S2, Chapter 8 In fact its cold as hell

Mars. Twilight. Abandoned ruins of a defunct royal Chateau. 

They had hidden out in the ruins of a once grand chateau for royal retreats. But according to Ziggy, her host, there had been no visits in over one hundred and thirty years. They hid among the ruins comfortably and he seemed to have been there for some time. She set up her own sleeping quarters and had no other choice but to trust the man who had saved her at the last moment. Yet what he had to say astounded her and was so obviously truth she could not deny it.

Once inside the chateau and once he was satisfied that it was secure he spoke to her and she had no choice but to believe. They faced each other over a fire pit.

“My name is Ziggy and I have been waiting for you for over a century.”

She stared at him with wary eyes. “You. . .know me?”

“I know you very well child,” he smiled and before she could react he embraced her. “I was there the day you left here.”

“I am Martian?” She pushed away from him after accepting his embrace for a few moments.

He shook his head and began gathering wood for a fire together. “You were born on a planet that went nova eons ago. Do you remember anything of this?”

She shook her head. “Am I supposed to?”

He sighed and blew the fire into life. Once that was done he went about setting up for making food. He did not stop once to look at her. “Its no wonder you do not. You received no proper education on your blood. Every time a Rider was awakened they were educated on their past and the present they had come into.”

“Have I. . been awakened before?” She whispered as if afraid to believe it.

“Oh many times,” he grinned. “ King Lazuras gave you his blood in the attempt to bring you out of hibernation. But he lost his war before you could help it.”

“Then the King? Is he. . . . Is he my father?”

“Your father?” He asked.

“If he gave me his blood to bring me to life, I call him my father.”

He was silent as he brought out hidden shanks of meat and set them over the flames. His two toned eyes were thoughtful.

“Yes, he was your father of this life. He and his Queen gave their blood to you.”

“I have a mother?” She was excited at the thought.

He shook his head. “She died long ago, like the ones who birthed you.”

“And the King? Where is he?”

“Dead as well.”

She sank to her heels and sat on them. “I came here looking for them. . They. . .one of them called to me.”

He looked to her then, his two tone eyes bore into her from across the fire.

“They are gone but I was there when you opened your eyes. Do you not remember me at all?”

She shook her head, her eyes misted with tears.

He tilted his head. “I remember you. Your eyes were blue and your hair was white. Earth changed you.”

“Fire changed me,” she whispered and wiped tears away from her cheeks. “I awoke in fire on earth.”

“Time may have passed but I know your face. I could never forget.”

“What happened? Why was I sent away?”

“We had lost the war,” he sighed. “The Queen was dead, the King and I came here. His laboratory was here where he hid you. An awakening can last for months. The Barons had overrun the capitol so we fled here and sent you off in a rocket that the King had preserved.”

“Preserved?”

“Long ago other Starriders forbid Martian travel to Earth, they burned blueprints, destroyed every craft and murdered all technicians with space travel knowledge. Their knowledge purge sparked the Martian Civil Wars.”

“Did not the King start them?”

“Oh good heavens no,” he shook his head and poked at the seared meat. “No The last king inherited these wars from other Kings and Queens before him. They believed he would settle them and so they went into hibernation soon after his awakening. They were all destroyed by the Spyders. Cast out of the saftey of the ice while they slept and the sands stunk of rotting bodies for years. But he saved the very last Starrider besides himself.”

She stared at him with a face in awe. “I am the last?”

“Well besides me.” He grinned and laughed. It was an airy sound that she enjoyed listening to. “I am a lesser Starrider you see. Stewards of sorts.”

“What did you do afterwards?”'

“I ran and became someone else. It was the only way.”

She nodded, “I can understand.”

They ate that night together and she relayed to him her plight on earth. How she had enlisted the Kilmister to bring her back over five years before hand. Ziggy laughed at how he turned his mission to capture her into a mission to assist her, but did not elaborate. She felt like she was living a dream.

Even as they spent the weeks together and she learned of Martian Civil wars and the tyranny of the Barons, she felt that he only told her parts of whole stories and histories. As if there were things he hid from her still, she felt he knew more about Kilmister than he let on.

