barely maintaining its momentum without tipping over. Indigo couldn't outrun him with the princess slowing him down. At least
"I hope you could forgive me in advance!" he stated. He then swam his right arm at the next tall statue he could find. The statue tilted just enough to make it into the henchman's trajectory. The clumsy criminal couldn't avoid the obstacle. He tripped over the statue, and his entire body fell to the floor with a rumbling thud.
Indigo smirked at the sound of the henchman's fall. That sounded quite painful, he must have face planted after tripping over the block of stone.
The princess picked her head up. "Well, I'm glad there's some use for those worthless pieces of rock." Indigo face puzzled. That statue was worthless? He zoomed past a few more corridors and noticed exact replicas of the statue placed across from each other in even spaces. Just how many sculptors did they hire to make all of these things?
Indigo navigated his way to the rendezvous, located at the southern end of the palace.
"Excuse me!" the princess shouted, "Where are we going?"
Indigo had almost forgot. The princess was almost completely unaware of the situation. "We're taking you some place safe," was all he could say. Though, he knew that was probably too vague for her liking.
"We? You mean that there are more of you? And let me rephrase that first question. Where exactly are you taking me?"
"Yes, there is a whole team ready to escort you out of the city to an undisclosed location. We will get you to safety. The people who tried to kidnap you are probably everywhere right now."
"Aren't you kidnapping me?"
"Well, not for any ill intent. We're just trying to-"
"Unhand me at once! My guards will keep me safe!"
"And they did a marvelous job, but there is a conspiracy against you and we can't allow you to remain in such danger. If you can be assaulted in your own palace then you are not safe here."
"Where else could possibly be more safe than my own palace! I have an entire army protecting me here for cry it out loud!"
"Judging by that army's failure to keep you from being kidnapped, I don't think they're all doing their jobs. Those who conspired against you are probably among the ranks of your army."
"I will not question the loyalty of my own servants! Now let me go!"
"Sorry, Your Highness, but I'm not at liberty to do that."
"You are a subject of this nation! You must comply, or I'll charge you with treason!"
"Uh, no, I'm not from this country. I was employed by someone else. You have no authority over me, or my affiliates. Speaking of which, you will meet a few of them shortly."
Indigo stopped at the southern end of the palace. The palace had been built atop a plateau and they were standing on a balcony next to the very edge. Indigo deployed a rappelling line off the edge of the balcony.
"How is this keeping me out of danger?!" Dahlia asked as she peered down the two-hundred foot drop.
"What, you don't trust me?"
"No!"
Indigo rolled his eyes. It didn't matter if she trusted him or not. He had a mission to complete.
"You're not making me go down that- WHAAA!" Indigo grabbed hold of her and made his way down the line. "You maniac! You're going to get me killed!" she blared at his head as they rappelled down the cliff face.
They made it to the bottom safely. There was no need for the princess to get all hysterical about it. It's not like they were going to fall to their deaths.
An armored van was waiting for them. Two agents stood outside, ready to take the princess into the van. However, Dahlia was becoming less cooperative by the second. She saw the unfamiliar faces and immediately began to struggle. "You can't just shove me into a van and take me off to who knows where! I am the Princess! There is no way you are going to get away with this! No, let go of me! I will not be taken hostage!" Dahlia kept squirming around until the team had finally managed to get her into the van.
"My court will not stand for this-"
"Hey!" Indigo blared out, "We are not going to hold you for ransom. We are not going to extort you. We are not going to do anything to belittle your royal name. We are simply trying to get you as far away from danger as is reasonable to do so. Now until the threat is dealt with, we are going to keep you safe. After that, we will return you to the palace unharmed and you can return to ruling your kingdom."
The Princess fell silent. She hadn't been addressed like that by anyone else but her parents, when they were around. She had no control over this situation and her best option was to simply follow through and hope for the best. She climbed into the van and took a seat.
"Sorry," she said "It's just... I'm scared."
