Day Ten - Fight and Flight

This is Day Ten of the Promptly Potter challenge. It's another SpaceWizards mystery.

SpaceWizards
(Another SpaceWizards Action/Adventure Mystery)

SpaceFirebreathers aka FireBreathers is what we on Earth call dragons. They even look like our dragons. Some of the have wings. And some don’t have wings. The same is true about the size of the wings. Some of them are very long, and some are very small. SpaceFireBreathers is called that because they are born in Space. They can even live in Space all their lives. But they can also live anywhere. A recent mystery had one on the SpaceWizard’s spaceship. There haven’t been any of them in over ten thousand years, until now. Where did that one come from? Are there any more of them? That’s what this story is about.

“Fight and Flight”

A Short Story

Remembered By

Pacill

     Fire shot at Pacill engulfed him. He looked like a standing up oblong Fire Ball floating in Space. Within that fire little specks of it poked Pacill, especially on this face and mouth, as he kept mumbling something with his eyes closed. A few seconds later the fire surrounding him disappeared.

     Pacill opened his eye and pointed his fingers at the SpaceFireBreather in front of him as he mumbled something. A second or two later jagged Laser Bolts shot out of his fingertips. They struck it all over its body. The counter-attack pushed it back about half a mile. But other than that the bolts had no effect on it.

     Looking around him, Pacill saw that his fellow SpaceWizards were fighting their own SpaceFireBreathers. Pacill turned back toward his SpaceFireBreather just in time to see it speeding toward him at a very fast rate of speed. He mumbled something and fired more Laser Bolts out of his fingers.

     The SpaceFireBreather suddenly stopped. A skidding sound echoed all around Pacill. Pacill covered his ears. The bolts headed for the SpaceFireBreather disappeared just before they hit it. I’m in big trouble. My SpaceFireBreather knows my limitations.

     How am I supposed to use it to get to the other SpaceFireBreathers if I can’t slow it down long enough for me to get on it? Pacill asked panicking.

     Calm down. You will figure out how to do it. We are all having the same problem. Pacill looked over at Mairon.

     I have mounted my SpaceFireBreather. And if anyone can do it, anyone can. Pacill looked over at Angoria. She sat on top of its neck just behind the head. Electrical strings connected Angoria's hands to the side of its head.

     Pacill saw that Yena and Stavon had also mounted their SpaceFireBreathers the same as Angoria did. He also saw that Mairon and Jacci were about to mount theirs. Mairon was just swinging onto his with one of his electrical strings attached to its head. Jacci was just connecting her string to its head.

     “I can do this too. After all, I used to have a SpaceFireBreather when I was growing up. I’m just not sure how I’m going to do this one.”

     The SpaceFireBreather started circling around Pacill. Keeping just far enough away to stop Pacill from attacking it again. It did that for about ten circles. Getting a little closer to Pacill each time. Suddenly, it stopped and faced Pacill. The SpaceFireBreather opened its mouth. Pacill smiled and started firing electrical strings at it. “That should slow it down long enough for me to mount it.”

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     Pacill walked into the Communications Chamber. Yena was seated behind one of the Data Monitor. She looked at Pacill. “I tried to get her to tell me what her problem is. But she insists on only talking to you about it. She claims to be an old friend of yours.”

     “I’ve made a lot of friends over the last thirty thousand years. So, she could be one of them. Who is she?”

     “It’s me, Corralisto.” The voice of Corralisto came from the monitor Yena sat in front of.

     Pacill walked over and took Yena's chair after she got up so that he could sit down. He looked at the monitor and smiled. “It is you. You didn't need to tell me who you were. I thought that was your voice even before you said it.”

     A few seconds later he continued. “I remember you. You’re one of my many Loves on the planet of Torenka. I’m a SpaceWizard. I remember everything. At least I do about my Loves.”

     “I know you’re a SpaceWizard. That’s why I contacted you. We need your help on Torenka.”

