Distant Horizons/Chapter 12

Chapter 12 Refuge

Ghai and dashed through the woods, with Ghoel on his shoulder. It was pitch dark now, but Hando, Trisha and Shia were nowhere to be found. Deep in his mind, Ghai tried to concentrate. He tried to think of a sun, daylight, anything which would help him find his way either to where the others were or back home to the ship. But it didn’t work. The night was darker than ever, blackening the sky and land beneath it. Ghoel was concentrating, trying to dodge twigs and branches as Ghai sprinted on. Ghai was out of breath. He flashed his torch about wildly. In the night he saw the stripy horses they had seen earlier that day, and the strange moving flowers which gazed at him with no eyes, an angry look in their leafy petals. Ghai slowed down, panting. His species was adapted for running long distance, but this was too much. Ghai had been running for hours, sometimes stopping, sometimes falling, sometimes climbing and clambering around. Sweat trickled almost constantly down his brow. It had started during the day, when he had walked out of the shower, and found a trail of blood and dirt along the corridor and out on the boarding ramp. He didn’t take long to find out what was wrong. He had looked around the ship, but found only Ghoel hanging from the ceiling nonchalantly. He had run out, with Ghoel on his shoulder like a Kowakian Monkey Lizard, and run about a mile from there, when suddenly the sky had gone black. Now, he had no idea where he was, and nor had Ghoel, who could see in the x-ray spectrum. At the time of his departure, Ghai had been desperate to find his friends and kill the thing which had dragged one of them off. His rifle in his hands, Ghai had set of as a rescuer. Now, however, Ghai was more concerned about saving himself. After all, he had his own skin to worry about. He tripped on a rock and nearly fell, but managed not to. He staggered forward and reached the side of a large cliff, and then he collapsed in a heap. It was silent, hot, moist. Insects were wining in the bushes, others chirping loudly in the undergrowth. Ghai sat there, panting, itching and sweating and Ghoel was still on his shoulder, constantly on the lookout for trouble. Ghai put his hand in his trouser pocket and pulled out his comlink. The small touchwheel screen was bright in the darkness. Ghai scrambled and rubbed his finger over the panel onto Hando’s scrabble code. There was no reply, not even the usual loud static he heard when he was out of range of somebody’s signal. Nothing. Hando had either deactivated his comm or radio communication didn’t work here at all. Ghai sat back against the cliff, still warm, still sweating, and still itching. Then all of a sudden, u huge bolt of violet lightning lit up the sky. It was followed by others, purple blasts of power as far as the eye could see, flashing silently all around. Then came the thunder, the unbelievably loud thunder like nothing Ghai had ever heard before. A deafening, continuous, never ending roar in the sky. Ghai screamed and blocked his ears. He cowered in against the cliff wall, as a purple streak stuck the ground only metres away. Huge red flames exploded and scattered trees and shrubs and rocks everywhere. Fire and thunder roared simultaneously, deafening noise beyond any other. And then, quite abruptly, it stopped. Ghai crouched, still as a statue. “This place is getting better by the minute,” muttered Ghoel through his earpiece. Ghai gazed around. For miles around, the land was devastated. Huge fires raged across the land. In the sky, small sparks of purple still flickered in the clouds. It was quiet, except for the distant roaring of the fires. “Looks like...” “Yeah, I know,” muttered Ghai, “Duro. Hando’s world, at night. This looks like a cross between Duro and Honoghr, a fiery mess. I hate this place.” “Me too,” said Ghoel. Suddenly, Ghai felt a sharp pain between his eyes. For a second, he thought somebody had shot him with a paralysis dart, but then he realized all it was was a drop of water. Or was it water? Ghai wiped his brow stared at the drop of liquid in his hand, slowly feeling it irritate his skin. “Oh no,” cried Ghoel through his speakers, “acid rain.” Ghai watched as one more drop struck him in the shoulder. Ghoel looked him in the eye, an ironical yet serious look on his face. His lips twisted into a bizarre grin. “Run!” And Ghai did. As abruptly as Ghai left the cliffs, the sky broke completely. Rain poured down in buckets, each drop scorching his skin. He felt each drop course through his outer skin, through to his muscle, spread around underneath his skin... And still he ran. In the trees there was some cover, but still the acid rain scorched. “This place is working against us,” Ghai boomed over the loud splattering of rain. He ran faster still as the rain increased. He felt the excruciating pain as the acid spread around under the skin of his head. What am I, fool? went through his mind, why run like this? What’s the aim? Where are you planning to go you fool? A tear of both excruciating pain as well as frustration started running down Ghai’s cheek as he ran. Ghoel had his tiny teeth clenched, his tongue flapping around wildly in his mouth. Then suddenly saw something in the distance. He squinted for a closer look. It looked like a Massissi temple. A Yavin temple of the Massissi, like the one the Rebels used. As they came closer, Ghai began to stagger again. As if trying to punish him, the rain beat down even harder. Ghai felt warm blood trickle down his leg. He felt Ghoel’s thick red blood pulse from his body onto Ghai’s. He felt the horrible warm red fluid everywhere. He staggered, fell. He lay there motionless. He wanted to pass out now. He wanted to fall, fall into the blackness of sleep. He would pass out now. But Ghoel was to quick. Ghai felt a rock hit him on the head. “Go!” yelled Ghoel through the earpiece, “now!” With his very last strength, Ghai stood up. He was bleeding through skin, head to toe, but he began to climb the steps of the temple. He ran, and staggered, nearly fell but pulled himself back up. The steep stairs was never ending, the rain relentlessly beating down on him. He looked up. In the distance, Ghai saw the top of the temple, where an opening was visible. Ghai dragged his bleeding body up the steps. He grabbed the side of the. opening, and with all the strength he could harbour, dragged himself to the top, and let himself fall. He thumped the ground, the cold, slimy wet stone floor of the ancient pyramid. He rolled out of the acid rain. He felt something warm against his back, and he realized it was hay. He closed his eyes. Great effort, great reward he said to himself. Immediately he was surrounded by blackness. He didn’t know whether it was the darkness of the room or the darkness of his sleep, but here, he could pass out in peace. He felt ghoel nestle in somewhere close. At last they had made it. At last, they were safe.