Alkalians (39 page)

“
Ah, okay. So, you didn’t
fight me because Cain wanted you to?”

“
Right! Didn’t you hear me
earlier? I’ve got a title to defend around here, so I had to put
you back in your place. Nothing personal, of course, just civil
sportsmanship. But hey, you did pretty well in that fight, made it
nice and thrilling for everyone here, especially me! In fact, it
was Cain who
didn’t
want me to fight you.” Extending an open hand to him, he
implies, “Anyway, you may not be King of the Pit, but you could
always be the
Prince
!”

Matt finally understands what Buster
is saying, and can think of no way to thank him except by shaking
his hand and saying, “I, I guess that would be fine.”

“
Guess? Nah, you can be
sure of it!” Buster pulls him onto his feet. “Now come on, let’s go
have a drink or two, and chat about your plans to give Cain a taste
of reality. Maybe I could help in some way!”

***

“
And then he says to him,
‘Dammit, if you’re so hungry, I’ll feed ya my energy sword. You
could swallow it whole!’” Buster and Matt both laugh as they stroll
along the open fields in the night. The senior and freshman are
both feeling buzzed from the drinks they had, and what was supposed
to be planning out the next blow to Cain’s regime had given way to
humorous conversation between them. Buster is probably more drunk
than Matt as he had more to drink to fuel his silly stories from
his life and training back home.

Feeling light on his own feet, as if
the dark grass beneath him are the clouds in the night sky and he
is walking across them, following the shimmer of silver from the
moonlight, Matt says, “Hey, did I ever tell you about the time I
was attacked by slag raptors?”

“
Slag raptors? Those crazy
lizards that leap around like frogs, scream like birds, and tear
things apart like dogs? Why no, you haven’t! How did that
go?”

“
Oh, well, I was up near
the mountains, above the tree line, and I got a little adventurous
and ventured further between the crags. You know those rumors that
there’s nothing beyond the mountains, that nobody can go beyond
them? Well, I wanted to find out if they were true. Instead of the
other side of the mountain range, however, I soon found the
raptors. Or more correctly, they found me. This scary hiss was all
the warning I got before they came out of nowhere, from above,
around, and even below the cliff I was on. Fortunately, my dad had
taught me to always morph at the first sign of trouble, so I was in
morph when one of them pounced on me from behind and tried clawing
and biting off my armor!”

“
Hah, that must have been
scary for ya! I’ve seen my share of the buggers, you know, but
always from afar, off on the peaks far away. Er, sorry, what
happened next? Did you beat the scales off them?”

“
Oh yeah, I sure did! If I
was scared of them, they were terrified of me by the time I fought
off and wounded eight of them, the rest shrieking and whining as
they ran away behind the rocks. It was funny, how I felt after
that. I got out of there as fast as I could, afraid they might come
back, but I also felt awesome, that I had scattered the stuff of
nightmares, one of the most feared predators of Minari!”

“
Well, but of course, you
scared them out of their wits, man. The most of the things they try
to eat don’t shoot guns or cast magic back at them! But hey, good
job on getting out of there in one piece. Did ya tell your parents
what happened?”

“
Heh, yeah. My mom freaked
out, she was so upset about me going off into the mountains alone,
but my dad was pretty impressed. He said that most people who go
wandering into the wilds beyond the forest don’t come back, and not
always because of raptors. Then my mom got mad at him for not being
mad at me!”

“
Haha, hilarious! Were
there any big ones among those scaly freaks? They say the biggest,
and meanest, ones get bigger than horses or stags. Can you imagine
one of those jumping through the air at ya?”

“
Ah, I didn’t have to. I
saw one or two of that size do just that! Let’s see, one was black
with red marks all over it, I wasn’t sure if they were spots and
stripes or battle scars, and the other was silvery gray with black
marks and a big scar across its left, blind eye. It was weird, what
happened when they attacked me. The rest of the raptors backed off,
and the two of them would either go after me or suddenly turn on
each other, lunging and kicking at each other like angry birds. But
they were tough, fast, and smart. Even with my techniques, I had a
hard time trying to wound or kill them, and without my clones to
distract them or protect me they could have torn me to
shreds!”

