From Ashes and Dust (Book One)

Chapter 6.1

The tone of the room changed with Hisato's news. Vatra wasn't able to process the panic surging from Enyalius and Revna before the two of them darted back into their ship like rabbits from a fox. The boarding ramp started to slowly raise.

"What the hell?" Vatra turned from the ship to Hisato. "Don't let them leave!" she shouted.

Hisato spun on his heels and ran for the side panel by the door. He waved his hand across a mechanism and it slid to the side. A screen flashed blue before he started to input commands that Vatra couldn't fully see. Whatever it was he did, within a few seconds, the lights of the hangar shut down along with every other mechanical noise around them.

Blackness swirled around Vatra's vision save for the faint glow of the lights from Enyalius' ship. She saw the growing fire of the vessel's engines burn before the roar hummed deep in her ears and vibrated up from her boots to the top of her head. The engines increased in ferocity only for a moment before dying out just as quickly as they'd turned on.

"He will be suspicious now," Spyro warned from close to Vatra's left.

She looked over and saw the outline of his mask in the glow of the ship's exterior lights. "Enyalius was going to find out sooner or later. This group showing up only expedited things."

"You know who these people are?" Spyro asked.

"Not really, but I think he does." Vatra nodded to the lowering boarding ramp.

The shuffling of boots behind her signaled her spirit companions were as restless as she was.

Enyalius walked down the ramp as if he hadn't darted up it with his tail tucked between his legs a few moments earlier. "I have to say, I'm a little suspicious now that one of your crew knows how to operate the hangar door. The guy up in the control tower wasn't so sure why it wasn't opening," Enyalius said. He watched carefully as Hisato walked back over to join Vatra and Spyro.

"I'd like to know why you were trying to run away so fast when those ships showed up, and you saw that familiar image in the jamming signal. I thought you wanted your father back," Vatra shot back. She straightened her back a little more, as if Enyalius could even see them very well in the dark. Their figures were probably like faintly lit shadows to him.

A nervous chuckle shook Enyalius' shoulders. "You have no idea who these people are."

"I didn't think you guys knew them very well, either," Vatra retorted.

"You don't get it. I can only assume they're here for me, now. You would have had an advantage going out there and finding them. This isn't going to end well for anyone, and I won't let them catch me." Enyalius stepped further down the ramp.

Vatra groaned audibly. "You're skirting around my main concerns, here, buddy. Who are these people?"

"Your main concern should be the safety of everyone here in Belltower. Even as mercenaries, I'd assume you'd care about innocent lives," Enyalius warned.

Looking over to Hisato, Vatra glanced quickly back to the war god. "What do you mean?" she pressed her question with a harsh tone.

"Those ships out there will destroy everything here just to get to me. They'll kill everyone. When they find me, anyone I'm around is considered dangerous just for being close by. It won't matter if they're innocent or not. So, please, just let us leave and we can resume our deal another time," Enyalius said.

Vatra's eyes widened. His tone was sincere. Something she'd never thought she'd hear lacing his words.

"Why would they think that?" Vatra asked, stepping forward a step. She knew what his answer was going to contain, at least a portion of it, but she wanted to know why these people would kill innocents just for him.