     “I’m listening. What’s the problem?”

     Corralisto didn’t say anything. She just looked at Yena. Pacill followed her look. It’s okay. I’ll be okay. She’s just shy around strangers. I will tell you all about it later. I’ve got a bad feeling whatever it is we are all going to be needed.

     Without a word Yena left. Pacill returned to looking at Corralisto. “Okay, so what’s wrong.”

     “About a month ago ten SpaceFireBreathers showed up here. They spread out all over Torenka, and they have been killing anyone out in the open.”

     “How many Torenkans have they killed so far?” Pacill asked.

     “It’s only been a couple of million. Most of us are staying inside. But our food cubes are starting to get low. We are all going to have to go outside sooner or later.”

     “Why didn’t you contact me until now?” Pacill asked.

     “I have been trying to contact you. Something or someone has been blocking all our outgoing Help Signals. This is the first time I’ve been able to do it. Please, help us.”

     Horrald. But why did he attack them? And why is he using SpaceFireBreathers to do it? Pacill looked back up at Corralisto. “Of course, we will help you. But it’s going to take us a couple of weeks to get there. Can you hold on to life until we get there?”

     “Yes, I think we can hold on. But we don’t want the others to come. Only you. You stopped almost twice that many before. And we know you can do it again.”

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     “Why did she only want to talk to you?” Yena leaned forward and asked Pacill who sat behind the controls of their spaceship.

     Pacill didn’t take his eyes off the view screen. “Torenka is a very private planet. They don’t like off-worlders. They’ve been almost invaded several times. And they don’t trust any off-worlder.”

     “The only reason why I am welcomed there is because I saved them about fourteen thousand years ago. I was there with one of my Loves when eighteen SpaceFireBreathers showed up. It was another invasion/destruction attempt. And whoever it was they were using SpaceFireBreathers to do it. The only reason the Torenkans let me help them is because I already killed three of them before they found out I was there.”

     No one said anything for several minutes. It was Jacci who broke the silence. “So, what are we going to do about these SpaceFireBreathers. We need a plan of attack.”

     “There are only ten of them this time,” said Mairon. “But Horrald is involved in it. So, those ten will be more like twenty.”

     “I think we should take them out one at a time,” said Angoria. “If they are twice as bad, or worse than the last ones, it might take all seven of us to do it.”

     “We can’t do that. When the other SpaceFireBreathers find out about the first one, or two, three at the most the Torenkans will be in danger. Right they are just killing outsiders. If we kill them one at a time, they could start destroying buildings too.”

     After a few seconds later Pacill continued. “Besides, we can’t kill them. We still don’t know where they came from? How many there are? Is there a reason why they attacked Torenka besides me?”

     “Whatever we decide to do about them, we need to decide it now. We are going to be there in a few minutes,” said Stavon.

     Just then Corralisto appeared on the view screen. “I’m so happy you came. But you brought the others. I asked you not to. It doesn’t really matter, anyway.”

     “Are you the World Leader of Torenka now, Corralisto?” Pacill asked.

     Corralisto didn’t say anything for several minutes. “No, I’m not. The only reason I am talking to you instead of her is because I’m the one who contacted you first.”

     “What do you mean it doesn’t matter?” Mairon asked.

     Pacill nodded 'yes' when Corralisto looked at him. “It doesn’t matter because the SpaceFireBreathers are gone. Seven of them left a few hours ago. The other three we took care of ourselves.”

     Corralisto continued a few seconds later. “We don’t have any SpaceWizards. But we do have several million wizards. They banded together to stop them.”

     Seven SpaceFireBreathers and seven of us. That doesn’t sound good for us, thought Yena.

     It looks like a trap to me, Angoria thought. What are we going to do about it?

     We’re going to walk into it, thought Mairon. That’s what we are going to do.