“
Oh, really? Interesting.
Then what happened?”

“
Well, at some point,
right after I blasted the gray one, the black one suddenly forgot
about me and completely turned on it. They tumbled about, snarling
and slashing at each other, and then the black kicked the gray one
away, sending its screaming form down into a deep ravine. The beast
turned back to me, fixed its eyes upon me with its teeth in a
creepy grin, and then lunged at me again, followed by the other
raptors, but with a few more strokes and spells, one of them
impaling the big one under its side, I sent them all running
away.”

“
Huh. Weird, indeed. Did
ya go back for them, though? With your dad or others?”

“
Uh, no. Why would
I?”

“
To bag one for a trophy,
of course! It’s not everyday somebody comes across those wild
things, especially the big ones, and lives to tell about it. It
would have been something if you hunted them down and made a trophy
of one!”

“
Oh, heh, right. Well, I
did ask about that, but my dad, oddly enough, was against the idea
of hunting down that murder of raptors.”

“
Hmm? Why’s
that?”

“
Well, he said something
about them, and then when I thought back, I noticed what he meant.
He said that raptors aren’t like other animals in the wild, that
there was something unnerving about them, something that makes the
idea of hunting them dangerous. And, when I thought back, I saw it.
I saw it, in the big raptors’ eyes. The black one’s blood-red eyes,
the gray one’s evil green eye, there wasn’t just the primal
instincts in them, but there was also intelligence behind them. I
hadn’t reflected back on it until then, but it was like they had an
intelligence similar to ours, that they could think things through,
read movements, make decisions. I don’t know for sure if they
really can do such things, but I’m going with the hunch that they
can, especially since my dad was the one who pointed it
out.”

“
Uh huh. I see. So the
bloody brutes could also be evil geniuses, that’s what you’re
saying?”

“
Uh, yeah, I guess that’s
it.”

Buster laughs, surprising the sobering
Matt, and declares, “All the greater the challenge, then! I’ll tell
you now, Matt, hell, I’ll even promise ya, that one of these days
I’m gonna climb the mountains out in Riaquen and bag me one of
those big bad birds. In fact, I’ll blow the whole mountain down and
bag a whole murder of them!”

“
Heh, well, good luck with
that, then.” They walk along for a moment in silence before Matt
smiles and says, “I guess Sean was right.”

“
Hmm? About
what?”

“
He said that alcohol
helps open people up to others. I’ve never been this open so
quickly with a guy I just met. On top of that, I’ve never told
anyone else about those raptors. But you know what? It felt good to
talk about it.”

“
Well, then the feeling’s
mutual, pal!” Flashing him a grin, Buster then points ahead of them
to the cabins showing in the distance. “There be the cabins, home
sweet home. Guess this is where we go our own ways,
then!”

“
Ah, yeah. You have a good
night, Buster.”

“
The same to ya, Matt.
Good night, man!” With a farewell wave, Buster marches off towards
the seniors’ lot of cabins, and Matt still has a content smile when
he turns and moves on to the freshmen cabins.

***

Upon returning to his cabin, Matt
meets up with Sean and Rose, who have finished dinner and wondered
where he had been all evening. Matt simply says he had done some
studying with Lyn and her girls, then went to the casino for a few
rounds in the pit arena. He thinks better than to mention the boss
students joining up with them in front of Sean at that moment.
Content with his answers, Sean heads out the door for his daily
gambling at the casino, and it isn’t long before Matt and Rose are
showering together.

Under the warm water raining down on
them, with his hand guiding a soapy sponge down her bare back, Matt
breaks the soothing calm between them when he says, “You know, you
didn’t have to wait for me to wash up, Rose.”

“
Oh, no, it’s fine,” Rose
admits. “I actually prefer doing this with you, then it’s more
relaxing.”