"Don't be. We'll keep you safe." Indigo said as climbed beside her.
"Are you done yet?" the driver asked, she was a wolf, "We need to get going, and I need everyone inside. I don't want to get arrested because someone decided to stay and take in the view."
There were six passengers in all. The driver, the shotgun, Indigo, Princess Dahlia, and two reinforcements. The two reinforcements sat in the back with Indigo and Dahlia. They were Komodo Dragons. Indigo had served among their ranks before.
High above the van, overlooking the cliff face, the hulking henchman saw the vehicle pull out from the cliff's shadow. He pulled out a radio and informs his accomplices. "They're headed into the aqueducts. We need to cut them off!"
A voice emitted from the radio, "Forget about taking her alive. We can't afford her to capture her anymore. The mission has failed. Destroy the vehicle. Whoever decided to interfere with our plan will take full responsibility for her death. See to it that it gets done."
"Understood."
The driver looked into her left mirror and saw some lights approaching. "Umm, I think we've got company."
Dahlia sat up, "It must be a palace patrol. Pull over now!"
"That doesn't look like a patrol unit to me."
Several shots sunk into the back door of the van.
"That is definitely not a patrol unit!" exclaimed the driver, "Havoc! Take him out!"
The passenger riding shotgun pulled out the assault rifle from his side and stuck his head out the window. He brought the gun to aim and tried to hit the tailing car. A few bullets flew by the right side of the van, startling Havoc and causing him to drop his gun.
The driver, Neda, saw Havoc's slip up. "Really?!" she skulked, "You have pads on your hands and you dropped the gun!"
"He was shooting at me!"
"That's no excuse for dropping your weapon!"
Another barrage of bullets dented the back doors of the van. Dahlia ducked her head, scared out of her mind.
Neda looked at her right mirror. "Oh, great! Now there's two of them!"
"Let me deal with them." Indigo imposed, grabbing a rifle from behind the passenger seat. He then squeezed onto Havoc's lap and peered out the window. The passenger from the pursuing car fired a few shots, but was terribly off target. Indigo tried to get the gun out of the window but found that he would not be able to wield it effectively.
"Keep it steady! I'm going on the roof!" He then plopped the rifle on top of the van and climbed out of the window.
"You're going to fall off!" shouted Neda.
"Actually, I'm more likely to get shot!" replied Indigo gripping himself on the roof of the van. He kept his belly to the floor and aimed his rifle. The van swiveled as it drove through the aqueduct tunnels. He kept in sync with the swaying van and aimed at the tires of the pursuing vehicles.
Bang!
A shot went out of the rifle and popped a tire of the first vehicle, causing it to spin out and crash into a barrier.
Bang!
Another shot punctured another tire, causing the remaining vehicle to flip. Just then, a line of armored SUV's burst from a maintenance tunnel, bringing more formidable targets into view. Indigo shifted his aim toward the new threats. He fired another round, but it did little to the vehicles reinforced tread.
He fired another round at the driver, but the bullet only cracked the grass. The SUV's were too heavily armored for his rifle, and the attackers were only getting closer. A henchman popped out of the sunroof of one of the vehicles and began firing an automatic. Indigo ducked, and let bullets fly above him. He quickly aimed his rifle and shot the henchman in the shoulder, causing the attacker to slump back into the hole he came from. A window from another SUV cracked open and a rifle muzzle pried out of the opening. The weapon fired, but only hit the wall to the side of the targeted van. Whoever was aiming the weapon did not have much room to do it properly.
The SUV pulled up and rammed the van, causing the van to veer left and loose grip on the tarmac. Indigo freed an arm from his rifle to keep himself steady. The SUV rammed the van again, causing it to hit the side wall and almost causing Indigo to fall off.
The truck pulled away and the window began to roll down for the gunman to have a better view. Indigo saw the threat and moved to neutralize it. He quickly let go of his rifle, trusting it to stick to the van for just a few seconds, and leaped across to the hostile truck. He landed opposing roof just as the gunman aimed. The gunman fired a few shots, making a trail of dents in the side of the van. The bullets didn't quite penetrate the van's plating.
