The Scene

Table Rock, a formation of boulders the size of buildings on a hill in the New Mexico desert. Giant crags surrounded Table Rock, with large crevices between them. Perfect defensive cover against blasters and swinging blades.

Rylan, Leif and Maya stared out at the night desert on top of a twenty foot high boulder on the hill. They watched Evan’s headlights race toward them from two miles out. Behind Evan, a second set of headlights pursued him.

“Nice! Evan knows the area. We used to race our dirt bikes out here when we were kids!” said Rylan with a smile.

“Hmm...It seems Evan has a plan,” said Leif, anxiously viewing the chase in the distance.

“I’m sure he does. Like I said, he knows the area.”

Chase

Evan raced his truck across the dark desert like a baja buggy. Once he reached the Table Rock area he slowed down, allowing Anya and the baron’s to catch up behind him.

“You people want to chase me in my desert? Fine, you bitches eat rock!” said Evan with a smirk.

Once Anya pulled within twenty feet of his rear, Evan floored his gas pedal and whipped a hard left. Anya did the same.

“Duchess look out!” screamed Hannibal, raising his knee to his chest as Anya’s SUV smashed into a jutting rock in the desert floor.

“Dammit,” shouted Anya, as all four airbags deployed. “Is anyone injured?” she asked.

“We’re good m’lady” chorused the barons as Anya attempted to start the truck with no luck.

By the third try her SUV turned over and limped back in pursuit of Evan, now over a mile away and racing up the side of the desert hill. Hannibal took stock of the situation and turned to Icas in the back.

“Are we good, Icas?” he asked.

“Oh yes, we’re perfect,” replied Icas with a nod and a sinister smile.

Their gesture didn’t go unnoticed by Anya. But she said nothing and continued pursuing Evan’s truck. Suddenly Anya’s phone rang. She read the ID.

“Eh? Rylan? Hmm...I bet he’s calling to negotiate, heh heh!” she laughed, and answered the call.

Hide

From atop the boulder Rylan saw Anya crash her truck, restart it, and limp toward Table Rock in the night desert. He spoke to her on the phone, confident she’d answer with reason.

“Anya, I see you and your people out there and I know what you want. But I can only help you on my terms!” said Rylan as she drove closer to his location.

At the bottom of the boulder, Maya jumped down and placed Chloe in a hiding spot in a crag ditch.

“Chloe, if you hear fighting don’t come out. Just hide here, ok!” said Maya, kissing Chloe’s forehead.

Chloe tucked herself in the hiding space.

“Ok..I’ll stay here, but Maya be careful!”

Maya rubbed Chloe’s hair and cheeks.

“Don’t worry honey, I’ll come back for you!” she assured her.

Sentinels

Leif leapt from the high boulder to greet the incoming Evan, who sped up the hill to Table Rock. In a flat clearing Leif waved at Evan’s truck, trying to guide his friend in the dark. Evan flashed his high beams in a I see you code for Leif.

But Leif’s cheer ended when his dented sentinel flew up and out of Evan’s truck and fired its laser cannons at something in the black sky. Leif scanned the night horizon as Evan exited his pickup.

“Evan!” Leif shouted running to his friend, “Hide in the rocks, go now!”

“What dude! I-” Evan turned and glanced above his truck, “Holy shit there’s four-”

“SHIELD UP!”

Leif activated a full body force field as two large sentinels dove and opened fire with powerful laser cannons on him and Evan. Leif jumped on top of Evan while his shield exploded out in defense, deflecting the laser blasts. The two barrel shaped assailants flew back in the sky, preparing to attack again.

“Leif..I have a bat in the truck,” said Evan, on the ground under Leif.

“No! They’re after me! Get some cover and hide!” Leif shouted and jumped off the ground, running away from Evan.

As soon as Leif took off running, the two sentinels chased him. But behind Evan’s truck, Leif’s dented sentinel engaged Icas’ third sentinel. Leif smirked at his loyal dented sentinel helping him fight.

“Spunky little machine I built, ha!” laughed Leif as he dodged the blasts from the two sentinels chasing him.

Anya

Less than a mile away in the SUV, Anya hung up the phone with Rylan and assured him they came in peace to negotiate.

“Good, you see Rylan is a good boy. I know I can get him too-” Anya stopped talking as she witnessed the laser light show with three sentinels engaged in battle with Leif’s dented sentinel and someone else.

“Leif? Why is he under attack?”

Anya faced Hannibal.

“What the hell is going on out there?” she growled.

Hannibal smirked.

“What’s going on, my beloved Duchess...is the changing of the guard.”

As Hannibal spoke, Sorcia shifted her blade to a pistol and aimed it at the back of Anya’s head. Anya frowned with grief.

