Trapped

Ibex woke with a sore head but little else to complain about. She rolled onto her side, fluttering her wings behind her before giving Riser a dirty look that wasn't very nice at all. She tried to stand up but the small green dome that Riser had fashioned around her seemed to hold her in place so she gritted her teeth and struggled against her unnatural prison. A few minutes later she muttered curses under her breath and slumped back down onto her backside on the floor.

'Did you do this?!' she said, staring at Lisa with hatred in her eyes.

'It wasn't me,' Lisa said. 'I wouldn't know where to begin.'

Ibex swung her gaze back to Riser. 'Don't tell me the farm droid did it?'

Riser stepped closer, humming to himself as he examined the shield and twisted the corner of his beard.

'You're a fool,' Ibex said, blinking slowly in his direction. When she opened her eyes she seemed surprised to find herself in the same place. 'Huh? What the hell have you done?'

'You can't teleport can you?' Lisa said.

Ibex didn't answer. She just railed against her confines as her eyes erupted in bright white fire. Lisa was on her feet at once. She had been so stupid. How could she forget that she wasn't the only one with the Lasrecon flowing through her veins? Ibex was a sky lord. She couldn't have become one without experiencing several quickenings of her own.

Ibex shouted something that Lisa couldn't understand, thrusting her hands out before her. The shield bent out of shape, bulging in all directions at once.

Riser stepped back, pulling out the Refractor Orb and holding it before him while he wrapped more layers of green, crackling lightning around the already impenetrable shield.

'Pipe down,' he said, pointing one of his exoskeleton's miniguns towards her head as the shield intensified, shrinking in size until it wrapped around her. 'You're not going anywhere!'

Ibex thrashed against her prison as spittle flew from the corner of her mouth. A moment later she was screaming and falling back until her head bounced repeatedly on the ground. Her legs shook and her eyes rolled back, fading to their natural green once more.

'Stop it!' Lisa said, rushing up beside him. 'You're killing her!'

'She was trying to escape.'

'She can't get out. She doesn't have the strength anymore.'

Riser sighed, his shoulders sagging as the energy field that he had created snapped back to its original dome shape, leaving Ibex panting on the floor. '

You'll die for that farm droid,' she said.

Lisa snapped her fingers to get Ibex's attention. 'Hey! I don't think you're in any position to threaten people. Calm down before you injure yourself.'

Ibex regarded her with a long, cool stare. 'You're nothing but a foolish child. I was assassinating lords long before you were even born.'

'You'll pay for your crimes,' Lisa said. 'I'll hold you responsible for everything you've done.'

'Ibex made a clicking sound in the back of her throat but offered no response.'

*   *   *   *   *

Lisa questioned Ibex for a long time. By her own admission, she had been around for a long time. She had been an assassin, working for Malkor when she had visited Los Verion to kill Eleanor. Lisa knew that much already. What she really wanted to know was why and who she was working with. She needed to know which lords she could trust. So far everyone on her shortlist was lying dead in the adjacent cave.

'Why did you kill Appelastus and the others?'

Ibex laughed as she sat cross-legged beneath the small green dome that had become her temporary prison. 'They came to avenge the death of Eleanor. They thought themselves my equal. As you can see they were wrong.'

'Did nobody else challenge you in all this time?'

'Like who?'

Lisa tried to remember the names of the other lords but then thought better of saying anything that might get them into trouble.

'Why are you still here after all this time?'

'I came for you, child. Rumours of your coming have spread far and wide across the Blasted Lands. I heard you were at Los Verion, searching for Appelastus. It was so easy to find you. I would never have returned to this place otherwise. Appelastus lived here. It was never my home. I can't abide this cold.'

Lisa stepped back, holding her tongue until she could catch up with her own thoughts. 'How did you know I was at Los Verion? Who told you I would come here?'

'Do you think I could live so long without forming a network of spies?'

'Who was it?' Riser said. 'Who told you?'

Ibex smiled. 'That's for me to know and you to wonder farm droid.'

'Ignore her,' Lisa said. 'Don't let her get under your skin.'

'You're as stupid as the others.'

'Others?'

Ibex shrugged.

'Are there more like us?'

'None like me,' Ibex said with a snide smile.

'Like me then. Are there more sky lords?'

'Once there were many. Most died in the Iridium Wars. I myself killed thirty-five - thirty-six soon.'

Lisa frowned, folding her arms beneath her breasts. 'You're the fool who can't get out.'

Ibex dragged her fingers across the ground beside her, leaving scratches in the dirt. 'Your time will come, Lisa. I don't need to kill you now. We'll face each other again one day and you won't be so lucky next time.'

'We're wasting our time here,' Riser said.

'Malkor will kill you all,' Ibex said. 'The route to the island won't remain open for long.'

'What island?'

Ibex gazed down at the floor. 'I didn't say island.'

'You did.'

Ibex laughed in a condescending manner.

'Shut up,' Riser said. 'Do you want me to hurt you again?'

'It didn't hurt the first time. I was faking it.'

Riser blinked, turning to Lisa with a puzzled look in his eyes.

'Don't listen to her. She's trying to confuse you. She's playing games like she has her whole life through, but it's not going to work this time. She's met a match in us.'

Ibex laughed. 'A child and a farm droid. How can you be so naive?'

Lisa stepped closer. 'Why do you say that? No more games this time. Tell me the truth.'

'You claim to be my equal but you don't even know what we are or where we come from.'

'We were born of the quickening,' Lisa said, 'lords who formed symbiotic relationships with the Lasrecon. Who are you to talk of history and origins when you've betrayed everything that we ever stood for.'

Ibex waved a dismissive hand in her direction. 'Fly away little bird. Join your friends if you can. It doesn't matter now. Soon it'll be over for all of you.'

Lisa stared into space as the Lasrecon resonated inside her. The mention of an island had triggered something inside them, filling them with excitement. They wanted to go home, to the place where it had all started. If only she knew where it was and how to get there. She could ask Ibex, but she doubted the woman would offer any kind of meaningful answer. Even if she replied there was no way that her answer could be trusted.

Memories stirred, images flashing before her eyes. She could see a beach with white cliffs rising from golden sand. Lush trees swayed in the wind and there were no clouds in the sky. Sky Lord Island they called it - the place where sky lords went to die. But many went to live there too. After the Iridium Wars it was the safest place to be, far from the clutches of Malkor and his armies.

Tears formed in Lisa's eyes. The memories belonged to someone else but still the island felt like home to her. It was a shared memory, not owned by any one mind. She didn't even know what that meant in terms of the Lasrecon but something felt right about it.

'I have to go there,' she said.

Riser inclined his head. 'Do you think that's wise? You could be playing right into her hands. She was the one who implanted the idea in your mind.'

Ibex sat quietly smiling back at them.

'She doesn't matter anymore,' Lisa said. 'I know what I have to do now.'