“So the Barons were the lead Spyders who overthrew the Starriders?” She asked.

He nodded. "Long ago, very long ago, humans from earth lived here first. They made it livable and one day they found the Starriders drifting through space on an ice asteroid. The humans brought the Riders to Mars and eventually some interbred, creating what are now called Spyders. But the Starriders became their overlords, that's what they have always done you see, rule planets.”

“What was wrong with them?”

“They found the secret to immortality in the stars. Instant freeze in ice caps on planets much like Mars and Earth. Only so many Kings and Queens ruled for only a few decades at a time. They would awaken the next one and then go to sleep for however long it took to get back round to them in the line of secession.”

“Were they not just?”

“It was not that they were not just, they were a greatly diverse group of aliens. But not everyone of the mortal Spyders liked this cycle of immortal rulers.”

Star shifted in place, it was as she did on Earth. Keep herself immortal, but she did it to protect the people against the BOC. Besides, she had shared her immortality with victors of tournaments. She was satisfied with her peace of mind, but in awe of just how alike she was to the others who had perished.

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As time went on she asked many question and received partial answers. She could not, however, bring herself to ask him why Zardos was so happy about being on Mars. She didn't want him to think her insane but during her stay Zardos posted by any window and stared out over the sea of sand surrounding them. She stared at the city and was silent. She hardly paid attention to Star and it made the woman nervous. She came and went as she always did but with increasing absences.

After a day or two he returned from the city with a jar of red, clay like substance.

 “A ruckus has been raised about the sighting of a woman with gold hair. Gold and white hair,” Ziggy had explained, “were tell tale signs the Barons told people to watch for on her bounty. We must dye yours.”

She stroked her lush golden hair. She treasured it, prized it. The thought of dying it never occurred to her. But she remembered her first days when she wandered about the city and saw that all hair was dyed various shades of silvers, reds, or black. If she wanted to stay she had to, she nodded and sat down at his feet.

He revealed more of her past. “You had white hair when you left, but the Barons countered this should you ever return. Everyone was forced to register their names into city logs and dye their hair various colors that the Barons chose, their colors.”

She listened more than she spoke, taking it all in as best she could. However, as he dyed her hair she had to ask one question that had been killing her since the day she arrived.

"What do you know of the two princesses in the Silver Spires?"

His movements through her hair stopped. "The princesses of Earth."

She did not face him but her eyes welled with tears. "Are they well? Are they cared for?"

"They are. As best to anyone's knowledge."

"How far is their prison from here?"

"Too far to go on foot. We would need horses and I cannot obtain them without being chased as a thief."

She fell silent. They were on this planet, as she always imagined, and she could not save them. Feeling worse than helpless, a feeling that had no name, she did not ask about them further. Only to know that they were alive was good enough for her. 

                                                                           **

Ziggy had made trips back into the city, Star had gone with him but was wary of journeying to the center of the maze. The guards were actively looking for her and she was the highest bounty paid fugitive on all of the planet. She had never known this and so had never suspected what she was going to jump into. But she went as far as she dared with Ziggy and he showed her what he safely could.

When Star herself knew that she had outstayed her welcome. Ziggy reminded her that Mars time was longer than Earth. By the best of their combined understanding, she came to the shocking surprise that she had been gone well over three solid months from the Throne on Earth. While only being in Mars for weeks. 

They made plans to set off back to the location of the Rainbow bridge where they would jump back into it and shut it off from her side. They would go through a narrow gorge to skirt around the city to avoid any tolls or checkpoints. It was too dangerous to go through the dunes, people got lost all the time he said.

So they would go beneath the city and run from there. She didn't know what she had expected, but this was too much for her to take on alone. She would need to take her knowledge back to Earth and try to figure out how to approach it. Returning to Mars was a dangerous subject, while returning to Earth knowing what she did now was even more so. She huffed against the cold encroaching winds that blew into the ruined abode she hid in.

