Rider 65

Riddick and Shazza came up behind Jack, one hand on either shoulder as she touched the shattered door of Sunhillow’s keep. They stood there silently, isolated from everyone else for a moment, and it was just the three of them again.

A grouping of the graceful black birds flew over them towards the forest; their shadows flit across the causeway and Riddick came to alert at the sound of birdsong. When they had walked through the deserted settlement on the hammerhead planet, the creatures had made a sound much like birdsong. The birds didn’t look like much but it did bring the seriousness of the situation back starkly. There was still risk here even if it felt like there was none.

Riddick gently pressed Jack aside, his stern expression had Jack stifle whatever it was she intended to say, and she moved. “Don’t know if it’s safe yet, Jack.” Shazza wouldn’t be put off so easily and, with one hand on Riddick’s back and the other clutched tightly around the spear banner, she stayed close to his side. She still had a weapon slung across her chest but somehow the spear seemed far more potent a weapon in this place. Riddick remembered how she looked on the prow of the Moorglade as she brought the Company ship down and didn’t question her choice.

“You think the Company might have left something behind?” Theo was at Jack’s side, no question that he would follow Riddick in as well no matter what Riddick had to say about it. He had kissed Joanne passionately the moment her feet had touched the ground of the causeway. If there had been more privacy, it would have been more, if the heat in her gaze was anything to go by. Joanne stood behind him now, just to the side of Duncan, who was held up by Johns.

Riddick looked behind him, annoyed for a moment, only to smirk down at Anna as she pushed at the back of his legs and complained that she couldn’t see. There was no way that they would all stay out on the causeway while he investigated; it was probably better to at least be able to keep them where he could watch them. Riddick impassively scanned the others and took note of the weapons they carried. Even Jack had a rifle slung. If they were about to face trouble, they were well prepared for it.

Riddick didn’t really believe that they faced danger; he operated out of ingrained habits that had kept him alive. But in his gut he knew that the Company men that had left had done just that. Left. If it had been a large rescue operation, the Company could easily have sent thousands of drop ships. That thought made him tense again; he knew he would fight, that they all would. But only one drop ship was sent. Only one. Riddick didn’t think it was a Company rescue operation at all, at least not an official one.

He wondered if the Company knew it faced a fight too. It could go either way; the Company could launch an all out assault to stifle any dissent, any threat to complete and total rule. Or complete abandonment, out of fear that one settlement that fought back could set off a conflagration of resistance. Riddick hoped for the latter as he pressed forward through the door into the cool keep of Sunhillow.

In a way it was like when they had first entered the Moorglade. An air of electric anticipation as though the place had waited for them. “Leave it for now, Jack.” Riddick held Jack’s hand before she could flick on the small but powerful flashlight that she still carried in one of her deep cargo pockets. He wanted to see it just as it was even though the dim light didn’t affect his sight in any way.

The air was only slightly cooler than that outside and Shazza reached out to touch the stone walls. They were slightly warm, not uncomfortably so but it too was like the Moorglade with its warm wood, as though it was something alive. She whispered in the half-dark as she touched Riddick’s back again. “Riddick….”

“I can feel it, Shazza,” Riddick whispered as he scanned the large entryway. Shafts of light filtered through curtains of vines that hung over openings in the stone walls through which the smell of the sea wafted in on a gentle breeze. “Stay close.” Jack and Theo both stopped at the hissed command before they had strayed any further.

The stone keep had clearly been abandoned for quite some time, centuries, and the vast empty hall echoed their steps back at them. There were heavy wooden doors emblazoned with wrought metalwork that ringed the central room but there was so much dust and dried leaves gathered in front of them that Riddick knew the Company hadn’t entered them. But he still made the warning clear.

“Nobody touches these doors until they get checked out.” Riddick nodded at Duncan, a step behind. Duncan couldn’t continue much further, it was still too dim for anyone else to see, as Duncan mouthed ‘thanks’ and leaned more heavily into Johns. Theo itched to explore now but he would wait until after, when there was time to do so safely, to examine the rooms properly.

Joanne pushed her hair out of her eyes as she stood next to Theo who looked wistfully up ahead at Riddick and Shazza. “I’m okay here; I’ve seen this before, once. You should go, Theo, it’s okay.” She looked back to Duncan; she had helped Johns get him over to one of the low stone benches that ringed the walls but now was torn. She wanted to go with Theo but didn’t want to leave Duncan. She really didn’t want Theo to stay just because of her.

Theo looked ahead to Riddick, Shazza and Jack; there was no way that he could miss this, he had come too far. “I won’t be long.” He turned and strode across the distance towards the others as they began to climb the stone steps at the end of the hall.

The second level had almost completely fallen away into the sea below and had been left to the elements for quite some time. The stones were broken and jagged spires reached high into the air. Hardy grass had taken root and blew softly in the breeze off the ocean.

Riddick didn’t look, just reached at his shoulder for Shazza’s hand, at a loss for words. Jack looked up at them and took Riddick’s other hand.

