After Allan scooped up a protesting Aly, Allan took off, only looking back once to see the terrifying sight of a velociraptor leaned forward over his hind legs keeping pace only a step behind.
“I’m glad you’re my buddy.” He said back over his shoulder to Yilvar, who laughed that strange laugh of his, picking up on what Allan meant.
A moment later, the hair on the back of Allan’s neck stood upright, and Yilvar pushed up next to him. “Can you sense them, Allan?” Yilvar asked the small spines that ran down his back seeming to stand up straight.
“Yes.” Allan thought for a moment before darting ahead and leading them through a dark alley that had almost no foot traffic. As they ran he asked Yilvar something. “Can you cover Aly? I’ll go on the offensive.”
“Copy.” Yilvar said, reminding Allan that despite his role as a doctor, the Gish was a soldier first and foremost.
“Thanks, Doc.” Allan said and then slid to a halt and Yilvar did the same. Allan tore the translator off and threw it in the direction of Aly. “Stay with Doc.” He said and turned to face the alley they had just run down, at the end, he saw the two fox-creatures round the corner.
Allan waited until the two opponents were only about fifty feet away, and then he charged using his adrenaline and every ounce of strength he had to throw himself through the low gravity at a speed that seemed to defy logic. The fox creatures shocked him then by beginning to move equally as fast. In an instant, one of them had jabbed him with something sharp.
A kneejerk reaction from Allan, the sweeping of the leg from the direction of the jab, landed him a hit on the smaller of the two. It went down hard, and Allan turned to bring a fist down into where he anticipated the head of the smaller creature to be. He stopped midway through his punch. Not because he wanted to but because the larger of the two had grabbed him from behind, pulling him off balance and jabbing him again with a sharp object.
Allan growled, feeling his right hip where the first jab had landed and his left shoulder where the second landed, grow numb. “Alright, so you lot want to play a stabby game.” He said his voice a raging torrent of hatred. He reached into his boot and pulled the boot knife free, spinning it up into a fighter’s grip, he backed up to the wall as the larger being helped the smaller. They both held long oval-shaped devices that had a single large needle at the end pointed away from their bodies. “Fuck you.” He snarled and launched himself into the fight.
Aly stood behind Yilvar who had extended the talons on his hands and feet to their full length. The both of them stood watching Allan face down these two creatures, all three of the fighters were moving at a rate that startled Aly, she knew that Allan was fast, but this seemed to transcend mortal ability, yet here were two being that she did not recognize keeping pace with him.
Suddenly she heard Allan yelling in English. “Aly, the tracker is still on me.” The tone of his voice said he was in pain. She looked at him and saw that he was slowing, despite his two-to-one disadvantage the two beings across from him were peppered with cuts and injuries, deep and shallow alike, the right arm of the smaller one seemed as if it didn’t work anymore due to a long cut across the inside of the armpit. The left leg of the larger one looked fine until you saw that the foot was twisted to the side. The ears of the larger one were pressed down flat to its head.
Aly knew what he was saying, and she knew that she wanted to rush to him and throw herself upon the creatures. “Don’t be foolish Aly,” Yilvar said, his mouth not moving much as he talked quietly. “I don’t want to tangle with them, we can find him with the help of security.” He glanced at Aly, “I don’t know what he just said, but he is waiting for a response. He will keep going until he gets one.” Aly watched another flurry of blows, where Allan got stabbed with the auto-injectors once more each, and he landed another cut to the outside of the arm of the smaller one, and a strange stoping kick to the wounded leg of the larger one.
“I understand Allan.” She said, standing tall despite the panic she felt. “I love you.” She nearly screamed. She saw Allan smile as whatever the two creatures had injected him with finally took hold, and he dropped into unconsciousness. The smaller of the creatures scooped him up over its shoulder, and they moved off at a rate that was faster than Aly could follow, in spite of their injuries.
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Aly stood mute for a minute, panic coming over her, she reached up to tap the comms unit and reach out to Allan as he had told her to do whenever she felt like this. Then her hand froze. “No! Stop! They don’t know he has a commlink or a tracker. What does Allan always say, be the real you, and nothing else.” She began to pace and Yilvar could see that she was thinking. “But what does the real me have? What can the real me do? I was an artist in the clan, I did nothing but paint, and fuck, if the rest of the clan was here…” She stopped and took off running leaving the translator on the ground. “I’m sorry for your deaths everyone. But you can still help me.” She said to the air, hoping that the Goddess would pass the message along to her clan.
