RelicFire
Like the Phoenix I shall raise from the ashes
((Words 2196))
“No! We have to go back! We have to help them!”
“There is no one left, my lord!” the medic yelled pinning the commander to the stretcher. “I am sorry. They are gone,” he said much gentler now that the young commander was listening.
The young commander‘s breath left him. They died? All of them, because of him? They had all given their lives to protect a stranger.
One of the medics started to remove the bandage from the injured commander’s leg, scissors in hand. “No! Do not touch it!” Commander Canto sat up and caught the medic’s hands. “I want this to be cleaned,” he said as he carefully untied the knots in the red and white striped fabric. “This is very important to me. It was a gift from the Humans and I want it cleaned and in my room by the time we return to the ship.”
The fabric was dripping with his golden blood. His steward stepped through the crowd of medics. “It shall be done, my lord,” the steward promised clutching the fabric to his chest. The steward’s expression was very worried and a little frightened. Blood flowed freely from Canto’s injured leg. His struggling had torn the stitches. He felt his head spinning and his body fell back against the stretcher as his world went black.
Commander Canto awoke slowly, his mind was hazy and he didn’t remember where he was. He sat up slowly taking in his quarters on the starfighter Waytona. He slid his fingers over the blankets and smiled lightly, it felt good to be home.
“You are awake, my lord!” The steward said happily, relief washing over his features.
“Yes, I am awake,” Canto said. He sighed softly as the memories of the people who had given their lives washed over him like a flood. Faces and names flashed in his mind's eye. He looked at his steward and his breath caught his throat. “Is that-?”
“Yes, sir. The bandage you wanted cleaned.” The steward moved closer and spread the fabric out on top of the commander’s blankets.
Canto smiled brightly and slid his fingers along one of the red stripes.
“Sir, what is it?” the steward asked timidly.
“It is the symbol of freedom,” Canto said. Then he smiled up at the steward. “Let me tell you of my time with the Humans, before I forget even the slightest detail.” The commander motioned for the steward to sit at the foot of his bed. Canto stared at the fabric as he told the story of his time under the care of the Human freedom fighters on Earth.
Commander Canto was flying a one-manned fighter around a mountainside on Earth. He wasn’t looking for trouble, he was looking for signs of Human camps, when three Vennary fighters closed in on him and opened fire. He tried to lose them in the trees and lead them deeper into the woodlands around the mountains, but one of the Vennary fighters managed to clip his left wing causing him to lose control and crash into a pine tree. His ship spun the whole way down to the ground. Once the ship came to a stop Canto took a quick inventory of the damages. His leg was badly injured, his ship was wrecked and he was so disoriented that he couldn’t keep his breakfast down. His body was shaking as he wiped his mouth clean, waves of pain and vertigo washed over him. He heard an eruption of gunfire outside of his ship. He looked at his left leg and he could see the green of bone sticking out and the golden blood soaking and staining his white uniform. The sounds of a ground fight grew louder as he tried to move from his ship, but the pain was overpowering. He fell to the ground as the world around him faded into darkness and he lost consciousness.
Canto’s eyes fluttered open and he could see the blue sky of Earth and the trees towering over him. He was on something that felt solid under his back but was as soft as a newborn Trillen pup’s coat to his fingertips. He was being dragged somewhere. He let his eyes close and he didn’t wake for hours, not until his leg was being treated.
“Ow,” he said calmly, it was truly excruciating but he was trying not to show weakness, in case he’d been caught by a Vennary soldier.
“I’m sorry,” a Human woman said softly. She moved on her knees, closer to Canto’s hip and leaned over him so he could see her face. He was laying on his back on the ground and could see his blood on her hands. “I’m trying to be careful and not hurt you.”
Canto shakily forced himself up on his elbows, and looked at his leg. It was an awful sight. “Are you trying to push the bone back in?” he asked glancing around at what must have been a cave.
The woman nodded and bit her lip. “I could knock you out, if you want,” she offered with a small, sad kind of smile.
“No. I will be quiet,” Canto promised.
