Cloud 9

Alek Baesun thrashed at the machinery in front of him, frustrated beyond belief and feeling even more so after his own destruction. He stepped back to glare at the small bot, before landing it a solid kick and stomping off in the other direction.

As he made his way moodily to his study, to pour through his war plans once again, he felt a tingle of remorse for leaving the dented, broken cleaning bot spilling its guts in the castle hallway, but the feeling was short lived as bigger issues were uprooted.

Alek leaned rigidly over his desk, staring at the attack plans scribbled out on the papers before him, before letting out an exhausted sigh. He ran a hand through his dark hair, walking in eager, stiff strides to the window looking out over the extent of the sky.

A sound from the entrance of the room startled him from his longing stare, and as he turned to the face of his best friend and second commander, he felt almost ashamed at showing a rare moment of vulnerability. Kaff rolled his eyes as his friends guilty expression, and watched unamused as Alek’s face returned to the pinched, serious look he had been wearing non stop. Alek made his way back to his desk, sighing dejectedly and running a hand through his hair.

“I need your opinion. The fuel sacks we have wont be enough for the moving army that’s heading to Rose. We need to send them more oil without attracting attention, or burning it ourselves. Have any brilliant ideas?” Alek raised his abnormally blue eyes to tiredly study Kaff.

Kaff slowly made his way to Prince Alek’s desk, leaning against the polished wood to glare at his friend. “My opinion? My opinion is that you need to shut up for once and let other people deal. There are servants in this castle who’s jobs are to figure out issues like this. Your job is to lead the army, to fight all those wretched beasts and be the war hero Baesun Realm needs, not send sissy care packages.” Kaff sighed, and pushed away from the desk to move to the window and throw open the glass. A large fresh aired breeze blew through and subconsciously Alek breathed deeply. “You need to get out man, release some of that stress before you throttle someone.”

An hour later, Alek was strapped into his hydro board, tumbling from an altitude far greater than most could endure. The air was thin, and his lungs were seizing up, desperate for air. He tilted his board downward, and let his whole body free fall past the darkening clouds of dusk, the wind tearing away at him, desperately fighting his decent. His stomach dropped with a familiar woosh, and an exhilarated laugh bubbled from his lungs.

Finally he pulled his front foot up, leveling out to sweep through the wispy clouds, reaching out to catch to disturb their fluffed grouping.

It had been so long since he’d been out here. Just surfing the clouds without any of the worries that come with the threat of war. Alek had purposefully gone in the opposite direction of Kingdom Rose, knowing his father was leading an army to attack the crystal city. He just wanted an hour, one hour…and then he would go back to all the files, all the plans, all the training he had to do.

But just as he was beginning to relax, and ready to return to the castle, he saw a figure in the clouds, a flash of a person as he swooped by. Immediately his heart dropped, a spy, an assassin, a scout…his mind buzzed, and quickly he fell behind a thick cloud, loosening and unlatching a gun from under his long slender board.

Qiuetly, he cocked the weapon, a shadow of impassiveness passing his face as he readied himself for a kill. But as he peeked around a thick cotton ball cloud, Alek quickly realized that his paranoia had been unnecessary. Although it was a Rose, it was just a girl, sitting dejectedly on her leaf flying, talking quietly to a passing butterfly.

He lowered his gun only slightly—looks could be deceiving. He watched her with interest, wondering why she would be out here, so far from Kingdom Rose. She was obviously one of them; sitting on a leaf flyer while talking to a bug gave her away. Freaks. He glowered with disgust as his lip curled involuntarily.

Her hair was a golden auburn color, rustling with the slight breeze. Her flyer was hovering in a small, cloudless clearing, giving her the impression of privacy. Her legs were dangling over the edge of her green board, crossing and uncrossing her ankles absently. She was wearing pants, which surprised him at first. Women, although they were not forced, usually wore skirts.

Aleks mind quickly flickered to his army, where many women there never wore skirts. But they were soldiers, troops, not women. An army, not a gender. He looked back at the girl in question, noticing as he studied her attire that she was also wearing dragon hide—expensive material. An interest sparked within him at the peculiar sight.

