War in the City Chapter 8

IN THE FIFTH YEAR OF THE NEW ERA
Demetrius saw the Harpies, and panic filled him. The children were even more frightened, running for the school door and all trying to get in at once, making it hard for any of them to get in at all.

Davree jerked his laser gun into an aimed position. "At least we'll go down fighting," he said.

Peter grabbed hold of the gun and jerked it down. "You can't fire now. They'll return fire and hit some of the children."

"They'll fire at us whether we fire at them or not," Kialka said. "I wasn't doing a thing to them and they fired at me."

Peter glanced briefly at the stream of children still rushing toward the door. "They probably will attack, but if there is a chance I can talk them out of it, no matter how slim that chance may be, I've got to take it. We can't let even one more child die. We have to try everything. Even Marramiane soldiers have souls inside them. Maybe I can get them to spare these children. At the very least, not firing at them will buy us some time."

"You're not going to get the chance to talk to them," Kialka warned. "They'll shoot you down before they even land."

Peter took another glance at the door. The last few children were rushing in, and Demetrius was close behind. Peter then took another glance at the Harpies, as they were preparing to land. Peter was surprised that they had not fired already. In the previous two attacks they had not hesitated to begin their shooting. Perhaps there was more hope for talking to them then he had at first thought.

Suddenly, Peter realized the danger of having his two friends standing behind him with their laser guns ready. Since the Harpies knew well what situation they were in, they could not intimidate the Harpies by having the laser guns present. The only purpose the laser guns would serve would be to communicate hostility, the last thing Peter wanted. He knew if he wanted any chance of succeeding at all, he would have to appear as friendly as possible to the Harpies.

"Quick, get inside," Peter ordered, pushing the two toward the school doors.

"What? And leave you all alone?" Davree questioned.

"Now!" Peter's tone of voice left little room for negotiation.

"You can't be serious," Kialka said. "You wouldn't last a second alone against them."

"I don't have time to argue, just get inside." Davree and Kialka reluctantly, but quickly went inside the school. Peter turned his attention to the Harpies.

By this time, the last of the Harpies were landing. They were all standing still, and Peter took immense comfort in the fact that not as much as one laser beam had been fired. There were sixteen Harpies altogether, and they neatly arranged themselves upon their landing, three rows of five, with the sixteenth one standing in front of them all. Peter took a step toward them.

"Stay where you are," the sixteenth one commanded. He was tall and broad shouldered. Like the rest of the Harpies, he wore little clothing, merely pants that extended from his waist to his knees. Harpies seldom wore much armor, as it weighed them down when they wanted to fly. In the city, armor was of no protection against the laser guns, so they wore none.

The sixteenth was well built, much more so than the others. His blond hair was longer than the others also, coming down to his shoulders. His eyes were well spaced apart, and had a fierce mean look to them. His face was solid and strong, yet did not look tight or thin. An air of power flowed from him; an air that demanded respect. Peter obeyed his command, taking a step back to return him to his original position.

The sixteenth walked up to Peter, leaving the others behind. Peter was considered average height for a human, yet the Harpy towered about one and a half decimeters above him,which was much higher than the average Harpy. He pointed his laser gun right at Peter's face, and his eyes made it clear he wouldn't think twice about pulling the trigger. "So," he said, in a powerful tone that one would expect to come from someone who looked like him, "You have come to fight all sixteen of us?" Apparently the other Harpies were not allowed to laugh while they were in their formation, but a slight stirring among them made evidence they wanted to, or at least wanted to make their commander think they wanted to.

"I was hoping to talk things out," Peter responded.

The Harpy nodded. "So I could see, or you would not be alive right now. Make no mistake, Watcher, I would have no reservations about killing you where you stand. My name is Droud. I'm a general in Marram's army, and I've lived a very barbaric life. I've done things that would make you wake up crying in the middle of the night just to hear about it." Peter didn't consider himself easily frightened, but the way Droud said the words, vague enough as they were, sent shivers done his spine. "If I did not admire your bravery so much, you would be dead already."

Peter bowed slightly, and began talking. His nervousness caused his words to tumble out rapidly. "Droud believe me, I have nothing but the greatest fear and respect for you. I don't know why Marram is attacking the city, but for whatever reason, surely you can spare these children. They are harmless. Killing them will serve no purpose what so ever. Surely you can better use your time then to attack them."

"I will be the judge on what is the best use of my time," Droud answered, enraged that someone would actually think to suggest something to him. "I will be the judge of who is harmless to Marram's army, and who is not. You will stand aside."

"Listen to me, there are children in there, young children. The oldest one isn't more than ten years old, you can't go in there."

