Riddik's Story: Escape

Things didn't go exactly as planned.

That wasn't particularly surprising, of course. Even the best plans wound up requiring alterations when put into action, usually with only a split second to make them in. A decision to turn left or right, to hide behind this or that pillar, to silence that possible threat with a slash to the throat, a twist of the spine, or a thump to the head. Little decisions that could never be perfectly mapped out and planned for, but which must be dealt with as they came.

The carting along of a frightened girl-child had not really been on the same scale as those small changes of plan, however.

Things had gone smoothly enough until that little snag. Riddik had left the constructs alone in the shadow of a garden overhang, as close to where the young princess Hol'anou and her Binder mage were staying as possible. Even so, it was an uncomfortable trip, stretching the bounds of the geas tying them together. Twenty-Eight had his equine friend to distract him-- the two were probably getting all cuddly, like usual-- but all Riddik had was his purpose and plan. It was still enough to keep him focused, because he would endure however much pain he had to, to assure he would never have to endure it again.

Riddik had snuck through the embassy building, avoiding notice even by the guards. He'd long since learned how to move silently, glide owl-like across open spaces when no one was looking-- rarely did anyone think to look up, anyway-- and escape the gaze of even alert and intelligent guards-- not that there were many of those here, anyway. Most of the non-construct guards were pathetic, really, and the construct guards were conditioned to obey anyone with higher rank-- which included Riddik. There were still those with sharp eyes, however, and giving orders would also leave a memory of his presence, so he still had to be careful. After all, he wasn't the best assassin among all the war- and game-constructs simply because the rest were terrible at it-- though most of them were. He was the best because he was the best, and had been well-trained on top of it-- and not by the mages, either. His experience had begun elsewhere, no matter what they told the public.

After all, he knew a lot of things they didn't, especially about hiding. Sometimes it was about timing, making sure any sound he made was paired with some other sound elsewhere, or any movement of his was echoed by someone else's movement, or even just being aware of what direction everyone's face was turned at any given time. Sometimes it was about disguise, hiding in plain sight or just around a corner, keeping something between you and anyone who might spot you. Sometimes it was about distraction, doing something to purposefully divert a watcher's attention on one thing rather than what was really happening: slight of hand on a grand scale.

This time it was all about distraction.

The only thing he hadn't anticipated was that Hol'anou would have guests this late at night; even more, he would never have expected that guest to be his own little admirer, Jay'tiel wen Bonadon. Not in any of his furtive observations had he made, or bit of information he had come across, was there any sign of a friendship between the two girls, or even common interests. Hol'anou was a foreigner, a princess, dainty and mage-gifted with a particularly rare and dangerous power that she rarely used but was reputed to be fascinated by. Jay'tiel, though noble of birth-- just barely-- was a rough, boyish girl with more interest in battle and sport than was seemly and a real distaste for formality. They were practically opposites, despite their similarity in age.

But when he killed Hol'anou's Binder mage and set that dangerous power in her free, what else could he do? He grabbed Jay and launched himself out the window with her, before the unbound magic did something damaging to her. He wasn't thinking straight, every nerve tingling painfully with the geas, the promise of freedom always in the back of his mind, and the edges of Hol'anou's black, unchained magic pulling at him. Even so, he had some sort of cover explanation: he could use her as a hostage against anyone who might have seen him. Hol'anou had seen him-- the instant he'd sprang up behind her Binder, her eyes had found him, and she watched him slit the Binder's throat, eyes all wide and innocent-- though she wasn't in any condition to be telling just yet, but there might have been others.

He'd also intended to drop her into the fountain on his way back to the constructs. The fact that she was clinging to him made that more difficult than he'd anticipated. Twenty-Eight, his companion already in an emotional stupor beside him-- obviously, they'd seen and heard the effects of his distraction, so he was prepared to leave immediately-- said nothing at the sight of her, but merely flicked an ear and let Riddik toss the girl up onto Thirty-Six's back in front of him.