Maybe it was indeed for the best that she return to a place where she, at least, had some political standing. It unnerved her to think that if she was caught here she would undoubtedly be put to the sword. But on Earth it could get just as bad. As she gazed at the dunes, her hair a dark dyed shade of red now, she took in the last sights before she was to go home.

“Are you ready?” He asked behind her.

She nodded and they started into the twilight. Through the darkness of the desert they silently made way to the gorge. Star didn't know where to go, but Ziggy did. He took her by the city but they avoided the sights of the guard towers. Into the gorge they went and all was silent in the night, she actually believed they would make it. It was a crawl as they heard talking and saw guards above them. Ziggy felt his heart drop, he hadn't expected this. They never came this way so far from the city at night.

He led her along, he had to get her out of here. But to his dismay he heard footsteps behind them. He turned and saw a Spyder Soldier.

The Spyder struck a torch. “I knew it was you. No one else would be on her trail as closely as a Spyder.”

“Run Star,” Ziggy told her while withdrawing a large scimitar. “Run through the city, lose them there.”

“I will not leave without you,” she said firmly.

The guard then threw the torch overhead and when it landed it lit the gorge walls on fire. They had been oiled. It was not a fire meant to kill them but to alert others. He grinned.

“Go now!” He shoved her to go around the Spyder.

As she looked at him, really looked at him, it suddenly struck her. Right in the head. He was the one she had seen. He was the Martian of her visions, sitting in the red dunes holding out his hands. But he shoved her away just as she understood and had no choice but to make sure his efforts were not in vain.

The Spyder let her past. “You won't last long,” he said to her.

She dashed away to find a path to the city. Ziggy faced the Spyder and they dove into a well trained flurry of sword fighting. Their fight went on, clashing swords and flying sparks. When they stopped both were panting for breath and the Spyder was surprised. With the walls of the canyon on fire they were melting in their leather armor.

“You are still well honed for being such an old man,” the guard jibbed. “Your fugitive friend won't hide for long in there.”

“You have no idea what she is capable of.” He glared at the other man. “How did you know we would come this way?”

“A hunch. I saw you two escape the city so I followed you.”

“You've been watching the chateau?”

“Aye, for some weeks. Nearly lost your trail honestly.” He chuckled. “But I found you on one of your little trips to the city.”

“You let us sit for weeks. Why not make a grab for us when you could?”

They flung themselves into parries and blows once more. Sparks upon sparks rained at their feet. The fire was starting to create its own draft and it sucked through the gorge, making the men sway. They stopped again, panting for breath.

“I knew you would dash for it out in the open. You never came into the city, even then I'd lose you. I figured you two were smart. You could see me coming miles away during the day, you would have even been able to slip away if I came with an army. But here at night is where I waited.” He laughed at his own cleverness. “I knew, I just knew you two would sneak around, whatever you're after.”

“Laugh while you can,” Ziggy said. “It will be your last.”

As if he had merely been playing with the Spyder, he danced forward and cut his leg out from under him. The scimitar then found its way cleaving into his chest. He was stunned and choked on his own blood, Ziggy faced the oncoming set of soldiers who were coming to back up their partner. But they would arrive too late for their comrade and just in time to battle the man of the sands.

                                                                           **

Tears streamed from her eyes as she dashed through the fire lit streets of the city. She had found him! She had spent days and nights with him! And he had slipped through her fingers! She now had to run back to the portal and go home, alone. It was too dangerous here and she knew that now. They could stay no longer and she had to leave him behind!

Somehow, someone along the way had gotten clever and had ruined everything! She had no idea if anyone followed her but her progression through edge of the city slowed as the crowds thickened. Men and women in red and silver capes rallied through the streets and under bridges and through tunnels. They chanted about growing their hair free, they chanted about being free to believe to learn their history. Their torches cast the city in orange light and they moved forward.

As she stood on the edge of a fountain a set of three soldiers entered the square. She saw them and one saw her and they knew. He pointed to her and the other two looked at her as well. They began pushing and shoving through the crowds with hard aggression and some of the protesters shouted their upset.

