T'yer Swiftpaw's Journey
T'yer Swiftpaw's Journey
Tales from the Kah Har Galaxy
A Tale of the Shadow Runners
By
Prowl-Ar Nightiger
This story takes place between one and three years before the events in "Who Am I?"
1
Outbound
T'yer looked back at his home. The Royal City was still in ruins even though two years had passed. The Imperiam destroyed the city and either captured or killed every last adult Snarion. Once again he wondered if he was making the right choice. At eighteen he was the oldest member of his race left alive and he was leaving his home and the other cubs to go in search of a legend. He hoped that in doing so he would be returning with a savior for those he left behind.
"Don't worry T'yer." Hra'ahl said as he approached the shuttle. "We'll be fine. The Imperiam believes that all sapient life has been wiped off the face of the planet, so we're safe for now."
T'yer shook his head. Hra'ahl was just over seventeen years old; and his mane was just starting to get long enough to give him the proper look of an adult. But that didn't make him old enough to be taking on the responsibility of caring for the cubs. T'yer shook his head again, he wasn't old enough to be setting out on his journey either but they had no choice. Someone had to find help before the Imperiam returned.
"I know Ral, but I'm still worried the Imperiam will return while I'm gone."
"Stop worrying about us and start worrying about yourself, T'yer. Who knows how far that old shuttle can go? I mean you'll be using Freem engines and no one's used that type of drive system for nearly four hundred years."
"It's safer than using the jump net. The Imperiam controls that mode of travel and they can track everything that enters it."
"That's another thing, those engines are totally illegal, and if you're caught you'll be killed."
"If I'm caught I'll be killed because I'm Snarion and I doubt they'll be able to kill me twice."
"There you go, now you don't have to worry about us anymore." Hra'ahl said spinning T'yer around and pushing him toward the transport's entry hatch. "Besides you may not get off the ground to begin with."
"You may have a point there." T'yer slid out of Hra'ahl's grasp and began another walk around just to be sure everything was secure.
It was an old Fyrebird shuttle with a Freem drive sled attached to its belly between its tri-positional wings. On its back T'yer had mounted a dorsal fin to give it more stability during atmospheric flight. Most of the craft's interior was filled with the power generators needed to energize the craft's eight guns.
"Even if I do make it out of this system, I'll still be on the run in any civilized portion of the Imperiam with this much firepower," T'yer said as he once again approached the entry hatch located at the back of the ship."
"That's the spirit!"
"You're insane, you know that don't you?"
"That's why you love me, cheetah boy. Besides you wouldn't be leaving me in charge if I wasn't, would you?" Hra'ahl grinned and bared his fangs.
"Just stay alive and safe until I get back, you hear."
"You too mate, you too." Hra'ahl turned and walked away from the ship.
"And don't forget that I love you Ral!" T'yer yelled before hitting the switch to close the hatch. He turned and surveyed the small space that he was going to have to call home for the Gods knew how long. To his right was the door to the head and to his left was the space that constituted his living area. A portable molecular recombination unit was held to the floor with old cargo straps and a cot was folded and secured with a bit of string to the ceiling. He laughed to himself as he remembered Hra'ahl saying that at least the shuttle was properly outfitted as a bed and breakfast unit.
He continued up the isle to the cockpit and sat in the pilot's chair carefully slipping his tail through the hole in the back. He had done this multiple times over the last year but this was different. This time it wouldn't be a quick trip out to the devastated orbital station. This time he was going to be gone a lot longer. He looked at the large navigational computer that was bolted to the floor where the co-pilots chair used to be. It was another piece of archaic equipment that was illegal to own according to the Imperiam's laws. Yes, it would be a long time before he came back, if he survived to return. He turned to the control console and began flipping switches with his claws.
The shuttle's engines fluttered twice and then roared to life. The ship rose as T'yer boosted power to the antigravity units. The wings automatically lowered to their horizontal atmospheric position when the shuttle had lifted a sufficient distance. He powered up the ships main drive units and rapidly lifted toward space. The wings again changed position to their strike fighter orientation as the shuttle shot past the Guardian Station's remains. Within minutes the little ship had cleared Snarion's gravity field. T'yer turned to the navigation computer and punched in his destination.