“Where are we going?” Yilvar asked, keeping pace with Aly easily.
“My ship, before he died my clan-father completed a passion project of his, a map of this station, the first of its kind. It has every micro-glit of this place, from maintenance tunnels to the inner workings of the artificial star.” Aly said as she ran. A tear rolling down her cheek. “He left me everything, they all did, I’m not a fighter Yilvar. But I can read a map, and I will use every last credit I own, I’ll sell the ship if I have to, to see him back to me safely.”
As they ran three more Gish wearing the Bastion of Law uniform began running next to them. “Hey Yilvar, what’s the hurry, and who...Hey! It’s the little Quillinar lady that was with the deathworlder!” One of them said. Yilvar quickly explained in their native language what had happened. And almost in perfect unison, the three of them broke off sprinting away faster than Aly could ever hope to run, looks of determination on their faces, people regardless of their race moved from their path as Yilvar took lead crying out in his native tongue and looking like a sentient on a mission.
They made it to the ship, and Aly quickly keyed them inside, she had run the whole way, and she knew she had to walk for a bit or she would be useless. She lead Yilvar through the ship to the bridge, and then to what appeared to be a blank wall. She placed her hand on it and spoke a name. “Yesnirathiq Jushintorg.” The wall shimmered and revealed a grand doorway filled with a door that was made of what appeared to be a solid golden-colored gemstone carved into a two-part door.
Aly smiled at the shocked look on Yilvar’s reptilian face. “One of my clan-sisters her artistry was using nano-tech to hide doorways and compartments. This was one of her best.” Aly said, walking through the door that opened on its own. “And the door, made by my Clan-Mother, Yisjanultinat Jushintorg, who was a master of all things related to gems and jewels.” They walked down a hallway that had never been meant for any outside the clan. Every surface seemed to be a different work of artistry, each made by a different member of the clan, and when she had believed their deaths to be caused by her walking this hall had seemed to be a sin to the dead of the highest order.
“Is this…” Yilvar trailed off, looking around the hall, he had heard of the inner-sanctums of the Quillinar clans, but no individual not of the clan had ever infiltrated one and lived to tell the tale.
“It is, this is the Jushintorg Del’Morth.” She looked at him and smiled, “It is beautiful isn’t it?”
“You have no idea, thank you for allowing me to accompany you.” Yilvar said, still trying to take in every inch of the hall that made this ship an art piece worthy of praise in any museum. “I won’t tell anyone, I swear it on my honor.”
She smiled at him a look of thanks on her face, they came to the end of the hall and another large door, this one looked to be a red gemstone. It opened on its own as well, the room they entered was shaped in a peculiar way, like a triangle with one point cut off. They walked in through the cut-off point, three more doors of equal beauty one of purple, one of green, and one of brilliant silver set into the center of the three other walls, greeted them. Aly stopped and looked at each, she smiled remembering the first time she had stood there. She pointed to the silver door “the hall of crafts.” Next, she pointed at the green door, “the hall of beginnings.” Lastly, she pointed to the purple door, “The hall of cartography.”
The purple door seemed to know that she would choose it and began opening, as soon as she took her first step towards it. When she entered the lights came on and she walked to the large table in the middle of the long room that extended back the way they had come down the hall.
On the table, there was a strange assortment of objects. Yilvar realized with a shock that they were shaped like miniatures of each of the great stations that drifted through space. Aly grabbed the one shaped like station Xenttrop Theta. She turned back and began to walk out. Yilvar followed despite every bone in his body telling him that he would never see anything like the marvels in this ship again, but he knew that there were more important things.
They walked back through the grand hall, and out into the bridge, and as the nano-tech began to hide the glorious door once again, Aly leaned her head on it, “I am sorry that I left you alone for so long, I won’t do so again.” She said, once again hoping that the Goddess would pass along the message to her clan.
