To reign among the pale

Title: To Reign Among the Pale
Author: Flaim
Pairing: Riddick/ Vaako (well in chapters to come, this is just the beginning)
Rating: NC 17
Slash
Warnings: Angst, violence
Status: unfinished
Beta: Many, many thanks to Lady Vaako, for taking this much work all on herself.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Riddick and Vaako, nor do I make profit with this story.

Chapter 2 – Walking the ashes


The wind tasted of death; a definite odour of molten ore, ash and blood hung in the air, swept across the ravine and settled everywhere around. Far off in the eastern skies hung a small yellow ball that passed for sun here. The entire landscape consisted of dark rocks that were only visible as shades of black, violet and grey. The only thing glorious down here was the night sky where thousands of stars were glittering above like jewels on a velvet blanket. And it was nearly always night down here.

Vaako shivered as he slowly made his way down the ravine. Pausing behind a huge rock with sharp angles, he gestured his troop to follow up before again concentrating on the task ahead. It was only three days after fighting the Grazo’Rahn and Vaako still felt the injuries he had received back then. Nevertheless the crusade continued if only on Minerva’s minor planets, which had been left out when the main worlds fell. Like this small planet on the outskirts of the system, twelfth planet to Minerva. Again he peered ahead, down the ravine. It was silent, nothing was moving ahead, and that was what made Vaako so nervous. It was too silent.

Seeing his troop in position Vaako moved out again, gliding along the ravine like a ghost. Somehow he also felt like one. A wraith of the past, coming back to haunt the living. A new gust of wind swept across the ravine, whirling up ashes and dust. The wind sang in Vaako’s ears, stirring old painful memories, pictures of a day when the sky had rained fire… Roughly he silenced the voice in his head. He was a Necromonger who knew no pain, no past and no purgatory. “Are you alright?“ a deep voice shook him from his thoughts.

Vaako came very near to jump at this voice. Ravyn stood right behind him. The tall Necromonger warrior had a rather murderous streak at times and a gross disregard for authorities but he was one of the few among Vaako’s bunch of misfits whom Vaako trusted a little and who seemed to care for his commander sometimes. “I am alright. It’s just too silent.“ Vaako replied. “Be extremely cautious. The natives of this world are a hardy race.”

Ravyn nodded silently. He did not ask how Vaako came to know something the Lord Marshall himself did not know, the high commanders thought of the natives as an easy prey. For Ravyn it was enough that Vaako’s opinion did not concur with those of the higher up in the command chain for he always liked insubordination. Moving on, he covered Vaako’s back, while they made it down towards the ruins that were situated at the end of the dark ravine.

“Damn it, what’s this for one hell of a place?“ the curse echoed hollow along the rocky ledges high above them.

Vaako understood what the troop felt. The scorched ruins, remnant of a settlement destroyed decades ago harbouring now some underground shelters, were likely to give anyone the creeps.

“Search every shelter, but be cautious there might be traps.“ he ordered, pointing the teams out that were to take on this task.


***

One team after the other reported the shelters empty. The people obviously had left in a hurry, but everything was still well organised.

“They saw the comet.“ Vaako explained half to himself, half to his troop. “And knowing a comet for a sign of doom, they acted on it.”

“Yep, they did.“ Braldrien, the troops ‘communications expert’, interrupted them. “Lord Marshal’s special troops, led by Scales ran into some kind of trap, in that great ruin south. No word of the Lord Marshal himself, but ol’ bastard Scales bit the ashes.” Chuckling and grinning all around, Ravyn clapped Vaako’s shoulder. “Perhaps that’s the end of the Furyan too,“ he said. “Greener pastures for you in sight.”

He had meant it as a friendly gesture and Vaako knew this. Nevertheless he shook the hand off and cast a stern glance at the warrior. “A Lord Marshal does not fall easily. The communication is garbled, if anything.“ His voice sounded more convinced than Vaako actually was. Deep down in his heart, Vaako feared that Riddick had fallen into a trap. He knew that ruined city to the south; he had even vague memories of a time when it had been a bright place of light, before the fire fell from the skies.

Ravyn was not too taken aback by the harsher words. He gestured the men to return to their tasks, but he himself remained standing before Vaako. “The communications did not sound good, and somehow you know it can’t be good.“ he observed. “There is no need to play the faithful little Necro in front of the men. It’s a waste of time.”

Vaako suppressed a sigh. “What exactly do we know?“ he inquired. Ravyn handed him the com-device. Frowning, Vaako read the scarce lines that had made it out. They spoke of shadows moving in the darkness, of winged creatures and fiery traps. The last two mentioned a voice that had called out from one of the ruins. ‘A true son of Kal’tar can kill one hundred of you.’

“It’s a trap.“ Vaako observed. “They’ll try to take the leader alive, to lure him down into the caverns, and hunt him down there…“ He saw Ravyn’s expression and interrupted his words. He saw the man's wide grin. “Don’t you tell me I should be glad.”

Ravyn shook his head. “Why do you care?”

Vaako did not answer directly. “You take over here,“ he said. “Secure this place, have the men climb the ravine and placing heavy artillery up there. Then call in the ships. We’ll need this as a spearhead in case the other landing points don’t hold out. Then get in touch with the other troops and find out their status without giving ours away. Got it?”

Ravyn now arched an eyebrow. “It’s a sound plan, more sound than I might even know. But what about you?”

Vaako started sliding off some parts of the armour, which were more of a hindrance here. “I’ll take a look at the situation at Morningdale, the city to the south that is.” He said it as casually as possible.