"Next stop, the Accordia System," he said as he engaged the Freem engine and jumped to altered space.
* * *
2
Shards of Past and Future
The complex patterns of altered space spun slowly before the ship's forward window and suddenly disappeared as T'yer flipped a switch and reverted to real space. Altered space was such an amazing thing. It was possible to travel between systems in a matter of minutes in real time, or even from one side of the galaxy to the other in a matter of weeks. Of course the hyper net was faster allowing a ship to travel from one point in space to another instantaneously, unfortunately the Imperiam controlled that system.
"Well, that's the first hurdle jumped, now where should I go?" T'yer looked out the window at the planet that used to be known as Accordia. It was another planet that the Imperiam destroyed. He was sickened at the sight. The planet was a bare rock. The Imperiam had hit the planet with enough weaponry to evaporate the oceans and burn off the atmosphere.
"Prowler and the Shadow Runners sacrificed their lives trying to protect Accordia from evil. But in the end it was their allies that did this just because Prowler was born here. Then they decided that Snarion also had to be 'pacified'. If they'd been smarter they would have destroyed Snarion the same way."
Suddenly the ship shuddered, alarms began blaring, and several lights on the control board flashed red.
"Damn, so much for my weapons systems." He flipped several switches to shut down the alarms. "I guess I'd better see if anything can be salvaged." The ship suddenly shuddered again and the engines died. "Oh crap."
Three and a half-hours later T'yer raked his claws across the bulkhead in frustration before securing the gloves and helmet of his space suit. "Damn, I hate being confined in this thing!" The seals locked and he began toggling switches and buttons in order to drain the cabin's air. The compressors whooshed to life and the air pressure immediately began to drop.
"Thank the Gods something still works." The cabin emptied quickly.
"Vacuum has been achieved," the computer chimed in his helmet.
"Yeah right." He leaned forward and activated the suits magnetic boots locking him to the deck and then leaned back and strapped himself into the pilot's seat.
"Now let's see just how empty the cabin really is." He pushed the button to lower the ships rear ramp and nothing happened. He checked to be sure that the button he pushed was the ramp release. It was the right button then he noticed that a light was flashing above the switch that controlled the boarding hatch. He'd forgotten that he had to open the hatch before the ramp could be lowered. He flipped the switch and again nothing happened.
"Damn you, you worthless piece of shit!" he yelled as he flipped the switch several times. The ship shuddered slightly and the hatch opened. He quickly punched the ramp release button just as the hatch lifted to its full opened position and the ramp slowly lowered.
"It's about time, now maybe I can dump this garbage so I can get to the main drive unit."
He carefully pushed the generators out the back of the shuttle and then aimed them at the planet where they wouldn't be a danger to any other ships passing through the system and gave them a shove to start then on their way.
Ten minutes later he had ejected the last of the burned out equipment, the ramp and the hatch were closed, and he was re-pressurizing the cabin. He had twice the room as before but only enough power to use one pair of laser cannons. As the cabin reached optimum pressure he made sure to check the reading twice before removing his helmet.
"Oh it feels so good to have that off," he said as he reactivated the shuttles artificial gravity. A small pendant that had been floating near the crafts ceiling dropped and hit him between the ears. "Ow, what the?"
"What's happening!"
"Who said that?"
"Eject it!"
"Eject what?"
"Dawna . . ."
"Prowler . . ."
"What the hell was that?" T'yer grabbed the pendant as it began to slip down the back of his space suit. "And what is this?"
The gem was two inches long and had five sides each a different color: black, white, red, orange, and green. It narrowed to a point at the bottom and the top looked as though it had been cut off just as the point was beginning to form.
"That's odd," T'yer mumbled as he rolled the gem between his fingers, "the cord feels like leather but it doesn't have a knot in it. Whoa there isn't any hole in the stone the cord is growing out of the crystal! I guess Ral didn't slip you in here while we were packing so where did you come from?"
"Telegems, Runners, Kah-Har, Dare, Life."
"Who said that?"
"Knowledge and Wisdom, Emotion, Courage, Strength, Life."
