Light Speed by Arkadie, L. (accelerated reader books .TXT) 📕

Together we’ve already streaked through oneof the broad entryways and we are now high up in a red sky. It ishotter here than any place I have been since being lured out ofEnu. But Chex doesn’t stop to take in the ambiance. I’m a stepbehind him as he streaks down toward an enormous cone-shapedconfiguration, billows of fire swelling from its top. It’s not amountain although it resembles one in height and mass; it’s made ofa solid red stone that resembles a massive ruby. Creatures thatlook like the guards of Siffeo prance and gallop around it withstallion-like legs, performing some sort of shuffling dance.

The creatures are too preoccupied with whatthey are doing to notice us. I wonder what they would do if theysaw us. Would they attack? There are so many of them and only twoof us. It almost looks like Chex is going to lead us right intotheir midst when he makes a sharp turn toward a low valley thatholds the desolate forest of dead trees I saw in my dream. Therethey are: the wild, leafless branches sticking straight out fromthe bark like a sea of spiky, sharp spears.

“There she is!” I cry out.

It’s Na’ta! My heart sinks when I see her.She’s positioned upside down and her long black hair is dusty as itsweeps the dirt ground. And she’s being assaulted by one of thetrees as one branch has punctured the black shirt she’s wearing andhas gone clean through her heart and out of her back. Anotherbranch stabs her through one thigh and a third branch through theother thigh.

“Shit!” Chex shouts. “Already?”

I look up to see what he’s referring to. Ican’t count the number of guards of Siffeo that are shooting intothe space above us from the doorway we entered, but there are manyof them. I wonder if they rose again to life from the fiery messChex left them in. They all hover up high, searching for thetrespassers. The chirping is so loud it’s like being gouged in theears by one of the spear-tipped branches. I take a quick glancetoward the creatures dancing around the pillar, hoping they don’tdecide to join those that are hovering above us, exponentiallyincreasing their numbers. What’s strange is that they don’t evenacknowledge the flanks growing in the sky. They continue gallopingand prancing and turning and bowing.

Suddenly balls of fire are unleashed on us.It’s time to fight, so I lift both of my palms, sending my light toclash with their fire. On contact, the creatures screech as theflames wither into smoke. They are inherently connected to theirfire like I am to my light.

“Get her!” Chex shouts, motioning towardNa’ta. “And I’ll get them!” With that said and settled, he blazesup toward the sky.

He’s so fast that my eyes lose track of him,but creatures are falling all around me, going down in puffs ofsmoke. And they all seem not to focus on me down below but aretrying to locate Chex and stop him from picking them off in droves.Chex—what sort of Selell is he that he can kill so expertly?

This gives me the opportunity to focus fullyon freeing Na’ta. The tree that holds her captive has caught fire.I run as fast as I can to free her. When I reach her, I kneel downto put my face close to hers. “Na’ta…” I call in desperation.

Her eyes are wide open but she looks deadalready. Suddenly, I’m hit by a ball of smoke. I feel a temporaryburning sensation before the fire extinguishes itself against myskin. The pal’k I’m wearing doesn’t go up in flames. It’s amazing.I must be untouchable by their weapon and so is Na’ta, which may bethe reason she’s still alive.

But I look down at my ankles becausesomething has just wrapped around them and is squeezing tightly.It’s a branch from the same tree. I clamp my hands around it anddouse it with the light and it quickly uncoils and squeals as itretreats from my grasp.

My light is the answer.

I press my hands against Na’ta’s cheek andfill her with it. Soon she’s glowing like the perfect sun as thei’lek’u infuses her. The branches that pierce her withdraw from herbody. I catch her before she hits the ground and cradle her in myarms.

“Na’ta,” I say, smoothing her hair from herface.

She answers me by gazing deeply into my eyesbefore closing her own. She’s sleeping now, aware that I have her.And now we must escape. I’m sure we can take cover in the forestfrom which we came. The trees have proven to be my ally.

Again, I look up to search for the way out.The sky is flooded with the guards of Siffeo. There are too many ofthem. It seems just as Chex sends one to the ground, another oneappears. It would be impossible to break their flanks and get outunscathed. But I must.

In my arms, Na’ta’s limp body is as light asa puek leaf. I make sure she’s secure in my grasp as I push off ofmy feet and surge toward the way out. I’m quick, but not fastenough. I come to an abrupt stop to face four pairs of hooves readyto clomp me back down to the hazardous forest. But suddenly - andalmost simultaneously - the hooves take a free fall.

“Go! Don’t stop!” Chex shouts as he swoopspast me so fast that he’s a blur.

He sounds confident in my ability to make itout of here unimpeded. And I drink in his certainty as I focus onthe light that outlines the portal. Sets of hooves threaten to stopme again but I don’t let them spook me or deter my progress.

I go, and I go, and I go, until I’m backunder a smoky night sky and trapped between the walls of the ruins.It appears that we’re alone, but I know better than to stop toenjoy the false sense of relief. They’re here. I can feel them. Iincrease my pace as I walk the wind high, lifting way above thisPotemkin village and head toward the mountains where the Mashcreatures are flapping above the range as they rise