“It’s….” Theo began, as he stepped out and looked over the sea, the expanse of forest behind them, and the river. From their elevated position they could see for miles around. Theo stood and stared, in the hopes that the words would come but they didn’t. He had dreamt so long of this place that he couldn’t believe it wasn’t some dream he saw now.

“Yeah, it is.” Riddick stood in the center of the ring of spires that had once made up the second hall of Sunhillow. He looked up and wondered if the Company men that left had come to this same spot, if they could even feel what he felt as he stood there or if that was only for him. It was like the ley lines, and the Moorglade; it was like Shazza, when she held her hand to his chest. It was like all that and more.

“This is where we’re staying, isn’t it?” Jack tugged at Riddick’s hand to get his attention.

Slowly, Riddick looked down at her and dropped her hand only to put his arm around her shoulder and pull her in close. Shazza came around and held her as well and the three of them stood close together. Riddick looked over at Theo and spoke loud enough for him to hear. “We’re staying here.” It felt right to stay.

Theo beamed at Riddick before his head dropped and he walked out to the edge of the ruins before they dropped into the sea. Not a care in the world. He was where he had wanted to be, where he had dreamt of his whole life.

Anna scampered up over the edge of the steps and Theo reached out and caught her easily, to lift her up into his arms. “Where’s Joanne?” Anna pulled one skinny arm from around Theo’s neck and pointed down the stairs as Duncan made his way up the stairs, aided by Joanne and Johns. “Be careful”, Theo whispered to the girl, who skipped aimlessly across the grass and made circles around Riddick until she fell down giggling in front of him.

“Couldn’t stand to stay down there.” Duncan leaned heavily into Johns rather than put any weight on Joanne as he limped up the last of the steps. Riddick and Theo closed the distance quickly and helped Duncan to sit on a piece of crumbled masonry.

Riddick stayed at a crouch beside Duncan. “Leg’s a mess.” He cut a quick look up at Theo, who set off immediately with Joanne in tow, back to the Moorglade for supplies. Riddick pressed at the redness above the wound; Duncan had been on it far too long. “You should’ve stayed downstairs.”

“Probably, yeah. I didn’t want to miss this, though. Not after everything.” Duncan winced a little, but looked out over the sea with the same wistful expression as Theo. Johns still hadn’t left his side even though he was no longer needed to keep Duncan off the leg. Riddick looked off to the side, to keep Shazza and Jack in sight, Anna was still on the ground where she lay. “You two staying?”

There was no judgment in that question either way and Riddick had waited until the others were out of earshot before he asked. Johns stayed quiet but made no attempt to either move or argue. Duncan winced as Riddick poked at his leg again before he cut the bandages free. “I was thinking about it, yeah.”

“Good. When you’re okay to move again we’ll sort out arrangements.” Riddick laughed a little as he cocked an eyebrow up at Duncan. “Can’t really have you sleeping out on the bridge.” Johns blushed although he wasn’t entirely sure why but Duncan laughed back, at least until Joanne and Theo had returned and she set about seriously to treat his wound. Duncan listened carefully as she gave instructions; from the tone of her voice, she wasn’t about to listen to him put her off. Joanne was in charge now, a thought that made Duncan smile at her.

Theo sat down with Anna, and Riddick rejoined Shazza and Jack. “So we’re staying”, Jack repeated, as though she hadn’t really heard it the first time.

“Um-hm.” Jack snorted at his grunted monosyllabic answer and leaned against his side. Riddick drew his knees up to sit cross-legged and look out across the water. His eyes closed behind his goggles and he thought back to the skiff when they had been ready to leave the hammerhead planet, Jack on one side and Shazza on the other. He hadn’t imagined that he would stay. That they would want to stay with him. That there would be somewhere for them to be.

Jack squirmed under his tight grip to look up at him. She blushed slightly but didn’t really know why and it kind of pissed her off a little so she looked out over the water instead. “Um, they’re coming back, right?”

“Who’s coming back?” Riddick looked down at her and grinned at her blush. That was something he hadn’t expected to see.

Jack turned and looked past Riddick’s shoulder in the direction the Underhills had taken on their pursuit of the remaining rogue villagers through the forest. Riddick followed her gaze and tensed as he thought of Jacob Underhill, anyone for that matter, with their hands on his Jack.

“No!” Riddick felt Shazza poke him in the ribs with her elbow from the other side but she didn’t say anything. Jack blushed even more furiously and Riddick felt a knife in his heart as he saw the glaze of tears in her eyes as she tried to pull away, embarrassed. “Just…not just yet, Jack. Okay?” He sighed and grumbled curses under his breath and held onto Jack tighter so that she wouldn’t run. “Just not yet.”

Shazza snorted softly and took her sharp elbow out of his side before she stood and looked out over the sea as well. She still had the banner in her hand; its long train fluttered and pulled in the breeze. Her hand on Riddick’s shoulder was enough to have him look up at her as she firmly planted the banner in the earth above Sunhillow.