Then he'd fully intended to push her off into one of the bushes en route, except she decided to bash one of the only guards to saw them over the head while Riddik dealt with the other two, quickly and cleanly, before they could raise an alarm. It wasn't as if he was in any real danger-- he was expensive and valuable; orders concerning constructs, especially high-level ones like himself and Twenty-Eight, were clear: capture, take statements, and return to the mages since, for all they knew, he was on a paid mission-- but Jay'tiel didn't know that. Both impressed and frustrated, he decided he couldn't leave her behind after that, not on this world-- not in this province of it, anyway. She was an accomplice, now, and in danger of being punished.

Not to mention getting her to let go of the stupid beast they were escaping on was even more difficult, after that. She'd probably never made a violent motion in her life, for all she fantasized about it and tried to emulate him whenever her mother couldn't stop her, and the act of actually doing something violent had frozen her up. This whole planet was soft where it counted. Riddik finally gave up on trying to get rid of her, even if the cost was more pursuit later. There was room on the airship for one more warm body, and he could dump her somewhere else once they were well away, when they made the switch to a smaller ship, and hopefully be forgotten once she was found. It might even have been a good diversion; he was too busy thinking about other things just then to be sure how viable it was.

Right then, after all, he was more concerned about getting out of the planet's airspace. Jay'tiel wasn't going to cause any problems until later, so he would worry about her later.

The departure of the airship, when he turned the engines on and got them off the landing platform, would the first clear signal to the rest of the city that more was going on than a political assassination, or even an accident. The police were tied up looking for the killer, however, and the mages were tied up trying to contain what the killing had unleashed, so there was only the docking guard to handle this additional crisis. By the time they made the connection between the stolen ship and the death of the princess's Binder, it would be too late.

Riddik took a couple seconds to shrug into the pilot's harness, trying not to crush his wings in the process-- he wound up having to stick them out to either side of the chair uncomfortably-- and scan over the controls. He'd seen, and memorized most of, the ship's schematic, so he knew how it worked-- not to mention how much it could carry (more than they weighed, combined, by quite a bit), how much fuel it would need (the gage currently said it was half-full), and approximately how noisy its engines and propellers were (which was very)-- but the schematic hadn't had a diagram of the control themselves. He hadn't worried, and it was just as well he hadn't: they were not only unbelievably simple, rather like the rest of the craft's construction, they were at least partially modeled on the controls from the ship he'd crashed in. He supposed he should count himself lucky that the thing had an auto-pilot system. The philosophy of the builders had seemed to be a mix of "the less there is, the less there is to go wrong" and "steal whatever you can from someone else to make your design better".

Not too bad of a philosophy, really, in things other than vessels meant to leave the atmosphere. He would have given a lot for multiple redundancies on this particular thing, and for something that wasn't piecemeal designs that may or may not work well together. But then, more complexities meant even more money, and more guards, spells, and constructs to dispatch on his way on board-- and he'd had to dispatch more than enough-- and similarities to what he was used to meant he figured it out that much quicker. He just hoped it would hold out for long enough to get off this rock and get something better.

So better get moving. Riddik flipped the three switches for the three engines, turned the dials for the two propellers, and engaged the navigational system. "Hold onto something!" he called back to the constructs and Jay'tiel. Whatever they answered, he ignored it, busy balancing out the power, getting the back bay doors closed, and getting the ungainly metal bird off the ground.

He also ignored the warning that clanged around the landing platform, closing the bay doors as he eased the ship off the ground. He continued to ignore it even when the communication console buzzed demandingly with a message from the control station. Probably to ask what the hell he was doing, and order him to put the craft down immediately. He wasn't interested in their warnings; they wouldn't shoot down their own ship, even if they had the firepower available. Which they didn't. Not with the city police and mages all busy. It took them until he was already lifted off and speeding away from the landing platform to even get the other pilots out of bed to pursue him. By then, it was far too late. Even their warning shot off the bow, barely skimming the hull, was way too late.

Aaaah, he loved it when plans worked so well, alterations or not. When he left the atmosphere moments later, he was smiling.