T'yer spun the pilot's seat around so that he was facing the living area of his shuttle. It was empty and silent, just as it had been before T'yer had spoken. His mouth dropped open as he realized the voices were in his head. "What are you?"
"Shards, Telegems, Gods, Gifts, Rebirth."
"That doesn't tell me anything, so what are you?"
"Echoes, Shards, Memories, Shadow Runners, Preservers."
"So you're like a memory crystal that has the minds of the Shadow Runners imprinted on it?"
"No, Telegems, Shards, Yes, No."
"Well, that made no sense."
"And Prowler writes that each member of the team was given a gem of power. He received the black gem of knowledge and wisdom, Dawna the white gem of emotion, White Fox the red gem of Courage, Dare the orange gem of strength, and Thunder the green gem of life. He knew of the gems for in the past he had received shards from the gems of Luck and Time."
"How did you do that? You sounded just like one of my teachers when I was attending school."
"Memory, Remembered, Story, Learned, School."
"So you're shards from the Shadow Runner's telegems, but if I remember correctly and I'm sure that I do since you are forcing memories to the surface, aren't the shards supposed to be separate?"
"Bound, Time Jump, Altered Space, Yes, Anomaly."
"I think I understand. When the Shadow Runner's were destroyed each of the gems released a shard. However because of the energy that was unleashed you were fused into a single gem which traveled through time and altered space."
"No, No, Yes, Yes, No."
"Real Time, Created, Traveled, Here, Now."
"So the shards aren't like a memory crystal, but they do contain the memories of their owners. At least that's the impression that you're giving me."
"Spirit, Soul, Allahk, Life Wind, Core Program."
"You mean each time a shard is created the person that the telegem is bonded to loses a piece of their soul?"
"No, Shared, Returned, Yes, Recipient."
"So a part of my soul would have been transferred to each of the telegems the moment I touched you if the Shadow Runners hadn't died?"
"Transferred, Out of time, Shared, Returning, Yes."
"According to the legends the telegems and their shards gave people special abilities. So what powers will I receive, other than having five voices in my head?"
"Knowledge and Wisdom, Emotion, Courage, Strength, Life."
"Yeah that helps."
"Voices, Gone, When, Bonded."
"Why?"
"Part of you, No longer independent, Unneeded."
"But how am I supposed to know how to use your abilities?"
"The abilities are within you, Trust your feeling. We will always be a part of you. Put the cord around your neck and the bonding will be complete. Once in place only you will be able to remove us."
"What should I call you?" T'yer asked desperate to keep the voices talking. The silence echoed in his mind. The black facet glowed as a tear gently floated through the air and impacted the forward window just as the shuttle orbited to Accordia's night side. The last rays of the sun reflected through the liquid and a rainbow formed in the cockpit. T'yer continued to cry as he attempted to turn the artificial gravity generator on. It was then that he noticed that he had already turned it on and it was working.
"Well then, I guess I'll call you the Tear of Accordia." T'yer slipped the cord over his head and it lengthened so that the crystal rested at the center of his chest. He quickly buckled his restraints, closed his eyes, and pushed the engine start button. The ship shook as the engines ignited.
"I did it! They're working! I guess my luck is changing. Vesuvia, here I come."
* * *
3
Planet Fall
The shuttle rocked violently as it fell out of altered space. The Freem sled that T'yer had bolted to the shuttle's belly peeled away barely missing the left wing as it shot toward Vesuvia's moon. Inside the shuttle things were bad. T'yer locked his helmet into place as alarms continued to drone that the ship was loosing atmosphere.
"Damn, I'm glad I kept the suit on." He switched off the artificial gravity and activated the compressors to save as much air as he could. "Thank the Gods the main drive units and inertial compensators are still working. I guess I should have gone out and checked the sled while I was over Accordia." He fought with the controls until the ship stopped spinning and he was on a direct approach to Vesuvia. "Man I wish someone would build a base on that moon. The reduced gravity would make for a much safer emergency landings."
He quickly began checking the shuttles condition to be sure that he would be able to land.
"At least with the weapons and life support out I can redirect all the energy to the shields and the anti-gravity systems. That should make landing a bit easier. But first I'd better set the wings for atmospheric flight. With everything that's happened I don't trust the automated systems anymore."