“It’s not that! It’s just…” She paused for a moment taking in a deep breath. “This’ll hurt. No matter what you are, this will hurt,” she said giving Canto a worried look.
“I am aware of that. And honestly, it hurts right now. I can withstand a little more pain,” he promised and smiled lightly.
The woman sighed then moved back to his leg. Canto lowered himself back down closing his eyes tightly and gritting his teeth. The woman moved quickly and skillfully to put his leg back together. She had to reach into his leg and force the bone back into place, the pain was unbelievable. It felt like she was trying to rip him apart rather than put him back together.
The young commander heaved with pain and felt himself retch as his bones were pushed back into place. She then put pieces of wood on either side of his leg as a splint before stitching his leg closed. After what felt like an eternity of pain, she started to bandage his leg. He pushed himself up onto his elbows, slowly, and watched as she put white gauze on top of the stitched up skin. She grabbed a large piece of striped fabric and wrapped it around his leg and the wood. “We’re out of a lot of supplies. We’re using what we can.” She gave a half-hearted little shrug, “You should feel honored,” she said with a truly brilliant smile.
“Why?” Canto asked watching her carefully and tightly tie knots in the fabric.
“This old rag is our colors, our sign of freedom,” she said and carefully finished tying the bandage, then moved to wash her hands.
“If it is that special, should you use something else?” Canto asked looking at the red and white stripes.
“It was that or my coat. And it gets too cold for me to use my coat. Besides, you’re helping us fight for our freedom,” she said coming over and offering him a cup of water. “Why not let you wear our colors?”
Canto slowly moved to sit up straighter taking the cup from her hands, and carefully sipped the water. “Thank you. I am honored. I shall wear it with pride.”
The woman laughed, it was a wonderful sound. “I like you. What’s your name?” she asked taking the cup from his now shaking hands.
“I am Commander Canto. You are?”
“Sara, no title.” She put the cup down and grabbed a pack so that he could lay his head on it.
“Thank you,” Canto said his tiredness now evident in his voice. “What happened? I mean after I crashed.” He was not yet ready to let his body sleep.
“Well, we saw you get hit and we just grabbed some gear and took off. We found your ship and the Vennary were already there. We exchanged fire and two of our men fell, but five of theirs fell as well. The others ran for their ships. We got in and found you and we brought you back to our camp. Your people know you’re with us, and that you’re safe. We sent word from your ship and took a few much needed supplies,” she said gently stroking Canto’s dark purple locks off his forehead. He was running a fever now.
“I’m sorry about your men,” Canto said gently.
“We’re fighting for our freedom, and some of us will die to ensure that others will have their freedom. But what I don’t understand… what are you fighting for?” she asked, her forehead wrinkled in thought.
Canto blinked at her. “Is it so strange that we would want Humans to win this war?” He glanced at the bandage again. “Tell me… Where did you get that?”
Sara looked at the stripes wrapped tightly around Canto’s leg. “I got it from our old medic who died in a raid two weeks back. Where he got it, I don’t know. It’s old though, and has become Earth’s sign of hope.” She took a deep breath and smiled. “It’s from back before the war. Two hundred years ago, that was the sign of a country, the biggest, greatest, country of the world. And when the war hit they were the ones looking for survivors in places where no one wanted to go. It was called America. The Americans were the ones who stood against the Vennary. They were also the ones who sent a message out, the same message your people heard. Your people came, found out what happened then allied with the Americans. And the war has continued. But as I hear it, we’re winning.” She smiled lightly. “Our colors will soon fly again.”
Canto smiled too, it was strange to hear the story of the war from her point of view. “You know, you are only the second Human I have met.” He laughed gently. “And the other was not half as impressive as you.”
Sara laughed as well. “Thank you.”
Three days passed and no sign of the Vennary. Canto’s leg was healing nicely. He got to know all twenty-two of the Human soldiers by name. He quickly became fond of the Humans and their never-ending sense of loyalty to their cause. They’d been fighting for generations to regain the freedom they’d once known. It was incredible to see the sheer willpower of these beings.