Aly then reached up to her left arm and detached the bag that hid there in plain sight, she reached in and pulled out the tracker that was the pair to Allan’s. She sat down at the console on the bridge and began working with the ship’s AI, and the station AI, to write a program into the map her clan-father had made that would take the data from the tacker and impose it on the map.
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“What do you mean he is interesting?” A male voice, that was low and gravely said.
“I mean he is interesting.” A female voice said.
Allan had no idea what they were saying but he had identified three distinct voices, two female, one male. He had come to while they were still carrying him. He had kept his breathing slow hoping that they would not realize he was awake. He wished that he had kept his translator on, but he had wanted to be free of any distractions. He kept listening, hoping to figure out how many there were and Listening desperately for any word that he could place…
“He had this thing and it played It!” The same female said.
“Okay, fine maybe he did. Why in the name of Gultinth did you kidnap him?” The male voice said, anger rising.
Allan could not understand but he could guess that the male was pissed off, and made the assumption that it was because his presence was not part of a plan. The second female voice had disappeared and suddenly sounded off from another part of the room. He moved his body, ever so slightly, whatever they had hit him with, was wearing off but it wasn’t gone yet.
“Hey, this was where we fought him.” The second female voice said. A clatter sounded out from a table that seemed to Allan to be located where the other two voices had come from.
“Great, kidnap someone, someone who might I remind you, gave the two of you a fair run for your money, and had the Gish joined in, well I don’t know what.” An angry and ragged breath sounded out from the male voice. “Regardless, you kidnapped someone and then returned to the scene of the crime? What is wrong with you?”
Allan heard a dull slap sound, and then an exceptionally canid whimper in a female voice.
“Whatever, Just fix this,” A loud popping followed the second female voice.
Alan smiled internally. “Okay so the second female voice is the tall one, I’m fairly certain that was the hip I dislocated, next should be…” He waited and a moment later an even louder pop was heard, followed by what anyone would recognize as cursing, all in the second female voice. “And that would be the ankle that I tried to disjoint but couldn’t. Female voice two is definitely, the tall fox-creature, I would assume that the first female voice is the short one that carried me. That just leaves who the hell the male voice is.” The male voice started talking again.
“It’s a translator.” The male voice said.
“He threw it at his mate.” The second female voice said.
“That wasn’t his mate, she was Quillinar.” The first female voice said.
“You saw how he was doting on her in the restaurant.” The second female voice said. “She has to be his mate.”
“Wait, he was the one wearing this?” The male voice asked.
“Yes, he was using it to speak Galcom, with the Gish and the Quillinar lady.” The first female voice said.
“But she clearly spoke his language, she responded to him when he shouted before we took him.” The second female voice said.
“Great.” The male voice said.
Allan had no clue what was going on but it was clear that the male was incredibly frustrated. He heard footsteps that were incredibly light. And then tiny hands rached down to lift his head, he heard grunts of strain as the creature that was doing this lifted his head with one hand and then he felt the translator slip over his head. The small hands let his head back down and then hit the power button.
The male voice spoke in Galcom. “We know you are awake. You might not be able to move but…”
Allan burst up, and grabbed the tiny creature with both hands, cutting off the male voice.
“No!” Both female voices cried out. “Don’t hurt him!”
Allan looked at the small being in his hands, he looked almost exactly like the fox-ladies that stood frozen next to a table. But he was tiny. He eased up, letting the small fox-man breathe. Allan looked at the women, “You all had better start explaining fast or junior here is gonna get thrown into a wall.”
They both started talking, tears of pure white streaming down their faces. And the translator, could not keep up. Allan darted forward, grabbing his boot knife off the table, apparently, the women had grabbed it when they grabbed him. “Okay Stop!” He shouted causing all three of them to flinch.
Allan set the small fox-man down. And looked at him, “You,” he pointed with the knife at the little being. “You sounded pissed and upset that I was here. So why don’t you tell me what is going on.”
Both women started talking again, and the small male turned and yelled in that deep gravelly voice that did not fit his body. “Sisters! I believe he was speaking to me.” They both stopped and looked down. The male nodded and turned to Allan, “First of all, I am incredibly sorry for what my sisters have done. They sometimes think without acting, and it tends to get them in trouble, but they have never before kidnapped anyone.”