Indigo snatched the protruding firearm and fired it at another vehicle attempting to gun him down from behind. The bullets fractured the glass windshields until they were almost impossible to see through. The clip ran out and he tossed the gun aside to deal with the vehicle currently underneath him.
The SUV swerved and rammed the van again, almost accomplishing its goal of crashing its target and shaking off it's the unwanted passenger. Indigo jumped to the front of the windshield and kicked at it, drawing the driver's attention to the more imminent threat. He then slid to the driver's door and opened it. The driver tried to close the door, only to find himself lose some control of the car. The passenger riding shotgun fired a pistol in an attempt to ward off the blue snake. "What in fat Albert's name are trying to do!" yelled the driver to his passenger. Indigo backed up to the second door and opened that one, for some reason, these knuckleheads didn't locking them.
He made quick use of the opening and caught one of them by surprise. He pulled a gunman out of the backseat and threw him down to the road. He then closed the door just in time to block the pistol fire from the shotgun.
Indigo rolled over to the other side of the car to take out the remaining gunman. He opened the back door. The gunman turned and fired at the blank space, not knowing it was a distraction. He sees his door open up and turned to shoot the invader, however, Indigo caught his elbow mid spin and drove the gunman's arm into the driver's face.
The gunman pushed back and fired the gun at the windshield. The bullet ricocheted and broke the side window as well, leaving the driver disoriented from the sharp blast and cracked visuals.
Neda and Havoc watched from across the gap, as the three fought over control over the vehicle. The SUV swerved toward and away from the van, muffled shouts could be heard as their heads knocked around in the confined space. It was unclear what was going on in the quiet cab, but it was expected that Indigo would be the one to win the fight. The driver's head pressed against the window causing a hilarious disfiguration as his check went flat and eye squeezed tightly against the glass.
The driver's door opened and Indigo leaped back onto the van. His chest landed on the hood, barely clinging on. He pulled the rest of his body to safety. The driver of the SUV tried to steer the vehicle after the attacker had left, but, to his surprise, the steering wheel was gone. He cried out as the SIV gently veered to the right before abruptly making a sharp turn away from the van. It then crashed into the wall and skidded on to its side.
Neda saw the wreckage in the side mirror and then turned to see Indigo give a cheesy smile. Havoc couldn't help but look surprised at the feat.
Indigo raised his head above the roof. One SUV down, two more to go. He saw his rifle still fixed where he had left it. He was glad it didn't fall off, otherwise he would be in trouble.
He leaned on to the roof of the van once more and readied the rifle. Before he could do any damage, the van hit a rather large bump in the road and sent Indigo airborne. The sudden jolt caused him to both lose grip on the gun and focus on not falling off. He fell back down to the back of the van, but the gun bounced off. His head hung over the far end with his hands keeping him from sliding any further. He pushed himself away from the precarious edge. It would have been very painful to have nose-dived into the tarmac at that speed.
He sees a gunman pop out of the nearest SUV window with yet another assault rifle. This time the gunner didn't need to worry about being shot. Indigo turned around and clung his head near the passenger window of the van.
"Hey, Havoc. I need something to fend them off!"
"That was our last gun!"
A few bullets sprayed onto the side of the van, hitting the mirror and almost hitting Havoc and Indigo.
"Here, use one of these!" yelled Havoc as he handed a grenade over to the roof.
Indigo received the explosive, a bit confused as to why they were carrying these things in the first place. Indigo rolled a bit more onto the van as another spray of bullets sparked into the van's frame. He pulled the pin and allowed the grenade to cook for a few seconds. At just the right moment, he chucked it down to the road. It landed precisely under the SUV and exploded, lifting the heavy vehicle a foot into the air and blowing all four tires.