The wings slowly rose, locking into place just as the shield began to glow. T'yer quickly shut down the main engines and diverted power to the antigravity generators. The shuttle quickly decelerated to a manageable speed.
"Oh crap, I miscalculated the entry vector I'm going to have to get lower and turn back toward the city." The antigravity generator died and the shuttle dropped nearly a thousand feet before it sputtered back to life. "Or maybe I'm going to get this thing close enough to the ground and moving a lot slower first!" The generator coughed again but continued to function.
T'yer had converted the wings to landing mode when the generators died and the shuttle dropped the final sixteen feet to the planet's surface. The sand cushioned the landing to a certain extent but it was obvious the ship wouldn't be taking off again without some major repairs. T'yer sat in the command seat relieved that he was still alive. Then the seat broke off from its base and fell backward. He lay there stunned; his tail hurt. It was probably broken, the shuttle was a wreck, and he began laughing.
"I'm alive, I'm actually alive. Now the only thing left to make this a perfect story is for some miner to open the hatch and ask if anyone is still alive in here. Of course seeing a seven and a half foot tall cheetah wrapped in a space suit would probably scare them to death." He looked expectantly at the hatch but it remained closed.
"I guess that means I'm on my own still. I'd better get up and see how far I'm going to have to walk to get help." He rolled the seat on its side before unbuckling the restraints. Then he pulled his tail through the hole in the back. "Hmm, it still hurts but it doesn't seem broken probably just badly bruised." He stripped off the cumbersome space suit and reactivated the ship's computer. The screen flickered but continued working. "First I'd better figure out where I landed."
He pulled up a planetary map and then entered the coordinates where he believed he had landed. "Mahan kre Lenkah Allahk. The Mountain of Lost Souls huh, I guess I should have known that. According to this the mountain is a well-known feature on Vesuvia. The natives believe that it is a place of death and never approach this stunning feature. It is believed to be a giant smoky quartz crystal but no one has ever been able to confirm this." T'yer leaned over the instrument panel to get a better look out the window. He could just see the black mesa to the right of the ship. He then leaned back and continued reading.
"Those that have investigated the area have never gotten closer than two kilometers. They report that as soon as they were within four kilometers they began to smell rotting flesh even when using filters and complete containment suits. At the three-kilometer mark they find the bodies from which the smell originates. The observers claim that most appear to be humanoid." He looked out the window again as he sniffed the air. There did seem to be an odd smell but he just reasoned that it was from a burned out circuit board.
"There have been very few people to actually penetrate to the two kilometer mark but those that have returned, have reported seeing creatures that can only be described as demons. And all that have returned have died violent deaths often by their own hand. Orbital holographs of the area always turn out blurry as though a dark cloud is constantly covering the area. To see this amazing location for your self just rent a hover bike at the Bazaar and travel east for two hours and you'll be within visual range." T'yer continued to scroll down but the rest of the document was a mass of legal gibberish that basically stated that the author of the description couldn't be held responsible if anyone did try to get closer.
"Well I guess the shuttle will be safe from scavengers out here, but just to be sure I'd better get out the camouflage. Two hours by hover bike, that means it'll likely be three days hard walking before I get to the space port." He pulled out the multipurpose camouflage cover and headed out. Two minutes later he ducked back into the shuttle panting heavily. "Correction that'll be three nights hard walking and I'm going to need lots of water and something to use as shelter. Damn, I thought the Plains of Glorious Battle back home got hot during the summer, but they're almost glacial compared to the heat out there," he mumbled as he sealed the hatch. "I guess I'd better get some sleep because I've got a long journey tonight."
* * *
4
Running Memory
When T'yer woke up the suns had set but the shuttle's interior was sweltering. He quickly opened the hatch and the cool night air flooded the ship.
"Oh yeah that's much better." He grabbed a pack containing a change of cloths, a light ground cloth that could double as a shelter and as a shawl, his Krinthara wind staff, an antique blaster and his first aid kit. He added two water bottles with molecular fusion caps that could pull hydrogen and oxygen out of the air to keep the bottles full at all times, and a packet of emergency rations. Then he took out his wind staff and checked the power cell.