“So wait, let me get this straight,” Sara said shaking her head hard, as if that would clear her mind to help her understand what Canto had been telling her. “Your people regard soldiers like royalty? You’re like, a duke of something or other?” she asked trying to fight off a smirk. She wasn’t trying to laugh at him.
“To a degree,” Canto said smiling lightly up at her. “I am the Commander of the Waytona and as such, I am the leader and lord over my starfighter.”
Sara laughed, it was such a wondrous sound and a great contrast to the gloomy atmosphere. “Here we’re viewed as troublemakers and told to just fall in line.” Sara gave a little shrug.
“But you won’t,” Canto said with admiration in his voice.
On the fourth day in the Human camp there was trouble. Canto still couldn’t move and he didn’t see anyone but he could hear shouting and gunfire. He didn’t have the strength to get onto his feet and it was killing him to once again hear the Humans fighting to protect him. Suddenly, Sara ran into the room and pushed something into his hand. Red blood dripped from her forehead. “It’s a beacon. Your people will be here soon. We’ll hold off the Vennary for as long as we can!” Then she turned back toward the mouth of the cave. Canto tried to hold her hand so she wouldn’t leave. She gave him her beautiful and brilliant smile before she pulled her hand free of his grip. “Don’t worry,” she said softly. “Old Glory will keep you safe.” She gave a small wave at the red and white stripes still tightly wrapped around his leg before she disappeared into the noise and chaos of the battle at the front of the cave.
After a lifetime of being stuck, feeling useless, there was an explosion. Canto saw his people running into the cave. They grabbed his arms and pulled him up onto a stretcher. They were moving him under gunfire. He saw several bodies as they moved through the cave. Human and Vennary blood covered the cave walls.
Once in the hovercraft Canto looked for Sara or one of the others. When they began to take off, he screamed and fought demanding that they go back.
Canto sat staring at the beautiful flag that lay on his bed. The Stars and Stripes was such a wondrous sight to behold. “I want this symbol put on our uniforms.” He smiled lightly. “This symbol of liberty, hope and freedom. Our people would be honored to wear the colors of Earth.”
“No! We have to go back! We have to help them!”
“There is no one left, my lord!” the medic yelled pinning the commander to the stretcher. “I am sorry. They are gone,” he said much gentler now that the young commander was listening.
The young commander‘s breath left him. They died? All of them, because of him? They had all given their lives to protect a stranger.
One of the medics started to remove the bandage from the injured commander’s leg, scissors in hand. “No! Do not touch it!” Commander Canto sat up and caught the medic’s hands. “I want this to be cleaned,” he said as he carefully untied the knots in the red and white striped fabric. “This is very important to me. It was a gift from the Humans and I want it cleaned and in my room by the time we return to the ship.”
The fabric was dripping with his golden blood. His steward stepped through the crowd of medics. “It shall be done, my lord,” the steward promised clutching the fabric to his chest. The steward’s expression was very worried and a little frightened. Blood flowed freely from Canto’s injured leg. His struggling had torn the stitches. He felt his head spinning and his body fell back against the stretcher as his world went black.
Commander Canto awoke slowly, his mind was hazy and he didn’t remember where he was. He sat up slowly taking in his quarters on the starfighter Waytona. He slid his fingers over the blankets and smiled lightly, it felt good to be home.
“You are awake, my lord!” The steward said happily, relief washing over his features.
“Yes, I am awake,” Canto said. He sighed softly as the memories of the people who had given their lives washed over him like a flood. Faces and names flashed in his mind's eye. He looked at his steward and his breath caught his throat. “Is that-?”
“Yes, sir. The bandage you wanted cleaned.” The steward moved closer and spread the fabric out on top of the commander’s blankets.
Canto smiled brightly and slid his fingers along one of the red stripes.
“Sir, what is it?” the steward asked timidly.
“It is the symbol of freedom,” Canto said. Then he smiled up at the steward. “Let me tell you of my time with the Humans, before I forget even the slightest detail.” The commander motioned for the steward to sit at the foot of his bed. Canto stared at the fabric as he told the story of his time under the care of the Human freedom fighters on Earth.