“
Heh, I guess that’s true.
The same goes for me.” Matt smiles as he washes down her hips and
legs, no longer feeling physical desires for her after his time
with Amelia. Once she turns so he can start back up top at her
chest, he asks, “How was training today?”

“
Ah, actually, I didn’t
have to train with Serpanz today,” she replies. “Although, you
could say I still got my workout done.”

“
Oh? Do tell.”

“
Well, you know Buster
Harmada, one of the boss students? He found me out in the fields,
and after some light conversation we had a duel, and I beat
him!”

Blinking at the coincidence she had
met and fought with Buster that day, too, Matt exclaims, “Really?
Good job!”

“
Heh, thanks. He also
wanted me to let you know that he’s not with Cain anymore, he wants
to help us take him down. Is that okay with you?”

“
Ah, yeah, it’s alright.
Especially since he told me so, himself.”

“
He did? When?”

Matt explains as he brings the sponge
down across her waist and between her legs, “Well, I was still at
the casino, in the pit arena, when he showed up and challenged me
to a fight. I was worried when he wound up defeating me, but
relieved when he finally told me he wasn’t with Cain
anymore.”

Rose can’t help but chuckle. “Aw, he
defeated you, eh? A shame you couldn’t have beat him, like I
did!”

“
Hah, yeah. It was close,
though, so maybe next time I’ll have my revenge!” They both laugh
as he stands and steps back, letting Rose rinse herself off. After
he gives her the sponge so she can wash him, he goes on while she
starts at his chest, “So, Buster’s not the only boss student who
wants to help us. Cynthia Volvaron also wants to switch
sides.”

“
Oh, really? How did that
go?”

“
I was still in the study
hall with Lyn and the others when she showed up, and she told us
about her newfound hatred of Cain and her intent to bring him down.
She said something else, though, to prove she was willing to help
us. She knew about our fight, Rose, and what was going on behind
the scene. Cain had Irene Goros watching from far off, ready to
shoot you if you demorphed and frame me for it.”

Sensing the pain in his tone, the
effort it takes for him to tell her, Rose grimaces, forcing her
gaze downward to not look at the scars still across his neck while
she washes down the front of him. “Yeah. I learned about that
today, too. Buster blurted it out to me after our fight for his
reason of switching sides.”

“
Oh. I see.” Matt looks up
after a moment of silence goes between them, asking, “Why are there
bad people like them, like Cain and Irene, in the world,
Rose?”

“
I don’t know, Matt,” Rose
tells him as she stands and moves behind him, dragging the sponge
across his shoulders and back. “But they won’t get away with it.
We’ll make them regret ever having threatened us, before this is
over. You can be sure of that.”

“…
Let’s hope so.” He
pauses for a moment. “Rose?”

“
Yes?”

“
I, I’m glad we’re
friends. I’m glad that we’re this close.”

Rose pauses her washing of his hips
and legs, then stands up straight, turns Matt around, and embraces
him, pressing their warm bodies together. “As am I,
Matt.”

While Rose puts her head against his
shoulder, Matt blinks in confusion for a moment, feeling something
odd between them, before he returns the embrace gratefully. He
understands what the feeling is as they hold each other. While it
was Amelia who provided him physical relief, it was Rose who shared
mental and spiritual relief with him.

Chapter 9

Liberators and Oppressors

***

The night passes into a new day, the
last day of school hours before the weekend. Once school is over,
Sean is outside the main college building near the main road,
continuing his part to undermine Cain’s position among the
community by flashing his crafty words for a group of students
gathered around him. “You know, you’ve got to wonder what’s wrong
with Cain these days,” he tells them, his arm around the shoulders
of a pretty brunette girl sitting beside him. “I mean, with most
people, he would have come chasing after them like some mad bull.
But now, when some freshman with special powers shows up, he’s
hiding away in his lonely little closet, hoping the monster he
calls Matt won’t get him!”