“I see now,” she muttered as Sorcia pulled the trigger.

But in a blink of an eye, Anya formed a full force field inside the SUV.

“Shit!” shouted the three barons as Anya’s shield wall extended and pressed them against the SUV passenger doors.

In seconds, the doors burst open and the three barons flew out of the truck and tumbled on the jagged desert floor.

“Traitors!” Anya screamed, almost in tears.

Her force field damaged her steering column and she managed to get the SUV up the hill before she lost control and crashed into the back of Evan’s pick up.

Anya kicked her door open and jumped out of the vehicle landing on the ground in pain. “Fuck!” she screamed and grabbed her right knee. Fifty meters behind her truck, the three barons recovered and raced toward her, with weapons in hand.

Dammit, those barons aren’t holding back. They want me dead. Means they’ll kill my kids too..Fuck!

Anya opened her back door and grabbed her only leverage, the ampsediun laser machine. As soon as she took it, the barons fired on her.

“You’ll all pay!” she screamed and returned fire with her striker pistol, scattering them.

As the barons took cover one taunted her.

“Run pretty duchess, but I will catch you!” shouted Sorcia.

Anya ignored Sorcia and fired two more shots at them as she ran toward the battle in front of her. The sentinels attacking her son.

Hannibal

The three barons kept pace with Anya, keeping a safe range from her blaster. Hannibal glanced up and watched the commotion between one of Icas’ sentinels and Leif’s dented sentinel. The dented sentinel clearly had the tactical advantage, smarter and a faster learner. But Icas’ sentinels were stronger, faster, and heavily armed.

Icas’ sentinel fired a simultaneous force field and laser blast at the dented sentinel, scoring a direct hit. The force of the blast hurtled the dented sentinel out of the sky and sent it crashing to the desert floor.

“Hmph!” shouted Icas in triumph, “Those kids have nothing now!”

“Don’t celebrate so early Icas. Now order that lone sentinel up the hill, locate the two grounders and stun them. I don’t want them hurt, we need both of them!” ordered Hannibal.

“Eh? What of the lady Maya?” asked Icas.

Hannibal shot an evil grin.

“The plan is the same, kill Anya and Leif!” he said. “And we take the lady Maya alive...Hm hm hm.”

“Tch! Maya will never accept you, Hannibal” barked Sorcia.

“Haha!” laughed Hannibal, “As if she has a choice!”

The three barons ran faster, and closed in on the limping Anya.

The Grounders.

Rylan wasn’t sure what happened. He just spoke with Anya who agreed to not shoot at them, but a second after he hung up two sentinels attacked Leif.

“What the hell is going on?” shouted Rylan.

“Leif’s in trouble!” screamed Maya as she leapt from the boulder and ran to defend her brother.

“Maya, wait-” before Rylan could say another word, Icas’ lone sentinel appeared from out of the night sky and fired a stun blast at Rylan. “Dammit!”

Rylan jumped back as the blast struck the boulder top. He stumbled but caught his balance as he leapt down to the boulders base and behind rock cover.

That thing is after me and two of them are chasing Leif...This is bad! I gotta do something.

Icas’ sentinel flew over the giant boulder, tracking Rylan’s position below. The sentinel dove and hovered a few feet from the ground as it navigated the jutting landscape. The floating machine armed its force field prison to fire at and capture Rylan, but Rylan had a plan.

“Die Motherfucker!” he shouted as he leapt from behind the rock cover, and fired a ten foot blast of ampsediun energy at Icas’ sentinel.

The sentinel instantly threw up a force field shield, but Rylan’s blast knocked the machine backward into the sky. The sentinel spun in the air before stabilizing. Now a good thirty feet away, the sentinel reassessed its situation, turned, and flew north away from Rylan.

“Oh no, it’s going after-..Chloe!” Rylan screamed as he chased after the sentinel, now hunting his little sister.

In moments the sentinel spotted Chloe hiding under a rock face and dove after her, firing it’s force field blasts.

“Yaaah!” cried Chloe, leaping from her hiding spot and ducking under a different rock.

“Chloe! I’m coming,” yelled Rylan.

As he ran he concentrated his ampsediun energy in his palms and fired two blasts at the sentinel. But the machine tracked Rylan’s shots and pulled back to twenty five feet, past Rylan’s effective range.

Shit, it knows how far I can shoot! Still.

Forming as much energy as he could muster he fired another blast at the sentinel as it blocked with a force field. But this time Rylan’s shot burst the sentinel’s shield. The sentinel flew up firing stun blasts, but Rylan reached Chloe.

“Rilly!” she cried as he guarded her with glowing yellow palms.

“Chlo, I’m gonna kill that thing!” Rylan snarled, ready to fight.