Commander Canto was flying a one-manned fighter around a mountainside on Earth. He wasn’t looking for trouble, he was looking for signs of Human camps, when three Vennary fighters closed in on him and opened fire. He tried to lose them in the trees and lead them deeper into the woodlands around the mountains, but one of the Vennary fighters managed to clip his left wing causing him to lose control and crash into a pine tree. His ship spun the whole way down to the ground. Once the ship came to a stop Canto took a quick inventory of the damages. His leg was badly injured, his ship was wrecked and he was so disoriented that he couldn’t keep his breakfast down. His body was shaking as he wiped his mouth clean, waves of pain and vertigo washed over him. He heard an eruption of gunfire outside of his ship. He looked at his left leg and he could see the green of bone sticking out and the golden blood soaking and staining his white uniform. The sounds of a ground fight grew louder as he tried to move from his ship, but the pain was overpowering. He fell to the ground as the world around him faded into darkness and he lost consciousness.
Canto’s eyes fluttered open and he could see the blue sky of Earth and the trees towering over him. He was on something that felt solid under his back but was as soft as a newborn Trillen pup’s coat to his fingertips. He was being dragged somewhere. He let his eyes close and he didn’t wake for hours, not until his leg was being treated.
“Ow,” he said calmly, it was truly excruciating but he was trying not to show weakness, in case he’d been caught by a Vennary soldier.
“I’m sorry,” a Human woman said softly. She moved on her knees, closer to Canto’s hip and leaned over him so he could see her face. He was laying on his back on the ground and could see his blood on her hands. “I’m trying to be careful and not hurt you.”
Canto shakily forced himself up on his elbows, and looked at his leg. It was an awful sight. “Are you trying to push the bone back in?” he asked glancing around at what must have been a cave.
The woman nodded and bit her lip. “I could knock you out, if you want,” she offered with a small, sad kind of smile.
“No. I will be quiet,” Canto promised.
“It’s not that! It’s just…” She paused for a moment taking in a deep breath. “This’ll hurt. No matter what you are, this will hurt,” she said giving Canto a worried look.
“I am aware of that. And honestly, it hurts right now. I can withstand a little more pain,” he promised and smiled lightly.
The woman sighed then moved back to his leg. Canto lowered himself back down closing his eyes tightly and gritting his teeth. The woman moved quickly and skillfully to put his leg back together. She had to reach into his leg and force the bone back into place, the pain was unbelievable. It felt like she was trying to rip him apart rather than put him back together.
The young commander heaved with pain and felt himself retch as his bones were pushed back into place. She then put pieces of wood on either side of his leg as a splint before stitching his leg closed. After what felt like an eternity of pain, she started to bandage his leg. He pushed himself up onto his elbows, slowly, and watched as she put white gauze on top of the stitched up skin. She grabbed a large piece of striped fabric and wrapped it around his leg and the wood. “We’re out of a lot of supplies. We’re using what we can.” She gave a half-hearted little shrug, “You should feel honored,” she said with a truly brilliant smile.
“Why?” Canto asked watching her carefully and tightly tie knots in the fabric.
“This old rag is our colors, our sign of freedom,” she said and carefully finished tying the bandage, then moved to wash her hands.
“If it is that special, should you use something else?” Canto asked looking at the red and white stripes.
“It was that or my coat. And it gets too cold for me to use my coat. Besides, you’re helping us fight for our freedom,” she said coming over and offering him a cup of water. “Why not let you wear our colors?”
Canto slowly moved to sit up straighter taking the cup from her hands, and carefully sipped the water. “Thank you. I am honored. I shall wear it with pride.”
The woman laughed, it was a wonderful sound. “I like you. What’s your name?” she asked taking the cup from his now shaking hands.
“I am Commander Canto. You are?”
“Sara, no title.” She put the cup down and grabbed a pack so that he could lay his head on it.
“Thank you,” Canto said his tiredness now evident in his voice. “What happened? I mean after I crashed.” He was not yet ready to let his body sleep.