The truck skidded on its bumper and tripped over to its side. Flames and sparks flew out from beneath the wreckage.
Indigo leaned over the window again. "Hand me another one."
"That was the only one we had!"
"What!?"
Indigo then looked under his shoulder to see another henchman emerging from the sunroof. This time it wasn't an assault rifle. Neda looked at her remaining mirror and saw the figure as well. "Is that a-?"
"RPG!" shouted Indigo, confirming that it was, in fact, a rocket propelled grenade.
Neda swerved the van to the right, evading the flying fireball that would have destroyed them. The rocket exploded onto to the road, sending chunks of rock into the air in fiery blast of searing shrapnel. Neda's side window shattered and she screamed at the near death experience.
The henchman withdrew into the van to reload. The SUV was too far to jump on to. Indigo climbed back into the van. "Excuse me. Coming through!" He stated as he shuffled over Havoc and into the back cabin. Everyone was clearly holding on in fright. Poor Dahlia had curled up into a ball, terrified to the core.
He went behind Neda's seat and found the crate he'd spotted earlier.
"What's in here?" he asked, already trying to figure out the answer as he opened the floor bin.
"Those are just supplies. They're for the setting up our encampment."
Indigo opened the crate, perhaps there was a pistol inside. He lifted the door and found something that was definitely not camping equipment. "What the heck is this?" He lifted the heavy object out of the container and set on in the center of the van. It looked like some sort of artillery cannon.
Havoc's eyes went wide. "That's a mass driver!"
"How'd this thing get in here?" asked Indigo as he looked the weapon over, trying to figure out where the trigger was.
"We must have goofed up on the labeling the supply crate."
Indigo turned his head, "Quick! Open the door!" The two reinforcements obeyed, pulling back the handle and swinging the back doors of the van open. Indigo leaned back against the floor, gripping for the weapon's trigger.
Right behind them was the black SUV. The henchman that wielded the RPG stood through the sunroof, carefully aiming his firearm at the back of the van. The two heavy weapons specialists froze as they both realized for a second that they were pretty much staring death in the face.
They both cringe as they knew that they could not afford to waste another second being idle. It had to be done. They pulled the triggers.
The rocket flew from the top of the SUV, sending its payload toward the underside of the van.
The mass driver blasted from within its lair. Sending its 75 mm shell straight through the SUV's engine block. The front end of the SUV caved into itself, as if the vehicle ran into an invisible pole embedded in the road. The shell screamed out the other end while the gasoline ignited and engulfed the remains in liquid flame.
The RPG detonated beneath the van, causing the vehicle to kick upwards into the air. Every one of the passengers went weightless. The driver and the shotgun were secured in their seats. The two reinforcements fastened their grip to the railings. But the two remaining, Dahlia and Indigo weren't secured to anything.
In that moment, Indigo knew he wasn't going to remain inside for very long, as soon as the van made contact with the ground, he could quite easily fall out. He noticed Dahlia was not secured as well. He could see the terror in her eyes. He knew that no one else was paying attention. They were too focused at the prospect of dying in a fiery crash. But Indigo didn't forget his mission - rescue the princess.
He reached out and pulled her into his arms, shielding her from the harsh impacts of the crash. The van's bumper caught on to the floor and the vehicle somersaulted. The passengers were thrown violently around in the barreling container. He held her head in his palm, taking the hard frame to his bare knuckles. He used himself as a cushion, protecting her back from injury with his own.
The vehicle tumbled a few more times about to fall over a barrier that blocked the fall into an old filtration system. The van caught on to the metal stripped barrier, pounding the feeble framework like tinfoil. Indigo felt the force pushing him to fall out of the van. He could have prevented himself from falling. He could have brought both of his arms to grab hold of the van. But it would be at the cost of the princess's life. In order to save himself, he would have to let her fall to her death.