“Why are you doing this?” Ravyn’s voice betrayed astonishment. “Why do you care what happens to the Furyan? You could let him die, yet you hope that he is not dead right now.”

‘I can’t let him die.’ Vaako thought. ‘As I could not kill him on Crematoria. My failure as a Necromonger was far greater than just failing to kill Riddick. I knew he was alive, when I ordered the retreat from that place.’ Aloud he said: “A Lord Marshal never gets caught by the enemy, Ravyn. And sometimes his troops have to make this miracle come to pass. Will you take care of everything here, for me?”

Ravyn’s eyes seemed to pierce Vaako. “I think I understand.”, he eventually said. “I’ll take care of the troops. Good luck to you.”

Vaako was not cautious when he made his way south. He had given up sneaking along the shadows. Instead he raced across the desolate land, feet pounding the ground while he sped on. The ground was rough, sharp angled rocks and boulders often blocking his path, small rifts dividing the ground. Vaako took the shortest way, jumping across rifts and gracefully slipping through narrow openings between boulders. The ruined city had first been just a shadow among other shadows on the horizon. Right now the shades of the ruins were as tall as the rocks beside him. He had nearly reached his destination.

***

Riddick was having his fun. He had never anticipated Scales to be such a bumbling oaf, running into a trap like that, but right now and on his own the Lord Marshal came to enjoy the chase through the underground caverns of the city. The beasts down here were just magnificent. He had already gotten to like them. And the fighters, well those were trouble. The warriors of this place knew their trade and were intelligent. ‘Those we can take alive, will make fine replacements for Scales troops.’, Riddick was thinking as he dodged another razor sharp blade thrown at him. Hiding behind a fallen pillar, Riddick began to appreciate this place. It was an enormous underground city fallen to decay, now filled with deadly traps.

A chain hanging down to some lower level provided a way out of the tight situation he was in. Without much hesitation, Riddick made his way down. The darkness around him suited him perfectly. ‘Just like the ol’ days.’ He thought as he raced along a fallen hall and towards a staircase leading somewhere up again. The guards up there were looking into the wrong direction. Before they ever realised what happened they were dead. Riddick grinned. These two had fucked it up. Looking up, he saw another chain hanging in the darkness. ‘So that’s how you bastards move from level to level, that’s why most of the stairs are trapped.’, he thought, jumping for the rusty chain, starting to climb it up again.

The reception on a half crumbling ledge farther up was less then friendly. Half a dozen of those strange warriors were there. Riddick did not mind another rough fight, but their fast moves forced him to give everything he had. ‘You move like a dozen Vaakos, perhaps I should take one of your kind for his next fight.’ He mused, as he threw the last of them down into the abyss where he had just emerged. Sheathing his knives again, he peered up into the darkness. ‘Where is this fuckin’ chain?”

Somewhere up there was a lot of noise, too much noise for Riddick’s tastes. But he understood what this noise meant: there was another fight going on. A smirk lit his eyes, as he discovered the chain, this time hanging somewhere at jumping distance. “Having an army that’s loyal until death has its benefits now and then.”

Jumping towards the chain, he nearly missed it, catching the lowest link last moment. With a grunt he started climbing again, towards the noise and the flickering light up there. When he was near another crumbling ledge, one of the shadow warriors came towards him. No, he was flying by, falling into the deep screaming. Before the firelight of a single torch a rough fight went on along the ledge. Riddick hesitated for a moment. A single fighter kept a dozen or so of the cities defenders at bay. He fought like them, catlike, fast and agile. Cart wheeling backwards, he suddenly turned around, delivering a series of explosive kicks, that took two of them unawares. Riddick recognised him that moment. Those graceful movements belonged to Vaako who beautifully threw another enemy down the ledge. Riddick jumped in, gripping two others by the scuffs of their necks, throwing them down to join their comrades, racing on at once to take the next ones. Vaako moved sideways at once, to cover Riddick’s back.

“What the hell are YOU doing here?”, Riddick growled as the last enemy went down into the darkness. “New style, huh? Disobeying orders?”

Vaako had to catch his breath. “No. Just sliming my way to your good graces,” he replied ironically.

Riddick’s eyes narrowed to study the warrior more intently. Standing in a nearly complete darkness, he could make out Vaako’s features even as he tried to avoid looking at Riddick. The green eyes betrayed a strange mix of feelings. He had come down here alone to get Riddick out of trouble, before the other Necromongers could even realise there had been serious trouble, Riddick mused. Some well known old feelings welled up inside him; part of him was glad Vaako had come, had somehow even known he would, while the other part was angry.

“Nice try.”, Riddick replied. “Let’s get out of here, the fast way. Where’s the chain this time?”

They climbed silently up three more chains, fighting guards and warriors wherever they ran into them. Eventually they reached the last flight of stairs, through which Riddick and the troop had entered the caverns in the first place. “Nearly there.” Vaako’s voice betrayed a certain level of exhaustion.

“Yessss, you are there.” a voice replied.

Riddick’s eyes, penetrating the darkness, revealed to him, that they had been running into a trap. Hundreds of warriors were standing in the shadows. Vaako realised this was a trap as well, for he fell back into his fighting stance. Inwardly, Riddick shook his head. Vaako was brave, very brave he had to admit, but not cunning. Fighting to the death was hardly a good survival strategy, better to get caught and to escape afterwards. “What the hell took you so long to gather your troops?”, he bellowed into the darkness. “I have seen sluts working faster!”

There was no answer to his words, just a swift hissing in the air, before something sharp blanked him out.