The sentinel distanced itself from Rylan and dropped to a low altitude. From behind the rock cover on the dark hill the sentinel fired it’s stun and force field blasts at Rylan.

Damn thing learned to use the rock cover, and I can barely see it out there!

“Rylan, what do we do?” shouted Chloe, still confident in her brother.

“We sit tight, if that thing wants to catch us it has to come close!” he answered.

But still, maybe it’s buying time for something else!

As Rylan tried to formulate a plan B, the sentinel advanced on him and Chloe. It flew from one rock cover to the next, firing its stun beams. Rylan pushed Chloe deep in a rock hole to cover her while he concentrated his palm blast.

“Come a little closer you- Eh?” Rylan focused his eyes behind the attacking sentinel, “There’s another one!” he shouted.

Before Rylan could form a blast, Leif’s severely dented sentinel darted behind Icas’ sentinel and opened fired. Icas’ sentinel took a direct hit from behind and burst into flames.

“Yaan, that’s MR. SENTINEL!” Chloe screamed, recognizing the damaged machine that stood guard in the trailer earlier.

Icas’ sentinel, now a raging fireball, still had enough power to hurl itself directly at Rylan and Chloe, and fired a last force field prison blast.

No you fucking trashcan, you’re not catching us tonight!

“Raaah!” Rylan clapped his hands together and shot a powerful ampsediun blast at the sentinel’s force field, destroying it and the rest of Icas’ burning sentinel.

The sentinel’s debris scattered on the hill as Rylan shielded Chloe from the fallout. After a second Rylan checked his surroundings. In the distance Leif’s machine, Mr. Sentinel, flew at a low altitude toward him and Chloe. As it moved closer, Chloe ran out to hug it.

“Oh no, Mr. Sentinel you’re all beat up, no no you have to be careful!” she cried and hugged the damaged protector as it hovered low to accept her affection.

Rylan pointed his phone flashlight at the sentinel. He examined the machine’s busted outer hull with two of its four laser cannons blown off.

“Wow buddy, you’re in real bad shape. But you came to rescue us anyway hunh? Thank you!” said Rylan, deeply appreciative.

The dented sentinel, with Chloe still hugging it, turned to Rylan.

crackled the machine.

“Yeah? And what are your absolute orders, sentinel?” Rylan asked.

The machine raised itself to Rylan’s eye level, and a slit of an optic sensor beamed red in its frame.

Rylan smiled.

“Good, then stay here and do that, and thank you again!” said Rylan.

“Rylan no! Don’t go out there. They’ll kill you!” Chloe grabbed Rylan’s leg and held him back.

Rylan hugged her.

“Chloe, Mr. Sentinel will stay with you. But I have to help Maya and Leif, and I don’t even see Evan.”

“No!” she screamed, “Take Mr. Sentinel with you-”

He kissed her forehead.

“You’re the best Chlo, stay here!” he ignored her plea, and ran toward Evan’s pick up and Anya’s SUV. The only light in the black desert.

Maya

“Leif!”

Maya screamed as she reached Evan’s pickup. Her brother, pursued by two sentinels bolted to the cover of high ground and fired a blast from his striker. His shot hit one of the sentinels but it blocked with a force field.

Dammit! He’s too far from here and he only has two shots left!

But Maya’s concern was short lived as she spun to her right and faced.

“Mother?”

Anya scrambled from behind her crashed SUV cradling the laser machine in her left arm. She turned and fired three blasts from her striker at the barons. But the barons evaded Anya's shots, and returned fire.

“Maya! Run!” shouted Anya as she formed a shield defending herself and Maya.

But Maya ignored the order and charged at the three barons converging on Anya.

“Raah!” she cried and slashed her lance at all three warriors at once.

Maya’s strike separated Sorcia from Icas and Hannibal. But the two males backed off, pulling Maya away from Anya before surrounding the lance wielding teen.

“Hooo, she’s all yours now, Hannibal,” laughed Icas, thrusting his sword at Maya from behind.

While Maya defended her rear, Hannibal extended his bardiche ax pole from four feet to eight feet.

“Ha, hello again Lady Maya. How long has it been, you pretty thing?” growled Hannibal through grinning teeth.

“Not long enough you disgusting ox! Pthu!” She spit on the ground.

“Hm hm, you’ll adore me in time Marchioness, I assure you,” said Hannibal with narrowed eyes. “And now my pretty... I’ll take you alive!”

Hannibal twirled his fearsome bardiche and charged at Maya. Behind her, Icas fired his force field at her. Caught in a pincer on both sides, the teen girl warrior jumped straight up in the sky and fired her force field at Hannibal, stopping his charge.

“Not so fast my lady!” shouted Icas.