He watched her even more carefully, now intrigued to find that she looked starving, frail, and tired. Worn and depressed almost.

This was peculiar. A Rose, out in the middle of nowhere, who was also a woman, wearing mens clothing—expensive mens clothing—looking like she had just been shipwrecked.

The butterfly on her finger shivered, flapped its wings and flew up above her. She watched it go with eyes narrowed, as if this was somehow significant. And then suddenly she was on her feet, like a flash of lightening she was standing, staring right at him, although he was sure she couldn’t see him. She strung a bow within a second, and aimed it in his direction again. For a moment his mind stalled, wondering where she got that weapon so fast.

He let his board drift out from behind the cloud, this gun raised and aimed at her head.

Kenastra’s yellow eyes flashed as she saw him, knowing he had been watching her. He had a gun, a hard metal killer, and it was raised and cocked. She knew by a glance that he was an experienced shot, knew by a glance that he only had three shots loaded, and that he didn’t know who she was.

She was tired, hungry, and worn. Before leaving the Rose Palace again she had only bathed, and repacked supplies. She never packed food—it was just extra weight her flyer didn’t need, and at the time, although going days without food, she had no apatite. Perhaps it was due to the young King Nash, and his abysmal manners, but she just wasn’t sure.

He floated out, letting his board drift in a small circle around her. She kept her own bow pointed at him, sure that her arrow was as good as any bullet. He was dressed expensively, someone important, and as they stared at each other, she waited, tired, wary, and hungry, for him to make a move.

“Who are you?” Alek barked at the surprisingly well maneuvered girl. He added: good with weapons to his list of infirmation about her. She was oddly calm, as if waiting, and he found it weirdly distracting. Did she do this often?

Alek himself had been in far more stressful standoffs, this was nothing, but he had expected her to be terrified. She looked just as composed as he did.

“Depends on whose asking.” She replied casually, her voice surprisingly light in contrast to her intense golden gaze. He had never seen such strange eyes peering around the strung taut string of a highly poisonous arrow.

He had no reply to that, so instead he fired another question at her. “What are you doing out here? Lost?” Obviously not, he thought. She seemed very aware of her surroundings, and had the distinct sense that she knew he was watching her the whole time.

“No, enjoying the view.” She replied simply, and suddenly, after a pause, lowered her bow and eyed him with a composed, calculating expression.

The movement threw him, but he’d be damned if he ever showed it. After a moment of thought he followed her lead, and let his gun lower only slightly, still aimed at her.

She was drifting atop her flyer, looking infuriatingly at ease, a pack hanging limply under her board. The two stared at each other for a moment, at a loss for what to do.

“You’re in the Baesun Realm, legally I could arrest you.” He said finally, steering his board to subtly drift closer towards her, hoping he could jump her and catch her off guard. But as her eyes flickered to the movement of his board, he knew catching her by surprise was out.

“I suppose you could. Am I doing anything wrong?” She asked innocently, and he could tell in that instance that she was, and she knew. Something was up with this one, and he was going to find out what she hiding.

She almost seemed to know what he was thinking, because she shifted slightly on her board, letting it drift away from him. He smirked without realizing it, and her eyes narrowed.

He moved sideways to block her eyes as he reached into his pants to pull out another gun. The movement distracted her, but she didn’t notice him sneak a small dart gun into his palm. And then with a quickness that almost matched hers, he shot the tranquilizer at her, aiming at her neck. The dart soared through the air like a torpedo—so fast he could barely see it. She didn’t have time to duck, but she raised her palm in defense, shielding her face from the attack.

The dart stuck into her palm, leaking its poison into her blood. For a moment, both of them froze as she plucked the dart out of her hand with an eerie calm. And then with a crash the calm was over. The sleep dart would take longer to hit her blood stream now, and in her eyes he could see that in those extra moments she would fight until the death.