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     All seven sat behind a Data Monitor in the Communications Chamber, tapping away at the controls in front of them. If they weren’t tapping the were looking at the monitor mumbling. “The first thing we need to do is find them. Has anyone found them yet?” Mairon asked.

     “I think I’m speaking for everyone here when I say we will let everyone else when we find them.” The other six looked at Mairon who sat in the middle between them. But it was Stavon who just spoke.

     “What I want to know is what we are going to do when we do find the? Are we going to kill them too?” Jacci asked.

     “We can’t kill them,” said Pacill. At least we can’t until we find the others.”

     “There might not be any others. Did any of you think of that? These eleven might be all that Horrald has. That would explain the ten on Torenka.”

     “I hope your right, Angoria. But I don’t think you are,” said Pacill. “I’m thinking that those ten were there because seven would have meant an obvious trap.”

     No one said anything for several minutes. Then suddenly Borrele smiled. “I found them. And we have a large problem. There must be several ten thousand of them.” She turned toward the others. “How are we going to kill that many of them?”

     “Maybe we don’t have to kill any of them,” said stavon. “Now that we know where they are, maybe all we have to do is monitor them. And if any more of them leave then we can kill them if we have to.”

     “I would like to do that. But I don’t think that we can,” Mairon sighed. “With that many, if they all leave at once we would have a much harder time killing them. If we can kill all of them.”

     “Unfortunately, I agree with Mairon. That many are a threat to the whole universe,” said Jacci. “We have no choice but to kill them all. I just don’t how we are going to do it with than many.”

     “We have an even bigger problem coming our way. The seven SpaceFireBreathers sent to bring us here are about to attack us.” Everyone got up and quickly surrounded Pacill. They looked at what he was looking at on his monitor. The seven SpaceFireBreathers were surrounding their spaceship.

     The others looked worried, scared, etc. But not Mairon. He smiled. “We are going to use those SpaceFireBreathers against the others. Have any of you heard the phrase, ‘Fight and Flight.’ They are going to kill the others with our help.”

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     The SpaceFireBreather that Pacill rode on approached a small group of SpaceFireBreathers. Pacill closed his eyes and mumbled something. An electrical spark started at the top of the electrical strings with his hands and went down the connected into the side of his SpaceFireBreather’s head. A few seconds later that SpaceFireBreather opened its mouth and screamed. Pacill closed his eyes again a mumbled something else. Several seconds later that SpaceFireBreather shot out of its mouth fire that engulfed the other SpaceFireBreathers.

     Pacill heard another scream and looked in that direction. He saw the SpaceFireBreather that Jacci rode on, do the same thing to another group of SpaceFireBreathers. They too died screaming. Pacill looked beyond Jacci to see Stavon and Borrele doing the same thing. That smile on his face suddenly turned into a frown.

     Everybody stop killing them. We can’t kill them. Look around you. These are wild SpaceFireBreathers. There are baby SpaceFireBreathers and Young Ones. This is a community. These aren’t just SpaceFireBreathers. They are also SpaceAliens. And we can’t kill them.

     No one said anything for several minutes. It was Yena who broke the silence. “I don’t want to have to admit it. But Pacill is right. These SpaceFireBreathers are SpaceAliens. They could be the only ones left of their race. We can’t kill them.

     If we can’t kill them, then what are we going to do. We can’t just let them say here unwatched.

     I have been thinking ever since we started our flight. And I think I know how to protect them from Horrald using them without killing them. But we are going to need to use our new friends to do it.

     Mairon smiled. Of course, why didn’t I think of it instead of Pacill? Nothing again you Pacill. But I should have thought of it first.

     A few seconds later and Mairon continued. All SpaceFireBreathers have SpaceGems as hearts. With our combined wizardry and those SpaceGems we can send them into another into the Space between Space where Horrald will never find them to use them again against us or anyone else.

     We may need a few hundred more to do it. Pacill interrupted and continued a few seconds later. But we can save them without killing them.

Word Count = 2,185