"Fully charged and ready to go." He stepped out onto the warm sand, sealed the shuttles hatch, and adjusted the cloaking material. Then after checking his compass and his watch he started walking. As he swung his arms the collapsed staff began to whistle.
"Teeeeeeeehummmmmm Tweeeeeeehummm." T'yer increased his pace and the staff began to hum. Soon he fell into a steady rhythm that a human would call a fast run but for T'yer it was an easy jog that would eat the distance but not overly exhaust him. Once his pace was set he would flick his wrist so that the sound from the staff would jump and move in original yet harmonious patters.
As he ran his mind began to wander. He thought of Snarion and the way it had been before the Imperiam. The rolling Plains of Glorious Battle and how the wind of late summer would set the grass to shooshing and the sound of the insects buzzing in counterpoint. He drifted to the Hills of Raja's Tears in the spring with the trickling water and songs of the crickets and frogs. Then he went to the roaring rapids of the Mother Jungle River and the crashing water of Renewal Falls in the spring after the rainy season. He made his way through the howling winds and crunching snows of winter in the Mountains of Golden Folly. Finally he journeyed to the calming whispers of the sea breeze as he walked along the beaches of The Great Father Ocean after the Imperiam attack.
His memory of that occasion was much more intense. He could smell the wet sand and hear the squabbling of sea birds. He had come here to give up. He'd been alone for nearly two months everyone was gone or dead and he had come to the shores to join them. He remembered that he had planned to walk into the surf and then keep going. Once he was too exhausted to continue swimming he would sink beneath the waves never to return. But as he stepped into the water he had seen Ral, just sitting on the beach watching him. No, he was coming closer and he had stripes.
T'yer slid to a stop and flicked the staff to full extension. It shrieked as its ends shot outward and began to glow from the energy coursing to the stunners at the tips. The creature he had believed was Hra'ahl was actual a sand tiger and it had been stalking him. The reptile appeared light blue with dark blue horizontal stripes in the moonlight. It had moved back when the staff extended and now it was circling him.
"I suggest you find yourself an easier meal. You wouldn't like the way I taste." T'yer spun the staff and it let out a low and angry growl. "Besides there must be easier pickings out here." He rolled the staff between his palms and it screeched as if in pain.
The sand tiger lunged forward at the sound and T'yer slammed the end into its head. It dropped as the powerful stun prod did its job. Unfortunately a claw caught T'yer's shin. It was just a nick he quickly spread an antibacterial agent from his kit onto the wound and then wrapped his leg and set off once again. He noticed that he had already drained one water bottle and the other was half full. He clipped the empty to the outside of the pack where the lid would work better. Again he checked his compass and watch. He had been running for nearly ten hours and he hadn't even noticed.
"Four hours left until the suns rise. I don't want to be anywhere near here when ugly wakes up so I'll continue for another three hours and then spend an hour finding a place to set up a shelter for the day." He once again established a steady rhythm though a bit slower than before because of his injured leg. Three and a quarter hours later he was staggering and using his staff to remain upright. He thought he saw a hover bike approaching and he began to wave but fell and his staff moaned.
The hover bike came to a stop just short of where he lay and the rider got off. He was wearing a black desert jumpsuit with a thermal conditioning leather jacket. He unbuckled his air filter mask and scowled.
"Shit! Man, it looks like you tangled with a sand tiger. You would have to collapse here wouldn't you?" He pulled T'yer onto the back of his bike and headed back toward the Bazaar. "Revo is going to kill me. I'm already late but I can't leave you out here. Damn, if you recover you owe me one. Got that kitty cat?"
T'yer moaned and the man shut up. The trip into town was quick since T'yer had collapsed only twenty kilometers short of the out skirts. The bike drifted to a stop in an ally and the guy dashed down a stairwell only to return moments later with a large gray skinned nearly human guard.
"There he is Roam, like I said it looks like he tangled with a sand tiger see the purple stain on that bandage?"
"Ah see it. Looks like it was jus a nick. If he's strong enough to take down a sand tiger wit only a flesh wound den he'll likely recover. Once we get him the antivenin."
"That's what I figured. Here's his belongings, watch the ends of that staff they look like stun prods. Oh, and when he wakes up tell him I took one of his water bottles as payment for saving his life. If he wants it back Rashee can tell him where he can find me. Now I've got to book if I'm going to make it back to the mine before Revo wakes up."
