The Acolytes of Crane (Theodore Crane, #1)(86)

After an exhilarating ride through the desert, we were now slowing down as we approached the bazaar. It was amazing, just like lifting a scene out of present day marketplace Egypt or Morocco. Rows upon rows of white tented stalls, offering wicker baskets, ornamented silver plates, and fragrant spices like myrrh, with customers and merchants yelling as they haggled with each other. Exotic parrots for sale squawking above the din, and vapors of incense wafting through the air. I couldn’t resist!

The guards were following close. It would be difficult for any mischief to occur under their watch. Through the hordes of customers flinging coin and pulling merchandise, I saw an interesting tent.

When I had the boys’ attention, I yelled, ‘Hey guys, Check out these trinkets!’

I had to shout, because it was windy outside and difficult for them to hear me. It was probably tunneling through their ears. The gusts were blowing my hair into my mouth, and it was sticking to my tongue. Every time I pulled a strand out, I only introduced another.

Liam said, ‘Hey, these are cool.’

‘Madam Espinosa, we have been instructed to take you directly to the castle. No stops,’ one of the guards said.

‘Can't we just stop for a second?’ I asked.

We turned the corner on the hovercraft and the guards stopped. ‘Wait, do you hear that?’ the first guard asked. He and his comrades pushed outward slightly from our group, as if readying for an assault. Just as the guards approached the adjacent shacks searching for signs of unrest, the merchants and stalls disappeared in the blink of an eye.

‘Attack! Attack!’ another guard yelled. The boys and I gasped at the sudden vanishing of our alluring surroundings and dropped to our knees inside the hovercraft. We feared for our lives.

‘It’s a trap!’ Dan yelled.

Instantly, we found ourselves in a closed alley by the palace—a perfect spot for an ambush. We knew right away that Rangiers were at work with their projection devices.

‘Hurry!’ the lead guard hollered, ‘Get the kids straight away to the castle. Hold them off!’ I fell to the ground as the guard brusquely pushed me out. The boys scrambled over the sides of the vehicle in their mad flee to evade.

Our hovercraft was hit right in the engine. The hood of the craft exploded, sending sparks into our direction. I screamed. It was time to abandon ship, and start running for our lives.

From the rooftops, two turret sentries floated above us and started firing lasers against the Rangiers, who by now had been detected. These Rangiers started speeding away on their turbo-cycles to avoid our escorts’ outgoing fire.


I remember running faster than I ever had. We were now darting out of the alleyway and back among the tented stalls—these were real this time. I could feel the retaliatory fire from the Rangiers hitting shacks around us. A fruit stand blew up next to me, splattering my face with fragments of melon. I kept running. The lead guard looked back, firing lasers over our heads at the retreating Rangiers.

‘Open the gates!’ our valiant escort yelled.

The gates unfolded. I didn't even know if the boys were behind me. I passed beyond the gate, turning to watch for the others. Fortunately, they were close behind. Large and bulky, Liam was falling behind. Lasers were zinging by him. The gates started to close in. Dan and Lincoln whizzed through the closing space easily, but Liam was barely able to make it through. Just as I thought the gates would click shut and trap him out, Liam’s arm protruded through!

‘Halt! Let in one more!’ I yelled to the sentries. Running up, I pulled back the closing door, and simultaneously pulled at his visible arm.

‘Yeow!’ Liam screamed in agony. A laser shot had skimmed his thigh. Finally, he wiggled through just in time, and the gate shut with a loud clang. Thanks to the castle’s perimeter forces, the rogue Rangiers were in full retreat. We guessed that the king’s protectors would be chasing them on hovercrafts by now to seek and to destroy them.

Horrified, I saw the lead guard rush over to Liam’s side. ‘Liam! Were you hit?’

‘My leg!’ Liam moaned in excruciating pain. He was rocking on his back and holding his leg up near his chest. The lead guard decisively ripped Liam's pant leg off and applied a shiny ointment onto his wound.

‘It’s just a scratch, kid. You will be alright,' the guard said. ‘That is going to take some time to heal. Maybe by fifteen morgets it’ll be as good as new.’ He glanced around warily. ‘We should keep moving. You are all safe now, so breathe easy. Welcome to the home palace of His Royal Majesty, King Trazuline of Karshiz.’

The dark hallway was lined with mounted plasma cannons, monitoring the entry into the castle. As we walked, I was still shaking all over from our recent danger.

‘Is that it? That was hardly a welcome. We get attacked and then we just carry on?’ I whimpered, wiping away the melon chunks from my face.

‘Listen, Madam Espinsoa. You chose to be a warrior when you volunteered for the mission of the Great Zane, so I am appalled to hear you speak thereof. Get used to it! This is the life we live. There are attacks on our units everyday, but this ambush was different. The timing of it is alarming. We have a schedule to keep, so we must stay on course.’

Liam stopped limping along and asked, marveling, ‘My leg is feeling much better. What was that stuff you put on it?’

‘The stuff I massaged into your wound was deflicontis mucilage. A most useful ointment. Ah, here we are. Armorer!’