I felt V’s hand spasm as I dropped to the floor, only to hiss in pain as my burned back ground against the grass beneath me. Reflexively, I rolled over to get away from the pain, but soon regretted it when I felt the grass pulling free of the wound; I held back a scream, but only just.

“You... That is a most irritating ability, Commander. I think killing you would rather salve my mood.”

I looked up at the mention of a commander and I saw the large woman with the round ears from back at the Outpost – Nadja.

“Your state of mind is amusing, though irrelevant. I have mandated your arrest, and so you shall be arrested. Now, Kneel.”

The Commander’s voice had a strange quality to it that rippled through me, and even lying on my front and in agony I felt myself starting to respond, to rise to my knees. The pain stopped me, and I think it helped that the voice was not actually directed at me.

I heard a thump beside me, and I turned my head to see my torturer with one knee resting on the grass and a vicious snarl locked on his face. His whole body was shaking and his eyes were wide and manic as he tried to resist the command to kneel.

“I’m... going... to... take... weeks to-”

“Silence.”

Her voice lashed out at me again, even stronger than before, and though I was not speaking, I felt my tongue lodge itself against the roof of my mouth and my jaw lock shut. V himself was cut off mid-threat. I could heal a gurgling growl coming from deep in his throat as he tried to fight the command. It did seem to relieve some of the pressure from the previous command however, and I watched as he rose to his feet once again – in silence.

“You do not lack power, Suspect Eight-Four-Four-Seven-Nine-Two, but you will be subdued, and you will face your penance. There is no other outcome.” Nadja’s voice was calm and even, still in the tight near-chant that I had come to associate with the Outposts. “Civilians, I suggest you put some distance between us.” She did not look away from V for a moment as she spoke to us. I wondered how I was going to go anywhere with the state of my back. Luckily, I had friends who all seemed less beat up than I was; I felt a hand reach under my arm and begin to lift me up. With another hiss of pain, I looked up at Reff, who had doffed his armour, allowing me to see a bloody rent across the front of his dark vest. I could see a wound, burnt and black on his otherwise perfect white chest and I began to worry, remembering the state of Sidona’s wounds. I pushed the nagging fear aside, knowing that we had to get away from the fight if we were to stand any chance of living long enough to worry about such things.

On my feet once more, I began to hobble away, leaning on Reff’s leg as I pulled a healing pill from my ring and swallowed it, glad that I had bought quite a few of them back in the Citadel. I offered one to my friend, he reached down to take it with a nod of thanks; this was the first time I had seen him actually injured and I felt anger boiling up in me. People hurting me was one thing – I was kind of used to it by then – but people hurting my friends was apparently entirely another.

“Stop.”

Reff and I froze in our tracks as the Commander’s voice once more rang out. I almost fell over, only able to regain control of my body at the last second. I glanced back to find V pointing his body on our direction, his face a deep, furious red. After experiencing his sanguine attitude in the face of my own suffering more than once, I cannot say that it did not give me pleasure to see him frustrated so. I gave him a grin and a wink as I went back to my uneven walk and caught movement out of the corer of my eyes. Turning my head a little, I saw Riffa and Darina hurrying over to join us, and it occurred to me to look for the Plainsrunner – the animal and rider had not been my number one priority when fighting for my life and I had lost track of them. I spotted them about half a mile distant and let out a sigh of relief which shifted cloth against my back. I resisted the urge to stiffen at the pain, knowing it would only make it worse, and went back to focusing on my moving away.

“Stop.”

We froze again, but I did not bother looking back until I felt my giant friend come to a halt. Looking about once more, I saw we were a couple of hundred meters from where we had left the two, both Riffa and Darina had caught up to us. With a grimace, I offered them both a healing pill – I could not see any obvious wounds, but it was better safe than sorry. Riffa took hers with a nod of thanks, but Darina only shook her head and turned to look back the way we had come.

The rest of us quickly turned to watch as it seemed that V finally broke free of the command to stop; it looked like he had given up on our capture until he was able to take care of the Commander, as he was now squaring up against her, the mould-green cat aura about him flaring brighter.

For her part, Nadja simply stood calmly, one foot a little head of the other. The wind rippled through the grass and it seemed to move in fast green waves as the Commander and fugitive stood staring at each other, unmoving.

“Attack!” The command ripped through the air, and even at a distance each of us took a couple of steps closer before we could think – the command seemed much stronger than the previous ones, and it occurred to me that this may have been why she wanted us further away. I could certainly see why her people had not let her remain a diplomat with the kind of power she had.

If the word had caused us to take a few steps, the effect it on V was far more pronounced. There was a snap of sound and he exploded across the intervening distance too fast for me to see. The only glimpse I caught of him was when Nadja spoke once more, “Sit!". The glowing green blur came to a shocking stop that only lasted for a split second before he started to recover, but that opening was enough; reaching out, the tall, burly officer grasped his head with both hands and – moving too fast for me to follow – spun and slammed him into the earth with a dull boom. The boom was followed by five sharp cracks as Nadja punched down into his face before hopping lightly back to avoid the kick of one of V’s energy-elongated legs.