But he wasn't such a self-serving hireling. He was a soldier. A soldier that fought for the lives of others. A warrior who knew the value of an honorable name. He held on to her as they both were shaken out from cabin. There was nothing to keep them from falling out. The two fell forward into the abyss. Dahlia saw the dark pit below her and let out a horrible scream. This time she was sure that she was going to die.
Indigo didn't share that perspective though, true, the fall would kill both of them, even if there were water at the bottom. He saw a sort of stairwell across the gap, used long ago by those who had operated the aqueducts. He reached for the grappling hook he had kept tucked away and pulled it out.
The two plummeted down the pit, falling about a hundred and fifty feet. Indigo adjusted his hold of Dahlia, wrapping his legs around hers and readying for a sharp turn. He fired the grappling hook at the wall. The spear point anchored into the stone, and the wire provided some resistance to their rapid descent.
Dahlia could feel the speed gradually decrease and the gentle whizz of the line. She looked around and noticed Indigo had been there the whole time, keeping her safe. She was not alone. She was not going to die. At least, that was what she hoped.
Indigo managed what length the grappling line had, he knew it wasn't enough to keep a safe pace. He swung into the wall at precisely the right moment the hook hit its limit. A snapping jerk caused them to swing on to a stairwell with the force of the fall. Indigo spun around, limbs aching from the strain of the veer.
Dahlia felt the force of the swerve. All her weight pressed upon Indigo during the tight swing. Before she could register where she was headed, she felt a sudden impact behind her. They stopped. Indigo took the brunt of the impact, colliding with the stone ceiling and saving the princess from a grievous injury. Had Indigo not been behind her, she probably would have been crushed.
Indigo discharged the hook and the two fell to the floor. They collided on the ground, landing on their sides. They barely survived.
Dahlia could feel the trauma. She moved out from Indigo's limp hold and shakily stood on her feet. She leaned against a wall, trying to cope with the situation. She almost died... She almost DIED! Not once, not twice, but three times!
She could have been assassinated by her throne. She could have been hit by a stray bullet. And she could have fallen out of a van during a crash! She felt so fragile at the moment. So vulnerable. She had never in her life been in such a life threatening situation, a situation where she had absolutely no control whatsoever, where her life was forfeit and nothing seemed to care.
She looked over at Indigo. He wasn't moving. She kneeled down and tried to wake him. He didn't react. She moved away as she thought something terrible. They had fallen more than a hundred feet and he took the weight of it. He saved her life. And now he was...
She tried to hold back her emotions. No one had ever done that for her. Not anyone she knew. He was a stranger who had come to save her life. He wasn't even one of her own people. He had no allegiance to her. He was a mercenary who held no obligation to anyone. Yet, he was willing to die for her.
At last the sorrow burst, she began to cry. She motioned a little closer, wondering if she should dare touch him. To let him know that she grateful for his sacrifice even in death. Before she could place a finger on his face, a fiery heap of metal crashed against the stairwell and shook the foundations of stone. She fell back at the loud crash. It broke the tender moment into a million pieces, shattering what empathy she was feeling. It reminded her of her helplessness. She shouldn't be alive right now. She shouldn't be breathing. People died because of her. Were their sacrifices worth it?
Guilt and shame flooded her mind. She had enough of all the extremities. She couldn't handle the stress of her trauma and the fear of her life. She needed to get away. She needed to break free from whatever chaos driven spirit that now followed her. She hasted up the stairwell to find some way to escape. Someplace where she could be safe. Somewhere she could be alone until her head cleared.
Maybe her guards would find her. Maybe everything would return to normal. Maybe this was all just a dream. Or maybe she no longer wanted to be a princess.