"Good luck and God speed Zor, there ain't enough people like you around anymore."
"Thanks Roam, later." The bike shot away as the guard carried T'yer down the stairs and into the basement of the Sundowner Cantina.
* * *
5
Ending and Beginning
The lights in the room were dim and T'yer could hear two people talking as he slowly regained consciousness.
"So how is he doing?" A male voice asked.
"He seems to be recovering, though he was close to traveling the great desert," a female voice replied.
"Where am I?" T'yer asked, turning his head to look at them. He immediately regretted the action as the room began to spin.
"Don't move. You still have a way to go before the poison is completely cleared from your system. Here, open your mouth," the blue skinned female said as she approached the bed. She drew a small dagger with a transparent blade and ran it lightly across her wrist.
T'yer was confused but did as he was told.
"Now don't swallow this until Arlen can get you some water." She held her cut wrist next to T'yer's mouth letting the thin trickle of blue blood cover his tongue.
He expected it to be salty with a copper after taste. But the woman's blood was sweet and had a damp wood after taste. His first instinct was to spit the fluid out but he didn't want to move again.
"Don't you dare spit. That would be an unforgivable insult to me as well as my ancestors. Ah, Arlen you have the water. Now I'm going to give you a very small amount of this. I want you to move it around in your mouth so that the blood and water are thoroughly mixed. You'll know when it is completely mixed. At that moment swallow." She carefully measured the water into a plastic cup and then held it to T'yer's lips.
He drained the cup and began swishing the water around his mouth. Suddenly the flavor changed and T'yer swallowed before he could even think just to get the substance out of his mouth. It was revolting; he had never tasted anything close to being that bad.
"Here kid, rinse your mouth with this. It'll kill the taste but don't swallow any."
T'yer grabbed the cup that Arlen offered him. The alcohol hit his abused mouth like a fireball and it killed the taste of the medicine, but he quickly spit it back into the cup.
"Ugh, thank you."
"Don't thank me. It was Rashee that saved your life. That ceremony she just preformed is rarely seen by aliens."
"Thank you Rashee, I do believe I owe you my life."
"You do indeed. I don't know how you survived being attacked to begin with. But to survive with the amount of poison you had in your system is unheard of. I have a feeling that fate has gifted you with a special destiny. So I was meant to help, but if I ever contact you for a favor, I expect you to honor it."
"I pledge my honor as a Snarion Guardian, that I am in your debt. You have but to ask and I will be at your service."
"Good, oh and you're not to mention any of this to another living being without my permission. My people do not believe in sharing our secrets with others."
"Again you have my word."
"Fine, now if you'll excuse me I have to prepare for my show." As Rashee left the room T'yer noticed her delicate blue wings.
"She's Dreanna Skree, I thought they remained apart from the rest of the population on Vesuvia?"
"Rashee's family has worked here at the Sundowner for several generations. Unlike the rest of their people they believe that remaining apart won't protect them from evil. Rashee works as a singer and dancer. She has a talent that I haven't seen for a very long time. But enough about her I want to hear a bit about you." Arlen pulled a chair next to the bed and sat down. He then pulled an old notebook out of his pocket.
"Let's see I already know that you are Snarion, from the Swift Clan I believe, and somehow you survived the Imperiam's cleansing of your planet. You rebuilt a shuttle and came here though the trip wasn't easy. When you arrived you landed out near the Mountain of Lost Souls. You then traveled nearly two hundred and five kilometers in one night and that includes a fight with a sand tiger. The question I have is why did you come here?"
"I'm on a quest, I have to find Tanth Nightiger." T'yer said as he slowly sat up. The room had stopped spinning and his head was beginning to clear.
"That old story? It's nothing more than a fairy tale told to young kittens."
"And is the fact that you are immortal a fairy tale as well? I know you were alive in the time of Prowler the Homeless One. I found scraps of his log in the record vaults at the Snarion Academy."
"Prowler is a myth as well."
"No he isn't! I have proof that the Shadow Runners existed!"
"Really? What proof do you have other than rumors and bits of information from an archive that was destroyed?"
