King Mortimer Cordera sighed.

“Put him on,” he rubbed his eyes with resignation as visuals of the Emperor’s face appeared before him.

“Mortimer.” The Emperor’s eyes turned to the visuals and stared directly at the king in front of him.

“Emperor.”

“I presume you have gotten word of all the activities that have occurred.”

“I am still trying to figure out what the heck happened.”

The Emperor sighed.

“I figured it wasn’t you. You’re not that stupid.” The Emperor’s eyes were merciless. “Nevertheless, since this occurred on your world, you are ultimately responsible for this mess.”

“Emperor. I am still trying to figure out exactly what happened.”

“Mortimer.” The Emperor’s lips snarled, his fangs growing by the second. “My son nearly died. Someone will have to pay!”

He pursed his lips.

“And that Avgo Female. She will be my future daughter-in-law. If anything were to happen to her, someone will have to pay for that as well.”

“She hasn’t won the Avgo Event yet. How can you be so sure she will be your daughter-in-law?”

“I have seven sons! They’re all fighting over her right now. If she marries any one of them, she’s my Daughter-in-law.”

“Right. Right.” King Mortimer cleared his throat. “Give me a little time. I will find out exactly who is responsible for this.”

The Emperor harrumphed and shut off connections.

“Your Majesty.” The Royal Advisor spoke up. “I just got word. We found out who the responsible person is.”

“Speak!” King Mortimer screeched.

“Your Majesty, it’s the former King of Emporia, Mattheus Cordera.”

“Impossible! He died twenty years ago!”

“He did not die, Your Majesty. He survived it and escaped to Erenveil with his mother, the Queen Dowager.”

King Mortimer’s lips quivered.

“How old was he when the dome got bombed?”

“Six, Your Majesty.”

“So that would make him 26 years old now.”

King Mortimer’s mouth worked into a snarl.

Find him!”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“And when you find him—kill him!”

“Yes. Your Majesty.”

======

Candace gripped the stony hand of the male statue to her right with both hands. It had had fallen off the statue at the shoulder joint and made a good bashing tool.

Brandishing it like a cudgel, she waited for the men to reach her hiding place.

The first one ran towards her.

She swung the arms, clobbering him in the head with the stone shoulder blade.

“Ugggghhhhhh!!!” He grunted and went down.

The man next to her jumped back as she swung the arm at him and pulled out his gun.

BANG!

He shot her in the face.

PUFFF!

The Avgo intervened once again with its signature pale pink shield.

The bullet evaporated in a puff of air.

Even though he had seen it happen once before, the man was still stunned at seeing it up close.

Taking advantage of his momentary frozen state, Candi swung the stone arm at him again.

THUMP!!!

He went down without a word, a gash forming on his temple oozing blood.

All the noise alerted the rest of the men.

“Over here!”

“She’s hiding behind that statue!”

“No shots! I want her taken alive!”

She heard thundering feet running towards her as they converge on her location. Candi looked up.

They were racing at her from above and to the left. The three closest men were coming at her on the right side. She could not hide in here any longer.

Candi jumped out and with a graceful arch of her body, flung three shurikens at them with swift force and dead accuracy. The shurikens impaled them in the heart.

The men clutched their chest and went down with loud grunts.

The tiny darts were not lethal in and of themselves, but they had been poison-dipped with extremely fast-acting neuro-agents. Even if it didn’t kill the men, at least, they would be incapacitated for awhile.

Candi stomped on their faces for good measure as she ran out of her hiding place.

Three other men had heard the sounds and were rushing over to her.

She turned back and flung three more shurikens at them as she vaulted towards the inner chambers of the glass dome.

From behind, she heard the sounds of their grunts as the shurikens embedded themselves, releasing the neuro-agent.

Their bodies hit the floor with a THUD.

Candi continued running through the path that was littered with broken debris and glass. Even as derelict as it was, the place was still cavernous!

“She’s over there!”

“Where???”

“There! She just ran through the aisle!”

The sounds alerted the rest of the men who began to converge on her.

She had taken down two out on the platform and eight inside the dome. There were still four men plus their leader in pursuit.

In her hands were three shurikens. Once those were gone, it would be hand-to-hand combat with the knife that was strapped on her thigh.

Candi kept running. It wasn’t as if there was nowhere to run. The place was filled with hidey holes!

She vaulted onto a ramp which took her to the second level of the terrarium. She was half way down the second mezzanine when a dozen more men converged on her.

Damn.

She didn’t think more would show up. This was bad. There were too many of them and she was all alone with three remaining shurikens.

She turned back towards the first floor but another group had run up the ramp in anticipation. She was trapped between the two groups. There was nowhere else to run.

As both groups ran towards her, Candi flung her remaining three at the closest ones and jumped onto the balustrade.

She was about to spring to the first floor when she felt hands dragging her body back down.

“Gotcha!”

Before she could do anything, she felt the prick of a needle on her shoulder and her vision wavered.

Oh well.

It was a good run. On her own, she had managed to kill off thirteen burly guys before they took her down.

Candi gave a fierce smile as she sank to the floor.