Indigo's vision blurred back. He could feel the cracked bones in his body. He hoped none of them snapped. As dense as they were, they were still breakable, and that fall must have damaged something. He lifted his head. A sharp pain seared his skull causing him to hiss. He looked down and saw a dried blood stain. He must have cut himself against the ceiling. He looked up, but failed to find a red spot in the stone. He got back up, trying to recall what he was doing and how he got there. Right, he was escorting a princess to safety, but danger didn't want to be left behind. Wait, where was the princess? He looked around, double-checking if she was still around. He didn't drop her did he?He flicked his tongue and tested the air for a scent. He smelled the silly snake. She left without him. She probably wasn't very far. He just needed to keep a brisk pace to catch up to her. How far could a young princess possibly go?He checked for his communicator, but couldn't seem to find it on him. He must have dropped it during all the action. He glanced around for it, but it too had vanished. Looks like he was on his own from now on.He glanced up the outside of the stairwell to see if his allies were still by the wrecked van. But the van was no longer there. If they survived, they must have either escaped by some other means, or have been captured. He assumed that he and the princess were presumed dead. From any other perspective, it must have looked like they fell down a three-hundred foot drop without anything to break their fall. Wherever his friends were then. He hoped they were safe.He turned and ran up the stairwell, wanting to catch up to the princess before she wandered too far. He skipped up the steps at a swift pace. Dahlia must be very tired by now, it was about thirty flights of steps until the end of the stairwell, and even then, there was probably a whole complex to navigate above that. She could probably get lost down here. (The aqueducts were built over a natural spring under the region's underground.)He hurried up the stairs, legs burning from the climb. He followed her scent for quite some time, passing door after door, hall after hall. How long was he out? She had already gone quite some distance. Perhaps he underestimated her tenacity. For a princess, she had quite the spirit.He finally found her, hunched over on the floor, crying."Princess Dahlia..." Indigo spoke softly.She looked back wide eyed. The hallway was dark, the electrical wiring for the lights had long since burned out. She didn't know who it was. She backed away in fear."Princess Dahlia, it's me, Indigo."She motioned to get up and flee, but the voice sounded familiar. Her eyes adjusted, and she recognized the shady figure. She ran up to him and gave him the tight hug of desperation. "Oh, it's you! Thank heavens, you're alive!" She held him tightly, not wanting to ever be separated again from an ally. "I thought you were dead." She released him. A frustration she had been holding the hold time had manifested in her and she punched him the arm. "Why didn't you get up when I shook you around! I walked about aimlessly for hours!""Hey, I'm not a robot that can simply pick itself up after falling eight-teen stories! I have a brain like everyone else." He said as rubbed his shoulder."I'm surprised you still have one after all you've put me through!""I wasn't the one who planned to kidnap you! - Wait, that didn't come out right.""You did kidnap me! If it weren't for you, and your band of lunatics, I would still be safe in my palace!""Actually, if weren't for me, you would be in the hands of a terrorist! You would have been held hostage and shown little kindness. In fact, I'm sure you would have been killed after they were through with you!""How do I know you are not one of them? How do I know you're not going to turn me in as soon as we get out here?""Because almost died saving your life!"She stopped. Indigo had already demonstrated to her that he meant no harm. Why was she arguing? Maybe she just wanted to have authority. Perhaps she just wanted a little control to ease her nerves. It was something she was used to. He shouldn't be blaming Indigo for what happened. He was right. He saved her from a horrible fate."Why did you save me then?" she spoke softly, humbling herself, "Why rescue me from them? Was it because someone ordered you to?""I- Y- Yes. I was given orders to intercept you during the terrorist's operation.""Then who?""I'm not at liberty to discuss that. I actually don't know who gives me these orders.""And you simply accept their commands?""I've never been given reason to question their judgment. Whoever it is. I've been content to serve him to the best of my abilities."The two stared at each other in silence. The princess finally knew more about her rescuer. He wasn't some ruthless soldier that was simply following orders. He cared about he did, and who he did it for. He held no question to the values he was fighting for. For he knew in his heart that they were right. Indigo got to understand the princess