Allan smiled as he could tell that he was saying most of this to chastise his sisters. “Okay, fair enough, we all make mistakes. Why did they kidnap me?” Allan said, not really accepting that it was just a whim.
“They believed that they heard the music of the ancients coming from this.” The male kicked a tiny foot at the music player.
“This?” He picked up the music player and took it out of standby, the screen told him the song that had been playing. “You mean to tell me that you kidnapped me because you heard my music in that restaurant, and then decided that it was the music of the ancients.”
The females looked up their ears hanging sadly from their heads and nodded. “Sorry.” they said in unison, it sounded like they had to say this a lot. “I can’t lie it’s kind of cute, the animal ears and sad voice thing has an appeal, maybe I should have listened to Eddy and watched some of the Anime he suggested.” Allan thought and then shook his head. “You mean to tell me that,” He glanced down on the screen and saw that it was on his guilty pleasures playlist, and groaned internally, then checked the song again, “you think that You spin me round by Dead or Alive is the music of the ancients?” This song is only like thirty-five years old, and that’s my years, best I can tell, that’s like maybe fifteen-is years for the rest of the galaxy”
“As I said. They don’t think very often.” The male said.
“Okay, okay, look, I’m going to leave now. If that’s okay with everyone?” I looked around. And they all nodded.
“We really are sorry.” The taller woman said.
“We just want our brother to be able to go home.” The shorter one said.
Exasperatedly Allan ran his hands down his face. “Why would finding this song help him?” He asked, not sure if he actually wanted the answer.
They both started talking again. Until a sharp barking sound issued forth from their brother. “Sorry again, We are no longer pups, but my sisters seem to refuse to act their age. To my people music is, well, everything, we use it as currency, we live and die by it. It truly is as much a part of us as our own limbs.” The male, said, watching an exasperated Allan sit in a chair that was at the table. “I am the runt of the litter and a middle child. If I were first born, being a runt would not matter, but as I was not, I was cast out of the family as soon as was acceptable, dropped in this station to die. I was told that if I find a piece of music that none have ever heard I would be able to come home. My younger sisters of the same liter could not leave me on my own and stayed with me. I am coming to the end of my life, we runts usually die young, and they want to fulfill my last wish, to set foot on my home one last time.” He smiled weekly and sat on the table.
“You just need a song that no one has ever heard? No one of your race? Or no one period?” Allan asked trying to clarify.
“No one of my race why?” The small male said, a hopeful look on his face, then it fell. “But it is impossible, my race has heard the music of all the races.
Allan stood and stuck out his hand. “Let’s try this again. Hi, I’m Allan, I am a human and I come from a class VII deathworld, I am the first to ever leave my planet, and I think that I can help you.”
The three of them looked at him in shock. A voice that made the small male’s voice seem high by comparison, rumbled out with a laugh “I’m sure that you can Allan.” It said, and a fox-man that stood easily over seven feet tall slunk out from the shadows.
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Aly sat tapping away at the console, She did her best, working quickly and efficiently, but it still took her almost an hour. She took the finalized product and encoded it to the map device, and then using an adapter that she had sent Yilvar to collect from the assembler, she connected the tracker to a small hidden port on the map device. She then activated the map and a holographic projection of the station suddenly filled the room. A blinking red dot showing Allan to be in an ancient part of the station, a tunnel that had only been used once early on in the thousands of years the station had existed. It was the tunnel used to bring in the heart of the artificial star.
Tears threatened to fill her eyes, as she read the notes lovingly entered into the map by her clan-father, things like the one-time usage of a tunnel, or ‘this area was the only area built by the Guanxi race prior to extinction’ each one a bit of information that he had unearthed while making the map. “Thank you.” she whispered to the map, closing it and turning to Yilvar. “Okay, we have it. Let’s go.” Aly said, despite her trepidation about what they could do once they found him, she would go regardless.
“Understood.” Yilvar said and followed her through the ship, when they got to the cargo bay, he asked something. “Do you know why I am here on the station Aly?”
“No,” She thought, wondering if she was trying to make her feel at ease.