The furious torturer came to his feet in an instant and the two blurred together, almost completely invisible to me as they fought. Every few seconds, I would hear a shout and either V would fade into sight, only to be smashed into the ground, or there would be no power in it and the fight would continue uninterrupted.

“Why do some of the shouts not... do anything? They’re really effective, why doesn’t she do it every time?” I was more thinking out loud than looking for an actual answer, but Darina answered me never the less, though without her trademark bitchiness.

“She’s making him waste energy trying to defend. The way she shouts, it’s effective, but like any other attack, it can be defended against. By simply shouting sometimes, he never knows if he actually needs to defend or not, but he still has to. She’s stronger and faster than him, by the look of things, but she’s looking to take him alive, I think.”

I nodded at her in thanks and turned back to the fight – or to the blur, rather. What the apprentice had said made sense, and it seemed like a smart way to fight with the abilities the Commander possesses; I thought about whether I could apply the same technique to my own fighting, varying the strength of my lightning for more than just trying to break through defence, but as a means of control. It was a good thought, and I filed it away for the next fight I had – I did not think it would work on my companions, as they knew my capabilities too well, but against a stranger...

“SLEEP!” The word was thunderous and I thought I saw the grass flattened slightly by it as it rang out across the plains. As my eyes closed, I saw V become visible once more and the green shell about him dissipate, but I knew no more before I fell into dreamless slumber.

*

***

*

When I woke up again, my back hurt less, but it was certainly still very painful. As I opened my eyes, I saw the silhouetted form of the Commander stood over me, and without thinking I sat up. I felt a pull on my back which made me grit my teeth and then a series of tiny popping sounds; wincing, I guessed I had a bunch of grass stuck in my wound and knew I would need to ask for help getting it all out before my back fully healed over it.

Shuddering, I saw my friends sitting up around me and surprisingly, V a short distance away wrapped head to foot in deep blue chains.

“Uh, you won! That's awesome. I was... well, I was pretty sure we were dead before you showed up. Thank you.”

“In deep gratitude, you have our most humble thanks, Commander Nadja Arnell.” Reff and Riffa both rose to their feet and bowed, as did Darina. I tried to follow their example, and while it hurt a lot, I did manage to stand and bow, though the effort nearly had me swearing like a sailor.

“You are welcome. I guessed Suspect Eight-Four-Four-Seven-Nine-Two would attempt to intercept your passage and so followed behind. My apologies for not intervening sooner; I had not expected him to intervene with the Plainsrunner so directly.”

“It’s, uh, totally fine. Right?” I looked around at my friends who all quickly nodded. “What will happen to him? And can I kick him in the nuts forty or fifty times?”

“He will be tried and confined; his possessions confiscated. Speaking of which, you are due a refund for passage, as it was interrupted by a known fugitive.” The commander passed us each a pouch filled with the hundred growth coins we had spent on passage, which was an unexpected surprise. It did not make up for the near-death experience, but it was nice.

“Thank you, Commander Arnell. I had heard much about the honour of the Legions, but had not had the chance to experience it first-hand. You are a credit to your people.” Darina spoke respectfully, as she always did to those in authority, and gave another deep bow.

“About those kicks though...?”

“I am afraid that allowing an assault upon a prisoner would be a violation of protocol, Apprentice Hunter. A criminal he may be, but he is now my responsibility, as is his safety.”

“Fair enough.” I turned to look V in the eye and flipped him the bird. “You won’t be locked up forever though, dick. And one day I’m going to be strong enough to kick your ball up into your mouth. Enjoy prison, or confinement. Whatever.”

“I will ask the Plainsrunner to pick you up, as you are injured. Please visit the Plains again, and offer my respects to your Masters – and brother.” The large officer nodded once and turned, hoisting the chained form of V onto one shoulder before speeding off in the direction of the giant catgaroo.

“Well, that could have gone better, I suppose, but it could have also been a lot worse. Reff, we need to keep an eye on your wound, I’ve heard the wounds he inflicts start to rot. Oh, and... can somebody help pull grass out of my back?”

“With calm assurance, I recalled your stories of him, Hunter. Once wounded, I burned the affected flesh away with lava. It is painful, but I should recover with the assistance of medicine, given time. Thank you for your concern.”

I was relieved to hear that Reff had taken precautions, and I was impressed that he had been willing to burn his own flesh away with lava – that was pretty hardcore. I hoped I would never be in such a situation, but I knew that if it came down to it, my Lesser Regeneration gave me an advantage in recovery. Doing it without...

Gesturing for me to turn, Reff carefully began to tug blades of grass out of me with his huge sausage fingers – it was a little more painful than it would have been with somebody with more delicate hands, but I would take what help I could get.

By the time the Plainsrunner loped over to us, we had successfully removed the vegetation from my burn wound and even dressed it so I would not get burn... juice... on my other clothes. I had changed into my normal clothes, sighing at the sight of my ruined fighting gear, knowing that I could not keep replacing them at this rate. Climbing aboard the giant animal with a short bow for the driver, I strapped in and hoped that the hunting would be good in the Sha Forest.