Prisoners of Sol - Girret Storm Riders (6/11)

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As soon as I’d healed up from my nasty tumble into the collapsed building, our group was back out in the field; I only allowed myself two days of bedrest before signing onto some simple missions. Most Storm Rider work was as simple as ensuring that settlements had clean water and food, delivering medications and breathing masks, and fixing any defects in the communication grid. That last one was quite important, since civilians needed to be able to call for help even with the inclement weather conditions. Among the unglamorous tasks that did save lives, our duty was to herd the foolish and the adventurers back inside if they’d ignored the advisories.

There’s always someone who thinks it’s not so bad and is tired of being cooped up that takes away rescuer resources, to stop them from jeopardizing their own lives. Children, I can understand that they don’t know any better and want to play, and that they slip away from their parents’ gazes, but what are the adults thinking? 

Narol, Tunia, and I, mainly at my behest, had been relentless in traveling from town-to-town with deliveries. Tunia attended to a handful of medical emergencies, since that task was the furthest thing from harrowing she could undertake in the Storm Riders ranks. I slept as little as possible, trying to cover as much ground as possible but alternating who was slumbering and staying on the move. For every second we paused and rested, people were suffering. I was determined to circumnavigate the globe by the time this storm cycle was over, leaving no settlement unchecked.

When a serious call was reported in close proximity to our last grocery expedition, I had no hesitation to accept—alone, if need be. There were reports of a rapidly spreading fire in Ekpan, an arid and dry equatorial city that had tons of flammable material on the ground; nowhere on Doros was fertile, but there were plenty of plants and wood chippings from trees. Proper forested areas weren’t a common occurrence in our planet’s dominant temperature range. That left them susceptible to being consumed by a blaze, in these conditions.

“Thank you for having my back,” I told Narol, as he drove the sandglider with all of us suited up to be as fireproof as possible. I couldn’t help but notice that my partner looked disconcerted. “Our first training exercise was to prepare us for rescues in a fire. It’s a horrible way to die. Imagine if it was your nephew: you’d want someone to come.”

Narol’s uncurled arm bobbed the steering controls. “You have to promise you won’t do anything reckless this time. There’s enough danger, and we need to save as many people as possible. If they’re gone, it doesn’t do anything to get yourself killed! Remember, it’s a horrible way to die—and I don’t want my nephew told that’s what happened to me or to my buddies.”

“Of course not. You’re upholding that hero ideal to him, you know. It means a lot to children, and gives them something to aspire to. It makes their dream closer to being real.”

“Children grow out of their dreams, but yes, I preserve the illusion as long as possible! I’d like just to set a good example, even if it means I play up my reputation and we all reap the benefits. You’d do well to remember that your repute, your honor, can come from fabrications and overselling your deeds. I’d back whatever you claimed, no matter how fantastical.”

“I want it to be real and reported by all, Narol! You can’t fake that renown, you can’t lie to have eyewitnesses spread your grandeur. History will know who was here and videotapes will capture true rescues. I know you might not want to be in the thick of it, neither of you, but you don’t have to. Leave without me if you must, but I will be!”

“Redge, when we didn’t know if you were alive or dead…” Tunia began. “Your bravery isn’t in question. We need you too, alive. Think how long it takes to train a Storm Rider, and how few have the kind of mettle you do. You’re valuable and can save lots of lives, even if you take it down a notch.”

I flitted my tongue beneath my suit. “Thanks for the concern, Tunia. I promise, I’m not trying to die; I’m just not running away from proper risk. This is worth my life, whatever it takes. We don’t have much time here, so I agree that we should try to get as many people as possible. Have you checked the windspeed?”

“Still due north.”

“So much for hoping that would change. The dust storm conditions are fanning the flames and blowing them our way, erratic as can be. The blaze is being fed by the dry air, and the wind is pushing it forward at speeds of hundreds of miles per hour. People have maybe a few minutes, max, and nowhere to go! No hope of outrunning it. It’s encroaching on all sides of Ekpan too, blocking off escape by vehicles when you can already hardly see. We can’t fully trust our augmented reality: who knows what burned down or where fire might be lurking. Keep your eyes peeled.”

Narol pulled the layers of fire blankets tighter around us. “If Ekpan is almost surrounded, then we have to drive through the flames, probably. It’d take too long to go around. I can see the glow ahead of us…hold on.”

My Girret squadmate allowed the sandglider to lunge forward, as a roaring wall of flames became visible across the breadth of the road. We’d only been able to glimpse it through the dust storm and smoky air when we were a few inches from it. The entire region had the orange glow in the mist, so that hadn’t given us a clue where the inferno actually stopped and ending. There was no telling how far this patch of fire stretched backward, but it seemed to leap and dance high into the air; I could feel the warmth even through the protective gear, like it was sunlight toasting the exterior. 

Narol wasn’t deterred by the obstacle in our path, though Tunia didn’t seem to trust our gear to hold. The Storm Riders were well aware that fire was one of the largest and most devastating hazards in these conditions, but it seemed dubious how much protection we could really have. I was willing to test that, since the alternative was to leave people trapped inside the city. For a moment, the brightness consumed us, becoming all that we could see around us. That was before we burst through onto the road, on the other side as it snaked after our speeding sandglider. The flames on our hood sputtered and flickered out into embers, unable to ignite our vehicle.

“We can load maybe a dozen civilians into the back rescue rows, if they squeeze together!” I declared. “After that, we take them out and make another trip.”

“If we can,” Narol countered.

I stifled a hiss of displeasure, and instead rattled my tail in agreement. “Of course. We do as much as we can, and nothing more. We’re in this together.”

My partner seemed unconvinced by my reply, but we were far too deep into Ekpan’s chaos to turn back now. I focused on finding civilians to evacuate, and had every intention of doing whatever was necessary to save anyone who needed our assistance.

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A/N - 6! Redge and his team head into an arid city that had the perfect conditions for an inferno to rapidly spread, and forces them to hurry people out through the walls of flames. Narol begs Redge to be more cautious, to which our narrator offers lip service. Do you expect Redge to overdo the heroics, and do you agree with his squadmates? Will they be able to save people amid the fire and the flames?

As always, thank you for reading and supporting!