Icas fired another force field blast at Maya as she landed from her high jump. She tried to block the shot with her striker lance, but the blast punched her backward.

“Aaah!” she cried, tumbling on the desert floor and losing her weapon.

Hannibal and Icas, laughing, ran toward the felled Maya.

“Icas! I’ll disarm her, prepare a force field cage!”

“Right!” said Icas, reaching in his pouch for a force field prison bomb.

Maya, dazed from the earlier blow, jumped back on her feet while Hannibal raced toward her dropped striker lance. “No!” she screamed and fired a force field blast at him. Hannibal smirked and deflected her force field with his bardiche.

But Hannibal couldn’t block the second force field fired at his side by Leif.

“Baaah!” Hannibal yelled as Leif’s blast smashed his armor and knocked him five feet in the air.

Maya recovered her striker and bolted toward Icas, who shifted his striker to a pistol and fired at Leif. The fast moving Leif dodged Icas’ blast, leapt up and slashed at the two sentinels that still pursued him.

Charging at Icas, Maya assessed the entire battlefield. In the distance directly ahead Anya kept Sorcia at bay with a gun battle. Anya’s blaster prevented Sorcia from entering the fray with Hannibal and Icas.

“Thank you, Mother,” whispered Maya.

In the center, Leif ran at top speed dodging and blocking the blasts from the attacking flying sentinels. On the far right, Hannibal stood on one knee, dazed from Leif’s force field blast.

Leif is in trouble, Mother is occupied with Sorcia. That means it’s up to me to stop Icas and Hannibal.

Maya grabbed the lowest end of her long striker handle and swung her lance at Icas like a baseball bat. Icas, not expecting the length of the weapon, barely raised his sword in time to fend off the strike.

“Ho, ho, you missed your chance, pretty lady!” he heckled her as he backed into a defensive stance.

“Night’s still young!” she yelled, slashing and driving him back.

But Icas quickly recovered, and charged at Maya. The two warrior nobles then clashed in high speed mortal combat. Maya of the Twin Dragon Lance style and Icas of the Silent Saber style.

Damn, he’s faster than that lancer Zane I fought! But if I don’t take him out Hannibal will kill Lei-

From behind Icas an amber colored light burst through the sky above him and her. The brilliant flash streaked toward Leif and destroyed one of the two sentinels attacking him. The force of the explosion stopped Maya and Icas’ fight as they both turned to view the source of the light blast.

What the hell? Rylan did that?

Maya stood in awe as Rylan charged at both her and Icas. He flashed his palms forward and fired a blast of ampsediun energy at Icas.

“Aaah!” yelled Icas, ducking Rylan’s attack.

As Icas jumped, Maya dashed behind him to finish him off. But Icas didn’t fall. He stumbled and recovered while slashing wildly at Maya, halting her attack.

Maya stopped dead in her tracks, and while glaring in Icas eyes, she smiled. Icas immediately faced forward only to find Leif Alexander charging him at top speed.

“What? you tricked-”

Icas raised his force field and blocked Leif’s initial sword strike, but Leif didn’t stop.

“My turn Icas!” he shouted as they clashed blades.

Above the fighters, Icas’ sentinel positioned for a dead shot at Leif. But as soon as the machine hovered to a stop, Maya leapt straight up and sliced it out of the sky. The sentinel fell in two burning pieces. When Maya landed she engaged the recovering Hannibal, with Rylan following her.

Leif vs Icas

“You boy you are nothing!” howled Icas as he charged Leif with overwhelming strength.

Icas’ blows and strikes pushed Leif back.

As their swords thrusted and parried, spinning and kicking in a blinding dance, Leif jumped back, spun….and hurtled his striker sword like a dagger straight into Icas’ heart.

“Gaaah..” Icas gasped as Leif’s striker blade pierced his heart, and exited out of his back.

The blade, no longer powered by Leif’s body energy, maintained its integrity for less than three seconds. After that the blade vanished and the striker handle plunged to the ground. But the damage was done.

Icas fell to his knees and dropped his sabre. He placed his hands over the hole in his heart and looked up at Leif.

“Lord Marquis...how could you...throw your sword?” he asked, and then collapsed...dead.

Leif said nothing and recovered his sword. He turned to assess the battle. To his left, Anya took cover behind a rock and fired her pistol at Sorcia, pinning her down. On the right, Hannibal and Maya clashed in combat.

“Dear sister!”

Leif charged toward the fight, his blade at full long sword extension. His mission, protect his baby sister Maya, at all costs…

[email protected] !!

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Author’s Note: Title change. SWORDS OF ERES is now the name of this web novel.

The title AMBER RIFT bored me to tears and on top of that this story isn’t about a rift gate..it’s about these three SWORD FIGHTERS from the planet ERES ^_^