“The commander, Hilx’Nit requested leave to see his family, and it was granted, the crew was due for some R&R so they sent us all here while the commander went home.” He was talking as the large doors opened. “You know that the Scale-rot had infected someone in almost every single Gish family?” She shook her head as the doors opened wide enough for her to see a full battle squadron of Gish assembled with arms and armor at the ready. “Well everyone on the Bastion of Law feels as if they owe Allan adept, as well as you for bringing him to us.” Yilvar turned to look at Aly, who was stunned and saluted. “Interim commander of the Bastion of Law, reporting for duty Ma’am.” One of the other Gish rushed forward and handed him his equipment, which slung over her shoulders for easy access to do field medicine.
“Yilvar, this is… I don’t want you to get in trouble.” She said, not wanting to drag them all into something that could cost them dearly.
“Nonsense Ma’am,” One of the Gish said, Aly recognized him as the one who had recognized her on their way back to the ship. “the interim commander witnessed a civilian attempt to fight off kidnappers and was taken in the process. The appropriate notices have been issued and station security has activated surveillance drones to assist. There is nothing personal about this at all.” This got a chuckle from the entire squadron, they clearly felt that they owed Allan and herself something, it was so personal that they had probably forced the paperwork through by any means needed.
“You will let me know however much you had to bribe the station officials to stay out of this,” Aly whispered as they moved to security transports that the squadron had liberated for temporary duty. “It is the least I can do for you all.”
Yilvar nodded, noting that she didn’t look like this was something she would let go of. Once the transports were loaded, Aly sent the location that they were headed to the security control tower, and the transports took off. Aly tapped the commlink and whispered into it, “Hold on Allan, I’m coming.”
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Allan moved quickly standing and facing the large fox-man, and the two women moved to flank him. He wondered if he had made a mistake to expose his back when he heard the very animal growls the two women let out, and glanced back to see their gaze directed solely at the large fox-man.
“Well, you did it didn’t you runt?” The large man said reaching the table, and the shorter of the women who was closest rushed and scooped up her brother, bringing him back to where Allan and the taller woman were.
“This is none of your business, brother.” The small male said. “I have no interest in titles or family positions, I simply wish to see home again before I die.”
“Oh, but it is my business, as you said, music is everything to us. That device that the Human, “ he snarled out the word, “has is priceless to us, and considering that I have been given the same task as you, I will be taking it.” The large fox-man laughed at the stunned looks of his younger siblings. “It turns out that when you kill the patriarch of the family, they don’t care if you are first born they will cast you out and give you an impossible task. But thanks to you it’s not that impossible. You always were smarter than me, too bad you are a runt.”
“You killed father?” the smaller of the two women said, disbelief in her voice, “Why?”
“He was old, he had lost the will to lead the family, we needed to be more aggressive in our business dealings, and he wouldn’t do it. So I killed him.” The large fox-man said, a shrug that said he couldn’t have cared any less for his father sending a spike of rage and annoyance through Allan. “And now I just need to kill four weaklings and I will return and take the position I am owed.”
Allan saw the strange oval-shaped devices with the needles sticking out, and walked over, nonchalant, and picked them up they were incredibly well balanced. “Yeah, So here is a question for you, what if we don’t just go belly up and let you kill us?”
“I hope you wont!” The large fox-man snarled. Allan tossed the needle things to the women who seemed to anticipate it, snatching them out of the air, and then Allan rushed the large male, moving with every ounce of speed that the low gravity and adrenaline could give him. He landed a solid cut across the stomach of the large man before a kick sent him flying. He had served his purpose, the women had converged just as Allan had, and instead of the one prick here and there they stabbed over and over their arms moving in a blur.
The shorter one was sent flying, landing with a crunch on her injured shoulder. The taller woman did what she could but a brutal uppercut from the large fox-man sent her down like a sack of potatoes. Allan stood and flipped his knife to a reverse grip as the large fox-man walked towards the small fox-man, who though doing his best, simply was not fast enough.
Allan rushed forward silently and jumped at the back of the fox man, who sensed him somehow and turned raising a hand, to catch all eight inches of earth-forged steel right through his hand. Allan held onto the knife with one hand, grabbing the wrist of the other hand as it came towards him. Using these two points for leverage as the fox-man held him aloft, Allan kicked the being in the face as hard as he could.
