Healer

As Kurri starts to examine Razha, the engine of the airship roars louder and the sounds of its propellers start up. The great shadow starts to move.

“Did we win?” Razha says, without even looking up. Kurri turns to look. The great anchors are pulling up, with the surviving soldiers clamoring onto them. There are shouts, cries for help, as a few of them drag captured townspeople onto the platforms with them.

“Oh no, they’re taking prisoners!” Kurri says.

“Fuck. They love to do snatch-and-grabs right when they’re pulling out,” she says.

No wonder they’re leaving in a hurry. One of the anchors is not far from them, Kurri realizes, and there are soldiers running up their street to reach it.

“Soldiers!” Kurri says, shaking Razha by her shoulders to get her attention.

The men in brown coats talk to each other and point at them, then they are rushing at them.

“They’re coming for us Razha!”

She forces herself to stand as three of them are running up toward them. She reaches for her rifle and takes aim, but when she pulls the trigger, she realizes she never reloaded it. The soldiers hesitate until the realize what happened, but they still try to stay clear of her blade. They move for Kurri instead.

Kurri backs away from them, but one gets a hand on him. He feels himself pulled toward them, but then away, as Razha gets her arm around his waist and pulls him out of their grip. She shoves him behind her, and instead they grapple her before she can raise her blade again. Two restrain her arms while the third wrests the gun from her hand.

“No!” Kurri says.

“Kurri!” she says, struggling against them.

He remembers. He draws his gun and aims it at the head of one of the enemies restraining her. They all freeze in place at the sight of it. She sees him and puts her head down, leaving him a clear shot at this range--risky, but clear. And he stands there, his finger resting on the trigger, for what feels like a minute, but time is standing still.

“Kurri! Shoot the bastard!” Razha says.

The iron sights are shaking around the man’s head. His blue eyes are staring into Kurri’s. They look like Lein’s.

“Shoot! I don’t care if you fuck up and hit me! I’d rather you kill me than let them take me!”

In his seconds of hesitation, the third soldier raises his own weapon on Kurri and the three of them back away, dragging Razha along in their grasp. She struggles and kicks at their shins. She kicks the one in front of her just as he pulls his trigger, and his shot goes over Kurri’s head. He’s safe to fire on them now.

“You don’t know what they’ll do to me Kurri! Please!” Razha shouts. Her face is pure terror, as bad as Lein’s. He’s never seen this look in Razha’s eyes. She thrashes in their grasp with all her might, but they tackle her to the ground and shackle her hands.

But he does not fire.

Keeping eyes on him, they hurry back to their anchor with their prisoner. His hands are shaking so much he can’t even keep his aim.

“Razha! No!” Nadia says as she and the others run up the steps and up the street toward them. They’re running as fast as they can, their weapons drawn, but the platform lifts off of the ground before they can arrive, and swings toward the ship as its cable retracts.

Some of them fire their guns. They must know she would rather die than be captured. They understand that, they’re warriors, and there are things they fear more than death. Kurri falls to his knees and drops his gun on the ground.

One of their shots connects, and knocks one soldier from the platform and to his death. But two more still hold her, and Razha rises into the sky, struggling every second.

“Razha!” Nadia runs downhill after her even as she flies hopelessly out of reach.

“Nadia!” It’s the last thing he could hear her say before the drone of propellers overpowers all words. Once her cable and the others are pulled back up to the deck, the ship picks up speed and pulls out of the valley. All Kurri can do is watch.

END