a little better. She wasn't a complete brat like he expected. She was willing to learn. He had to give her credit for taking her situation the way she did. Any other person who had been in her situation should have been completely shaken now. But she held her integrity. Maybe by a few threads, but that was more than he would have guessed."We had better get going. The facility could be quite expansive. And we don't want to be stuck down here." Indigo took point and gestured for her to follow. She followed after him, a bit unnerved by the bleak, empty complex she had found herself in. She was too emotionally distraught to take thought of atmosphere she was in.The two wandered through the complex for hours. Indigo began piecing together the layout of the facility. The many dark corridors of the downed aqueduct proved challenging to navigate. There were a majority of instances were Indigo had to lead the princess by hand as well as a few instances where he had to leave her behind to access an area to further their progression.Eventually they made to a final stairwell, the princess was exhausted by all the hiking they did inside the facility. Whoever built the place certainly did not consider revising the schematics to be less complex.Indigo kicked open the rusted door that led outside. It was the late afternoon, the sun still shone brightly, but it would eventually set over the horizon in little more than an hour."Finally, I thought I'd never see the light of day again!" exclaimed Dahlia dramatically.Indigo was unsure what to make of that statement. It sounded playful, but he couldn't help but feel the sincerity of it. Imagine being in her shoes, nearly dying from a car crash and falling down a pit, only to survive, lost in an abandoned facility with no certainty of an exit."We should keep moving. There should be an old lumber mill up that hill." He pointed to a rather dusty hill. A ruined structure stood near the top of it. It was about a three-quarter mile hike, but Dahlia didn't feel like walking anymore."All the way up there?" she asked."We could take shelter for the night. After, we could move to the rendezvous point and get you the safe zone.""Hooo," she exhaled her complaint.The two marched down the hill toward the next one. They were in a woodland, but it had been blasted with sand and very much dead. The lumber mill had been shut down because of the shift in climate. The trees simply did not wish to grow, and the one's that still stood gave up nourishing themselves with water. Perhaps it had something to do with the massive caverns below them? All the fresh water must have drained down to lower depths where the vegetation could not reach it, depriving the woodland of the much needed hydration needed to sustain it.Snap! "Ouch!" yelped the princess. She stepped on a rather brittle branch. The sharp break in wood kicked her foot and lashed out at her wrist, causing her to jump to side. She then tripped over a rough rock, scraping her foot and falling to the dusty floor. Her jaw slammed into the ground. The sudden pain and humiliation of falling prompted her to almost let out a sob. She was further reminded of the current situation she was in.Indigo quickly stepped to help her up. "Are you all right?" he asked. He then thought to himself how stupid of a question that really was. She just fell to the ground and scraped her foot, of course she was not "all right." She gave a nod. He extended his arm. She accepted the help. He lifted her up and examined her foot. It took a scrape, but it wasn't bleeding much. It was just an average scrape, but it must have stung for her."Can you still walk?" he asked."Yes, I can still walk," She stated. She attempted to take another step with regal grace, but a sudden pain shot out from her right sole. "Ack!" she hissed aloud, falling over again.Indigo caught her before she fell on her knees. "Here, I'll carry you up the rest of the way." He picked her up and began hiking up the rest of the hill."No, it's alright. I can make it up-,"she then saw how much further she needed to go. She decided that she had better accept his kindness. She didn't want to try walking up that slope with an injured foot. She didn't know how much she had walked already, but she was sure that it was enough to warrant being carried the rest of the way. If anything, Indigo didn't even mind.She relaxed in his arms. He was strong for a snake of his kind. He had a sort of firmness and flexibility akin to a boa, yet condensed into a smaller frame of a viperid. He was almost the same species as her, yet his internal traits seemed almost alien in mass. Just who exactly was he? She wondered.Indigo made it up the rest of the hill, introducing them both to the broken building. It was yet another abandoned project of the Alabaster Palace Royals. It had been decades since it was last used, but it still stood atop the dust blown hill. The building was chipped here and there and still was structurally sound.He entered into the pried door. It had remained wide open ever since the last