“Well, we saw you get hit and we just grabbed some gear and took off. We found your ship and the Vennary were already there. We exchanged fire and two of our men fell, but five of theirs fell as well. The others ran for their ships. We got in and found you and we brought you back to our camp. Your people know you’re with us, and that you’re safe. We sent word from your ship and took a few much needed supplies,” she said gently stroking Canto’s dark purple locks off his forehead. He was running a fever now.
“I’m sorry about your men,” Canto said gently.
“We’re fighting for our freedom, and some of us will die to ensure that others will have their freedom. But what I don’t understand… what are you fighting for?” she asked, her forehead wrinkled in thought.
Canto blinked at her. “Is it so strange that we would want Humans to win this war?” He glanced at the bandage again. “Tell me… Where did you get that?”
Sara looked at the stripes wrapped tightly around Canto’s leg. “I got it from our old medic who died in a raid two weeks back. Where he got it, I don’t know. It’s old though, and has become Earth’s sign of hope.” She took a deep breath and smiled. “It’s from back before the war. Two hundred years ago, that was the sign of a country, the biggest, greatest, country of the world. And when the war hit they were the ones looking for survivors in places where no one wanted to go. It was called America. The Americans were the ones who stood against the Vennary. They were also the ones who sent a message out, the same message your people heard. Your people came, found out what happened then allied with the Americans. And the war has continued. But as I hear it, we’re winning.” She smiled lightly. “Our colors will soon fly again.”
Canto smiled too, it was strange to hear the story of the war from her point of view. “You know, you are only the second Human I have met.” He laughed gently. “And the other was not half as impressive as you.”
Sara laughed as well. “Thank you.”
Three days passed and no sign of the Vennary. Canto’s leg was healing nicely. He got to know all twenty-two of the Human soldiers by name. He quickly became fond of the Humans and their never-ending sense of loyalty to their cause. They’d been fighting for generations to regain the freedom they’d once known. It was incredible to see the sheer willpower of these beings.
“So wait, let me get this straight,” Sara said shaking her head hard, as if that would clear her mind to help her understand what Canto had been telling her. “Your people regard soldiers like royalty? You’re like, a duke of something or other?” she asked trying to fight off a smirk. She wasn’t trying to laugh at him.
“To a degree,” Canto said smiling lightly up at her. “I am the Commander of the Waytona and as such, I am the leader and lord over my starfighter.”
Sara laughed, it was such a wondrous sound and a great contrast to the gloomy atmosphere. “Here we’re viewed as troublemakers and told to just fall in line.” Sara gave a little shrug.
“But you won’t,” Canto said with admiration in his voice.
On the fourth day in the Human camp there was trouble. Canto still couldn’t move and he didn’t see anyone but he could hear shouting and gunfire. He didn’t have the strength to get onto his feet and it was killing him to once again hear the Humans fighting to protect him. Suddenly, Sara ran into the room and pushed something into his hand. Red blood dripped from her forehead. “It’s a beacon. Your people will be here soon. We’ll hold off the Vennary for as long as we can!” Then she turned back toward the mouth of the cave. Canto tried to hold her hand so she wouldn’t leave. She gave him her beautiful and brilliant smile before she pulled her hand free of his grip. “Don’t worry,” she said softly. “Old Glory will keep you safe.” She gave a small wave at the red and white stripes still tightly wrapped around his leg before she disappeared into the noise and chaos of the battle at the front of the cave.
After a lifetime of being stuck, feeling useless, there was an explosion. Canto saw his people running into the cave. They grabbed his arms and pulled him up onto a stretcher. They were moving him under gunfire. He saw several bodies as they moved through the cave. Human and Vennary blood covered the cave walls.
Once in the hovercraft Canto looked for Sara or one of the others. When they began to take off, he screamed and fought demanding that they go back.
Canto sat staring at the beautiful flag that lay on his bed. The Stars and Stripes was such a wondrous sight to behold. “I want this symbol put on our uniforms.” He smiled lightly. “This symbol of liberty, hope and freedom. Our people would be honored to wear the colors of Earth.”