"This pendant was formed from shards of the Shadow Runners' telegems."
A high-pitched whine seemed to fill the room and Arlen shook his head. Obviously the air circulator was on the fritz again. Then he noticed that his own telegem seemed to be getting warmer. "Perhaps he is telling the truth? No it's just my imagination," he told himself. "Nice necklace, but it proves nothing," he said, looking closely at the pendant.
T'yer hung his head, Arlen was right he didn't have any substantial evidence. Suddenly the black facet began to glow.
Arlen could no longer deny that his own gem was getting warmer.
"Meonii was Prowler's mate. She worked as a dancer here at the cantina but her actual job was to pass messages and special people through the gateway to..."
"Don't say another word. I don't know how you came to posses that information but if you say another word, I will have to kill you." Arlen said quickly interrupting T'yer.
"Shendria."
The name resounded through Arlen's head as he pulled a small blaster from his apron and fired at T'yer. He hated having to kill the kid but the secrets of Gateway and Shendria had to be kept from the Imperiam at all cost. The blaster bolt was deflected by a small red energy shield that formed the instant Arlen had pulled the trigger.
T'yer didn't open his eyes or react in any other way to Arlen's attempt to kill him. He just continued to sit on the edge of the bed with his head down as if in a trance.
"She was killed here at the Sundowner. Prowler named the Shadow Runners in her honor. You are Arlen Josef Sundowner; you came to this galaxy from Earth, a very long time ago."
Arlen leaned back on his chair with his mouth open as he realized he was hearing the voice with his mind rather than his ears.
"I traveled with you for over two thousand of your years creating new races to populate our galaxy. Our hope was that the humans would never be able to completely rule such a diverse population. However the one known as Crystal Image has developed the ability to continue her existence in a way that we had not foreseen. T'yer must continue upon his journey to find his savior. However the savior that he seeks and the savior that we have chosen are not the same."
"So who have you chosen to save the galaxy this time?"
"Tanth Nightiger can be found on our home planet of Celtis Aranaki. However T'yer must learn this information for himself. The first step in his journey has just begun but he will not complete it on his own. He must remain here until The Chosen One comes to help him."
"Reaper, how will I know this one you speak of?"
"You're right Arlen, I don't have any proof that the Shadow Runners or Tanth exist, but in my heart I know that they do; or at least they did. And even if the legend isn't true I have to at least try. The legend says that Tanth will return to us when the Guardians are at their weakest. If that doesn't describe the current situation I don't know what would." T'yer said as he began to cry. He knew that his mission wasn't likely to succeed, but he had to try. There was no one else that could help the cubs.
"Hey kid, don't cry, you're just wasting water. I'll help you but you're going to need to repair your ship and that's going to cost money. If you have any talent with that wind staff, I might be able to work you in as a stage performer. Though we'll have to be careful since there are a few Imperiam soldiers who won't look the other way for a free drink or two."
"Thank you Arlen."
"Don't mention it kid, now get some sleep." Arlen smiled as he closed the door. It had been a long time since he had felt that there was any hope left in the Kah Har galaxy. The last time he felt this way was when Prowler first arrived at the Sundowner. He was even half-tempted to fly T'yer to Celtis Aranaki himself. But Reaper had told him that T'yer was to remain at the Sundowner and Arlen wasn't about to argue the point with the Kah Har god of Death.
T'yer dried his eyes with the back of his paw. "Arlen's right I'm wasting water and I'm going to need to save every drop. It took me a year to get the shuttle running the first time but I did it and I'll do it again. It'll be difficult to get the replacement parts here on Vesuvia especially the Freem drive but I'll figure out a way. I swore to Ral that I would never give up again. I just pray that he can hold out long enough for me to find Tanth," he said as he stretched out on the bed. He was actually feeling much better.
He lifted the Tear and rolled it between his fingers, "It was you wasn't it? You're the one that allowed me to run so far without tiring and then kept me alive after the sand tiger poisoned me."
The Tear twinkled in the dim lighting and T'yer suddenly felt extremely tired, "I guess there is a price to pay after all," he mumbled as he fell asleep.
© Copyright 2000 Prowl-Ar Nightiger