"I said you will stand aside."

"Why would you want to kill children anyway?"

"Watcher, because of your bravery I have decided to spare you, but your life means nothing to me. You will stand aside right now, or my next action will be to kill you." Droud moved his laser gun forward until it touched Peter's face, intending to remind Peter of the laser gun, an unnecessary action since Peter had never forgotten about it for a second since it had first been pointed at him.

Peter took in a deep breath and straightened himself as best he could. "Sir, I will not move aside."

Droud's eyes narrowed. "So be it."

Peter closed his eyes as he awaited his demise, and it was just as well, for what happened next happened so fast he would not have been able to follow it anyway. Someone, somewhere, fired a laser gun at Droud. They missed only by a few centimeters to the right, and the laser beam hit the school wall right behind Peter and Droud. The wall was made of a brittle stone like material, and pieces of it were blown off at the point of contact. A rather large piece flew out and struck Droud on the right side of his face, sending him tumbling to the ground with a pain filled scream.

Peter opened his eyes to see what was going on. He did not have time to fully enjoy the relief he was feeling as so many other things demanded his attention. The situation had exploded into chaos, making it hard for Peter to tell what was going on. The Harpies had broken formation, and were exchanging laser fire with another group. Some of the Harpies had already fled, others had already been killed, and the rest were obviously out matched.

Peter looked around to see what had happened to Droud, and saw him to the right, not really that far away. Droud was writhing around on the ground, both hands covering his face. Droud's hands obstructed the wound, so Peter could not determine its nature or severity, but he could see a lot of blood flowing out from under Droud's hand. Droud was still screaming, and in obvious pain. No matter what Droud was like, Peter knew he couldn't let him suffer like this.

Droud needed a medicine ball, put Peter would have to run into the middle of the school to get to a replicator. He knew it might take him about five minutes, so he went over to Droud to give him a word of reassurance, and instruct Droud to stay where he was for the interval.

Peter went over to Droud and lightly tapped him on the shoulder. Droud was still crying out in pain, but Peter began talking anyway, thinking Droud might still be able to hear him. "Droud, Listen to me. You're going to be alright, hear me? You're going to be alright. I'll be back in a minute with a medicine ball, until then-"

Without warning, Droud's right hand swung out and struck Peter in the face. Droud was as strong as he looked, and the blow caused Peter to fall to the ground. Droud quickly grabbed the laser gun he had dropped and pointed it at Peter as he stood up. Peter was now able to see Droud's face. Smeared blood obscured Peter from seeing all of the damage, but he could see the missile had not been pleasant. Droud's right eye was completely cut up, his cheek was torn from his face, and parts of his jaw bone were visible. With a mangled voice that resulted from the wounds, Droud screamed out at Peter, "You talk peace, and you plan deception. Well I was talking to you, you had your men set up that ambush. Well now it's time to take a piece of your own medicine."

Before Droud had time to fire the laser gun, a laser beam hit him and his body went limp as he fell dead. Peter looked towards the direction from which the laser beam had come, to see who had saved him. By this time, the remainder of the Harpies had been killed or had fled, and the area was beginning to regain a sense of clarity, if not sanity. The men who had attacked the Harpies were now emerging from their hiding places. The one who had shot Droud came running from the direction of the laser beam. Peter looked at the man as he approached. He was moderately tall, well built, and had eyes that breathed fire. He had brown hair which was parted to the right and well defined muscles covered his body.

"Sir, I don't know how to thank you-" Peter began.

"Don't worry about it," the man cut him off. "I couldn't have let them kill a man as brave as you anyway. I don't believe I know you. My name's Pompey. You are?"

"Peter."

"Peter, I've never met you before in my life, but I've seen more than enough to convince me that you are one of the finest men that ever lived."

"Well thank you, but I think that's a little-"

"No, it's true. I saw you stand up to Droud like that, knowing he was going to kill you but still unafraid of him. Do you think that kind of courage is easy to find."

Peter blushed slightly at the compliment. "Thank you sir. You were very brave yourself."

Pompey dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. "I never put myself in danger for a minute. You had a laser gun pointed to your head, and you weren't afraid. I'm very impressed Peter, and I think we're going to become great friends."

"I'd like that."

"We'll be able to use men like you."

"Who's we?"

"I'll explain later. Are all of the children safe?"

"They got two."

Pompey stared angrily at the dead Harpies and clenched his laser gun. "They'll pay for that. They even attack our children."

"Right now we've got to get these children to safety," Peter reminded him.

Pompey nodded. "Right, right. We'll talk more later."