He shot forwards, intent of rushing her, but with a leap she jumped off her flyer, knowing that free falling was faster than her flyer could ever drop. Wind rushed past her, whipping her hair up in spiraling tendrils as she fell without a safety net.

The man was right behind her, letting his board drop almost as fast as her. Alek didn’t want to kill her—he just wanted to capture her. Trespassing in the Baesun realm was against the law, and she obviously knew how to fight. Her intents needed to be decoded, for safety’s purpose.

She let a low whistle flow from her lips, bringing her body into a crouch as Alek pushed his board to go faster. What the hell was she doing?

Suddenly, her leaf flyer zipped past him in a flash, faster without the added weight, and fell under her like an old friend. Her body reacted immediately, uncurling and launching forward. Running—she was trying to get away.

Just as Alek was beginning to wonder if the dart had any affect on this woman, he saw her body lurch forward, and her hands were beginning to tremble. Reassured as he trailed behind her, he pushed his board faster just as her’s slowed. With a sudden movement, she stopped and whirled, causing Alek to smash into her. They both landed in a heap atop her flyer, and instantly he released his own board needing his legs to trap her kicking limbs. He caught her thrashing legs with his thighs clamped around them, his body hovering above her and one hand easily ensnaring both her small wrists. Her body heaved breathlessly, but she ceased fighting, almost as if she was relieved it was over and she didn’t have to consume the rest of her energy. With her body so close he was able to feel just how thin she was, and see in her eyes the exhaustgen as deep as bone.

He watched her as he caught his breath. She was fighting the tranquilizer superbly. When he had thought that the toxin would take longer to reach her blood stream, he meant mere moments, but she was still wide awake, still functioning. Using his free hand he rummaged through his back pocket again, still pinning her beneath him, and brought out the dart gun once again.

Her eyes followed it warily, as if waiting for him to aim it at her face. Instead he retrieved the small slender dart and tossed the gun aside, frustrated she was still conscious. Was she immune to the toxin?

Alek brushed the soft curls of her hair way from her neck, the dart clenched between his teeth, and then paused. ON her slender throat was a black and yellow splotch the size of his fist, blooming like a droplet of ink in water. He’d seen this kind of mark before—a beetle toxin, and his mind instantly reeled. Why would a Rose be shot with its own weapons? Perhaps she was an outsider, a traitor.

“Where did you get this?” He demanded, curious beyond belief. Never had he been so intrigued by a single person, usually cloud walkers were easy to read, easy to figure out by the different clues their attire, faces, devises gave away—but not her, she was a puzzle in a different language, a picture that made no sense.

“Its beautiful isn’t it?” She asked instead. “I was going to clean it, but when I saw this… I think I would rather keep it.” He stared at her for a moment, trying to read her golden eyes, but all he saw sincerity, complete honesty. Disgust flowed through him, but he set down the dart and instead reached for her pack, searching for the anti venom to smear on the colorful mark.

Her bag was filled with strange items, just as strange and unhelpful as she was. Two bags of crushed butterflies, a jar of black honey, three viles of beetles, a packet of tiny blue seeds, a bottle of orange pills, a wooden whistle, a blanket made out of Caecus feathers, and a tube of glue worms. At the bottom he found a packet of different antidotes—most he didn’t recognize, and finally he smeared the beetle anti-venom on her flowering splotch.

She merely rolled her eyes. “Is it that hideous to you?” She asked. “I didn’t have time to apply any antibiotic, but thank you for your help.” She told him, and her words worried him because it meant she had been lying before, and he hadn’t even had the suspicion that she was. Sick of this creature who was throwing him off balance, he picked up the dart and jammed it into her throat, just above the disappearing beetle mark. Her golden butterscotch eyes didn’t portray any surprise, her gaze unrelenting as the venom lolled her into unconsciousness.

“Finally,” Alek muttered as her body relaxed into sleep, her pretty features peaceful and sad. He stood up above her, reattached his hydro board, and slung her soft body over his shoulder with ease, shooting off into the clouds towards the Baesun castle.