The twisting of the knife as the large fox-man tried to throw him off caused Allan to lose his grip on it, and he was thrown free. The small fox-man ran towards him as fast as he could, just as the shorter woman slammed into the back of the large fox man, her one arm hanging uselessly at her side.
“Is this the best fight that a deathworlder and three of my own kin can give me!” He yelled, throwing his younger sister away once more.
The small fox-man made it to Allan then, “Pleas human Allan, I beg you, take my life, keep your songs, just save my sisters.”
“So there are things more important to you than songs.” Allan said quietly, groaning slightly as he stood. The large fox-man was advancing towards the unconscious form of the taller fox-woman. “Hold it right there buddy, I’m still standing. And frankly, I’m not all that impressed.” Allan said, hoping he sounded more confident than he was feeling.
The tall fox-man turned to see him standing, and then howled like a dog, along his snout the flesh seemed to open up into nine holes on each side. Each hole produced a different note, the overall effect was something beautiful yet terrifying. “Shit.” Allan said to himself. before the enraged fox-man lunged at him. Just then his commlink activated and a very quiet yet determined voice said, “Hold on Allan, I’m coming.”
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The flight was quick, Aly and the others made it to the entrance of the tunnel, and the Gish filed in with smooth precision, their eyes adapting to the low light environment easily, Yilvar stayed close to Aly, guiding her so that they didn’t give away their position.
Echoing up the tunnel the sound of fighting came. They pushed forward, slowly yet surely getting closer to the source of the sound. As they drew near they began to hear voices. But it still seemed like a long way to go, the dark seemed to push in on Aly wanting her to break, but she was determined. “Goddess protect him and grant me strength. Let me be more than I am.” She said the prayer over and over, her faith in her Goddess as strong as ever.
They approached a large curve and around it seemed to be the origin of the fighting. The squadron assembled for the advance, and Aly stuck her head around to see a light illuminating the area, and the knife flying through the air right to Allan.
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The Fox-man moved fast. Allan couldn’t outmaneuver him. So he resorted to infighting, trying to stay inside the Fox-man’s superior reach and make it awkward for him to get in a good blow, and the flurry of blows that followed ended with Allan flying back to slam onto his back next to the small fox-man, his knife embedded in the shoulder of the tall fox-man. “I’m done playing with you Human wait your turn.” The tall fox-man turned back to head to the larger woman once again.
Allan reached out and grabbed a piece of scrap metal that was laying on the floor. And without sitting up, he lobbed it at the large fox-man. Hitting him on the top of his head. “I’m not through with you yet, furball.” He tried to sit up and his head hurt, he reached up to touch his head, and his hand came away covered in blood.
The tall fox-man saw this and laughed. “Die well then Deathworlder.” He pulled the boot-knife from his shoulder, and turned to throw the knife with surprising skill right for his chest.
“No!” screamed out two voices in unison. Allan blacked out at that moment, expecting never to wake up.
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“No!” Screamed Aly, and without thinking ripped the rifle from the hands of the closest Gish, running forward eyes streaming tears of rage and pain, the tall fox-man turned to see her only a few steps away point the weapon, and open fire. She didn’t stop firing until the gun made a whirring sound indicating that there were no more shots to be fired.
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The short fox woman was in shock, but still conscious, and as she watched the human rise again and again she was shocked at the beating he was taking.
Then the end seemed to be near, as the knife left her older brother’s hand. She heard two voices scream “No!” one she didn’t know. But the other she knew well, it was her brother, the runt of the litter.
As she watched he moved with a speed she didn’t know he had and threw himself in front of the human, the knife taking him through his middle. It was at that moment she lost consciousness.
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Aly rushed to Allan’s side, seeing the small creature next to him with the knife embedded in its middle. Blood was streaming down Allan’s head. Yilvar was there suddenly, commanding voice issuing order.
“Move him now, back to ship, before we lose him!” Yilvar said, trying to bandage the wound as best he could until they got him back to Bastion of Law. “Don’t worry Aly, I’m fairly sure that I can save him.” Yilvar said, his tone betraying how he actually felt about that statement, there was A lot of blood.
Aly nodded and allowed herself to be lead out ahead of everyone else.