Star fell into their ranks and crossed the square. She got to another large, square fountain and jumped up by a light post. Light reflected off the water and she stared about at the surrounding crowds. So many people! This would not end well, Star knew it, she had seen it before.

Suddenly she heard breaking doors and windows in some unseen alleys, ahead of the crowd a building was lit on fire. As the building roared into flame, she took the moment as the crowd began running forward in a heavy surge, to flee. Any guards after her were occupied now.

Into the darkness she melted and not a soul came to stop her. She looked back as she left the city and crested the first dune. Behind her was a large plume of fire in the outskirts of the city. Not one, but two of them burning tall and bright.

She turned away, leaving a world on fire as she had on earth and ran through the night time desert of Mars. The dark sky had just begun to turn the slightest lighter shade of night time blue to signal that dawn was hours away but coming. She came upon the black shapes of the ruins in which one could feel and hear the hum of the rainbow bridge. She had no fire or light to see by but could make out their shapes.

Once inside she knew to walk straight forward. Even in the dark she followed the hum of the Bridge as she got closer and felt the false wall that hid the portal. Once between the false walls she saw a faint blue glow and followed it.

Her lips were dry and her lungs bursting. Her throat parched and her water long since gone in the sandy dunes she came from. She beheld the blue flow of the bridge as it sensed her near and prepared itself for her. Praying to any gods she knew that no one followed her she went to jump into the fire-

A hand grabbed her! He pulled her back around the false wall and in the glow of the portal he knocked her hood back. She saw his face, angry and young.

His eyes! They were silver like Kilmisters! Swirling like mercury. 

She couldn't tell his hair color in the light. He stared into her face, taking in her details and pulled on her to leave the ruins but she punched him in the head and he yowled loudly. He turned and smacked her across the face in return.

 She had a dagger that bit him in the dark and drew blood on his forearm. He grabbed her wrist, slammed it against the wall and she dropped the dagger. But she was quick to retrieve it with her free hand and stabbed him in the hand in turn. He yanked it back, screaming. The dagger flew into the darkness behind him during their scuffle. She turned away but as she did he grabbed a handful of her flying hair!

He twisted a good grip on it and pulled so hard that strands were coming off in his grip. Her hair was strong in the rope he held and without the dagger to cut it she had no choice but to pull away from him. The clump came away in his grip, blood came from her skalp. She screamed and kicked him with her boot before rolling away and flinging herself into the portal and whirring off to earth.

There was no way He, Garot, was going to leave Mars and go into the portal everyone thought was defunct. It was against the law to even come to this place. He may not know her name, but he had her hair, he stumbled out of the ruins with something to show the Barons. Klyde had been killed in battle and he had run after her into the dunes, to this horrid place of legend.

He had seen her face and if she was who he thought she was, he was shocked that he had seen her alive. He looked at the hair as the sun began to rise and saw dye coming off on his sweaty palm.

                                                                     **

When she came out, Kilmister was more than surprised. Star fell out of the portal and into the cold room below him. He sat in a hanging swing seat above. She fell and sprawled out on the floor, her head was dripping a solid line of blood and she got on her hands and knees, gasping violently for air.

He watched her adjust to earthen atmosphere and when she could breath she looked around for him.

“Water!” She shouted. “Water please!”

He lowered the swing and rushed a flask to her lips. He knelt beside her and was able to see that her bleeding spot was a missing clump of hair. Someone had attacked her and she got away. He went to the main power lever and hauled it down. The whirring of the Bridge ceased and the earth was eerily still.

Kilmister went back to her side. “Breath, breath heavy. I remember what it was like, adjusting to earthen air.”

She gasped for a few moments until her shoulders shook and her gave out low raspy bellows. A laugh.

“Martian air is....is kinder to....adjust.” She coughed and drank more water.

Kilmister smiled. “You'll have to tell me what it's like.”

She looked up at him with a sharp twist of her head and reached into her pocket. She produced a silver coin and gave it to him. His smile died and his silver eyes widened.

“You know them?” She rasped.

They met eyes and he nodded. "They sent me to kill you."

She felt a dizzy spell come over her head and fell to the floor before they could speak of it further. . . .