person to exit it didn't ensure to close it. Now dust was all over the place.Indigo set the princess down, letting her stand for herself. "You think you can walk now?" He asked.She examined her foot and prodded the tender part with her finger. She then placed it on the floor and tested her weight. It didn't hurt much. "Yeah, I can walk around now." She felt her confidence swell up a little more, but she sighed at the fact that she wouldn't be carried through the building.There should be some furnishings left over. I'll go check for a mattress or sleeping bag. Indigo hurried off to scour the facility. Leaving Dahlia alone to wander at her leisure. She began to walk about. The placed looked a cleaned out when it was first abandoned. The only things that remained were the machinery that the facility used to operate and various things that weren't considered of worth.She wandered for a few more minutes. The sun began to glow a heated orange, touching the horizon. She came across a spacious room with large countertops. One wall of the room was completely made of glass, arching up almost a third of the way of the ceiling in a sort of skylight. Surprisingly, the glass had remained entirely intact, none of it was broken or scratched. Once in a while, rain washed away the dust and cleared the glass of dirt. Now it had only but a faint layer of dust. It reminded her of the skylights in the grand hall in her home. She was there only hours ago, but it seemed such a long time already.Indigo emerged from a corridor, carrying two rolls on his shoulders. "I found some thick rubber mats we can use. They're not bed rolls, but they will have to do. He dropped one on a counter and proceeded to put the other one on the counter across.I think there a few tarps we could use as blankets. I'll go get those.Dahlia couldn't help but smile. She felt like she having a slumber party, though, she had never been to a slumber party before. The rolled up mats looked like sleeping bags and the setting sun was prompting stars to shine in the sky.Indigo came back with the tarps. He set folded squares on the counter and motioned to the second rubber roll. He ripped the bindings off rubber mat and unrolled it on the counter. He then aligned it to fit the tabletop just right. He grabbed a few of the tarps and placed them on the second roll. He stacked two at the head of the roll for a makeshift pillow and unfolded the third into a blanket."There you go, princess. Your bed is ready!" he said enthusiastically.She gave him a smile and limped toward her knew resting spot. Instead of going under the covers, she simply flopped onto the mat. "It's... kind of comfy." She shifted a bit, trying to get a good position to rest, "A little stiff compared to my mattress back home, but it's not bad."Indigo lifted the sheet to his mat and hopped in.It took a while for the two to get some rest. They got to know each other a little better, conversing under the starlit sky. Dahlia discovered more about Indigo, about the missions that he had embarked on that were not classified. He had been all over the world, doing crazy things. She was unsure if there were any one else capable of such feats, but the way he put it. He wasn't the only one with such abilities. She had read about distant places, there was a place where a vast unexplored jungle challenged cartographers to scour it even today, a place where the snowcapped heights of the tallest mountains scraped the sky, a place where mysteries lay beneath the dark caverns of a secluded nation. He had been to those places. He had taken on daring missions to ensure a safer world. She had never been to such places, but now, she knew one who did. By his own testimony, she had gained a better glimpse of the amazing world she lived in, places beyond the barren outstretches of her petroleum rich homeland.Indigo learned more about Dahlia. She was a few years younger than he, but there was more to her than being the child of a wealthy royal family. She had grown under her parents and the teachers they assigned to her. She had been spoiled since her youth, yet she did well not to engulf herself in vanity. Though she enjoyed being pampered, she knew that it was not was she was too live for. Even then, she was supposed to take a mantle of responsibility from her parents. She knew that she had responsibilities, but they were postponed at a moment's notice. She wanted to be a great ruler like her father, but she had yet to learn. It was a burden few people in the world knew, and she was unsure if she ready for it.The two took one last gaze into each other's eyes. They were two different people, a soldier and a sovereign. Yet, they were equals by universal law. A leader was nothing without follower to lead. A follower was nothing without a leader to follow. They both turned their eyes to the sky. The stars lay scattered across an infinite expanse. How little they all were in the midst of it. They were only dust among dust. How could they lift themselves above one another when they were only specs of dust?