Chapter
18
Kevin’s point of view
Everything was blank, and dark. I remembered yelling Skyir’s war
chant with the others, but nothing after that.
The pain. It was searing, ripping through my chest. My adrenaline
had run thin in my system, and my injury was catching up with me.
I opened my eyes slowly, grimacing with the agony.
“Take it easy, Kevin, lad!” Old Quinn’s calm voice instructed.
“You’re alive!” another familiar voice exclaimed.
“Flyer…” I mumbled with
a slight smile.
“We was worried, Kev!” Dommur’s Caribbean style accent joined in.
“Ya almost bled t’ death!”
I was reminded of Anubis’ words many months ago:
“You ARE
dead, yet only physically. Your soul exists.”
He’d become like a distant memory. It felt strange to think of
Anubis after so long. Yet, personally, I didn’t want to either.
“Already… died before.” I muttered through my gritted teeth.
An uneasy, confused silence followed, and it caused me to
curiously open my eyes a chink. They obviously didn’t all understand about my
origins.
“Where…?” I began
painfully, but Flyer anticipated it first.
“Above the mines, on the surface, Kevin.” He explained. “Don’t you
remember? You collapsed when we got to the surface……”
I slipped away and Flyer’s words became hazy as they faded into
silence.
Flyer’s point of view
Kevin’s eyes rolled back as he fell unconscious again. I held my
breath, worried he had faded away to the afterlife before our very eyes.
“Ee’s still livin’” Old Quinn claimed, sighing with relief.
“Will he be OK, Quinn?” I asked in a small voice.
“Tha’ ah can’t be tellin’ yer, young’un. Ah don’t know much aboot
Soul Creatures.”
I looked at his unconscious, resting form with concern. He had
lost so much blood, and his injury had caused a lot of worry among us.
“Should I tell him about Kallur?”
“No, jus’ leave ‘im be. Ee’s in enough pain, ah’m a-guessin’”
Quinn sighed sadly.
“A waste, wasn’t it?” I commented.
“Not so much a waste, Flyer.” Skyir’s solemn voice behind me
corrected.
I turned, seeing our leader approach.
“It was inevitable that we’d have casualties.” He added.
“Wor Skyir’s right, Flyer. Dain’t yer fret, now. Kallur died
fightin’ like a true warrior. Twas a honourable end fer ‘im.” Quinn comforted.
“Ee died well.”
“More than that, old friend.” Skyir explained. “He died free!”
I looked back to my human friend. He was free now; I just hoped he
didn’t have to be free and dead.
Throughout the days following our liberation, Kevin slipped in and
out of consciousness. While he was awake, I told him about Kallur, how Knartop
had been finished off by a mob of Valedrons, where we were now, and what we
planned to do when everyone had recovered. I’m not sure if any of it registered
properly, as he became forgetful every time he woke up again, and I had to
remind him of what I’d said.
Some of the foraging parties had found a few small sources of
food, as well as a small stream, trickling through the jagged rocks like a
freshwater spring on my homeworld, Nosteran. I sighed; I had never been there,
but when I was younger, my mother had told me a lot about it, describing the
lush forests and clear-blue, crystal lakes in detail. I dreamt of going there,
and seeing it’s natural beauty, but rumours had it that it had fallen to the
Valedron Empire long ago. It felt unlikely it was still the same as it was in
my parents’ time.
My shoulder’s slumped as I headed for the small stream near our
camp. I had always been told that the Valedron Empire had been slowly corrupted
by power over a few decades. A group of renegade Valedrons had left the Empire
and founded a small colony, away from the evil, oppressive leaders who were
ruling by fear and power. When the Empire started a war against the Gecko
races, the renegades were on their list of enemies too. My parent’s were part
of the renegade colony, and were defeated. I think the other major powers in
this galaxy – the Geckos and the Soul Creatures – were dealt with, subduing
their forces so they were no longer a threat; no one stood in the Empire’s way
these days.
I found the stream, slowly flapping down to it with a beaker in my
claws, trying to fill it carefully. After I had done so, I placed it by the
bank with care, and sat down myself for a rest – my wings were getting tired
with all this flying around.
For the first time, I noticed my reflection with wonder and
confusion. Looking down in the water, I felt suddenly repelled by the sight. I
turned away, a few tears slowly trickling down my reptilian features. A few
hundred metres away, my friend, Kevin, was lying near death, slowly slipping
away, and it made me feel repulsed at myself: it made me sick to think that I
was of the same species of the evil, scheming creature who may have essentially
killed Kevin.
Knartop caused this: it was obvious he had given the order himself
to that Giant Gecko guard to slay Kevin. Knartop was now an ex-head guard but that would not change
Kevin’s condition: he would still be responsible for his death, even if he was
already dead.
Pulling myself together, I picked up the beaker, wiped the tears
away, and flew back to Kevin.
Brian’s point of view
“I’m fine, Howie, really!” I insisted.
The others had told him about me hiding in the corner for some
strange reason. I didn’t tell them, of course, unless I wanted to be packed
away to a mental asylum.
“You sure, man? AJ and Nick seemed really worried.” He persisted.
I rolled my eyes and gave a heaving sigh. Sometimes these guys
were TOO worried!
“Positive, D. I think it was just…. Well, you know….. I think it
just started to get me depressed again. But I’m OK, now.” I said firmly.
He nodded.
“So how was your tour?” I quizzed, changing the subject.
“Brilliant. We raised way more than we thought we would!” He
answered, noting my eagerness to avoid…… that
subject. “Met some nice people too. A lot of them thought it was a pity the
group aren’t together anymore.”
We both looked down. No matter what anyone said, nothing could
make us the Backstreet Boys again. Well, only Kevin, but trying to get him back
would be like trying to stop the sun from rising.
“AJ’s throwing a party for absolutely no reason again. He thought
it might cheer you up, I think. Anyway, he has a lot of free time on his hands,
now he’s taking a break from his Johnny No Name thing.”
I smiled sadly. “No problem. I’ll be there.”
I watched Howie’s car drive away. I couldn’t
tell them still. It would sound as insane as it thought: I was hearing Kevin’s
voice in my head, followed by ghostly voices. I just resigned myself to listen
to Kevin; I would just stop listening.
***
