By Zachary Furr

Dante and Rudy

Fifty soldiers rode upon gallant, white horses. Commander Grayson led his men, for he sat at the front of the column. He was a man proud and steadfast, he was without fear and regret. Ever had his family been at the forefront of military excellence, his own father was a general in a far off war. Grayson, though, was kept behind to maintain order in the countryside.

The winter’s snow was pure in the fields. The horses strode upon the well known roads. For the company was seeking a man that had been willingly breaking the law, and stealing from merchants that traveled on the road. The animals that ran wild were those of minor reports. Their prints were light and hard to see. 

Grayson was not seeking a deer or boar to feast on. Grayson was searching for a criminal, one that had made it his goal to humiliate the soldiers of Gogalthe. The thief was Dante, 

They were on horse because the lands in these parts had frequent electromagnetic pulses overhead due to the flying cities that passed by overhead. Their engines were charged with nuclear fission. They were dangerous to shoot down, and expensive to upgrade. Gogalthe was the city above and it had recently lost something very precious to their reactor modifications. 

Grayson had to make sure to capture the thief in record time so that his city, his way of life, would not rejoin the surface from whence it came.  He hated crawling around on the ground, but it had to make it back to the city.

    Dante ran through holes and around trees. He had fallen quite a ways. His original plan was to jump back on his hoverbike and get back down to the surface that way, but whatever it was that he took got the whole of security riled up. His bike was shot to pieces and he found himself with no parachute. Rudy was sure that Dante could survive the fall. Rudy was the foot and half tall spider-like robot that could attach itself to Dante’s backpack. Rudy had an over abundance of confidence in whatever calculation it prepared. It was a bit annoying like that. 

Rudy was especially annoying due to his voice, a high pitched, over enthusiastic voice. Dante had tried changing it once, but somehow the deeper voice broke and the high pitched remained. He would have chosen not to have the little robot if he could, but it’s hacking skills were next to perfect. He also had a small pinpoint laser that could be activated for cutting through metal. It’s advantages outweighed its personality defects.  A good little robot to have.

“Hey boss, go right, there is an old drainage ditch that can lead us back underground.”

“Thanks, Rudy.”

“No problem, boss. You’re the greatest after all.”

Dante could hear the horses nearby. The soldiers were yelling and shouting, directing each other to cover more territory as they were coming down. Their horses were whining and stomping. The trees and the incline made it difficult to traverse on horseback.

Dante made his way, quickly and quietly, through the trees and toward the drain. He knew that if he could underground, that traps and tunnels could be found to help him allude to his pursuers. He slipped down out of the tree nearest to the drain. With a quick leap he made it to the drain tunnel. He covered his nose to mask the smell.

Grayson saw the drain pipe and peeled off with three of his men. They dismounted and moved into the pipe on foot. The rumbles of the men as they dredge through the stagnant water of a prior day’s rain. The base land, unlike the flying cities, had been abandoned and left to the elements and outlaws. Though he thought that the odds of finding the thief were getting lower all the time, he must explore all avenues of the supposed escape.

Dante made his way through the sewer. Light trickled through the rotten holes of the metal pipe. Long had the sewers been forgotten and neglected. There was no stench of passing, unless one was to delve further and deeper than one intended to go. He knew his way well. He had picked and scouted his way through the tunnels many times. He had lived down here for a time in his youth. 

Dante stopped for a moment. He thought that he had heard some footsteps behind him.

“Boss, I think that someone is following us.” Rudy said excitedly but quietly, like his volume was just turned down.

“I think that you are right. Keep your eye open and watch my back.”

“You got it!” His volume went up a little bit above a whisper but with no less excitement.

The pair continued their crawl through the abandoned tunnels. Dante pulled aside into a small collapsed passage hoping to grab a glance at the following presence. The shaft was dark and collapsed save for a single beam of light that made a dark corner hard to see. It was in the dark corner that Dante hid himself and threw his cloak over covering most of himself in shade.

Grayson’s clean uniform was now stained with filth and he dared not want to know what was in the dirt. He slowed his pace. Following his gut he slowed for he felt eyes tracing his movements. He turned back and he thought he could faintly see pale eyes staring directly into his.

The fight was on.

Grayson had his rapier out and Dante had his small dagger. The two fighters stood on seemingly equal footing. Grayson moved first, fast and as swift as lightning. He tried to strike fast and end the battle decisively by piercing Dante’s heart. Dante stepped and parried to the side and closed the distance even more. He needed to be inside Grayson’s reach to pierce his flesh. The two were masters of their weapons, they countered and parried each other. Neither landing a blow, and neither losing energy in the confined space. It was a stalemate.

Somewhere in the scuffle, Rudy got thrown off of Dante’s belt. He took a minute to get his bearings. The little robot then climbed onto Grayson’s pants and placed his laser toward the buttocks of the pants. Dante had noticed the little robot get into position and in a motion quick and strong, he kicked Grayson in the gut and into the sunlight of one of the many holes of the sewer way.

With his high-pitched and excitable voice, Rudy said, “Sweet Photons!” He fired his laser and burnt the pants of Grayson. Grayson yelled out in pain as he went looking for a puddle to place his on fire hindquarters.

Dante whistled to Rudy and the little robot clung to Dante’s belt just as the rest of the soldiers caught up to their commander. Dante fled fast and hard and found his way out of the tunnels and back into the forest above.