~ by Laura Cynthia Chambers
Todar crested the rise just in time to see a flash of bright orange disappear behind a large boulder. He bent over and stopped to catch his breath, hands on his knees.
“You are a fool if you think you can escape me here, Albix!” he cried furiously as he straightened up again, dagger raised in the air like a hammer. “I know the orchard well,” he laughed. “Have I not tended it since you left? Have I not always been faithful to our father? But you…” He spat the word out as if it were poison. “You abandoned him. Forced him to sell half our land. All so you could waste it on your own selfish desires.” He sneered. “If only those pathetic officers had finished you off like they were supposed to. Now I’ll have to get my own hands bloody instead.”
“Aren’t they stained enough already?”
Todar whipped his head around, dropping the dagger in the dirt. Kirk stood behind him, scowling intently, his phaser pointed at the Agapean. “Captain. What impeccable timing,” he snarled.
“You should have kept your big mouth shut, Todar. Until now, I didn’t have any proof.” He stepped forward, jaw tightly clenched, but Todar didn’t move. “You gave a noxious substance to my crewmen. You manipulated their minds, convinced them to shed innocent blood by presenting it as a threat!” He continued moving forward until the end of the phaser was only an inch away from Todar’s chest. “I take that very seriously.”
Blood and rage filled Todar’s face. “He is not innocent, Kirk. He is many things but never that!” He took a step back, staggering.
“I don’t get it. I had a brother, once. His name was George Samuel; I just called him Sam. You know how boys are; we fought, we made up, we fought some more; even threatened to kill each other now and then. But those were just words; I never meant it and neither did he. We were family. Flesh and blood, and something far beyond that.” Kirk swallowed hard, his jaw tight. “What did he ever do to you?”
Todar clenched his fists at his side. “He stole much from me. The life of our mother. The heart of our father.” He waved his arm, indicating the fields around them. “Our family’s legacy. Gone.”
Kirk’s grip on the phaser tightened. “I can’t begin to imagine having that kind of hatred inside, rotting my soul. Many a man has starved himself feeding on the bitterness of years, the blood of others.”
“Perhaps he finds nothing else that pleases his palate.” Todar growled. “Let me sup, Captain.” He tried to reach for the dagger, which lay on the ground near Kirk.
Kirk shifted to the side to block him, shoving the phaser into Todar’s ribs. “No. You’re not going anywhere until you answer my questions.” He inched forward. “You could have simply convinced my crewmen to kill Albix, as he was. Why did you make them hallucinate? See danger that wasn’t there? Serpents. Monsters. Tyrants….”
“BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT I SEE!!!!” Todar roared, shoving Kirk to the ground, sending his phaser flying in the other direction. Kirk landed on his back, dazed. He reached for his communicator, but Todar kicked it away from him. As he sat up and struggled to stand, Todar towered over him, a malicious smile curving his lips, the dagger pointed downwards. “And the last thing you ever will.”
Kirk lay in the dirt, the shadow of the pruning dagger falling on his face. Todar’s eyes glowed with anger as he slowly brought the weapon down towards Kirk’s chest.
Lunging forward, Kirk launched himself at the man, grabbing his arm and twisting it, thrusting his attacker’s hand to the side. Todar gasped angrily, releasing his grip on the knife, sending it flying into the trunk of a nearby breesa tree. He released the man’s arm, leapt backwards and crouched in a combat stance, shuffling sideways, matching Todar’s movements.
Kirk reached out an open hand to grab Todar by the arm, but he forced Kirk’s arm down instead and grabbed his shoulders in a vice grip, shaking him. Kirk gritted his teeth and raised both arms up and spread them apart quickly to break the hold, before bringing them down on Todar’s head and pulling him to the ground.
Kirk rolled on top of Todar and punched him in the face, splitting his cheek open. Before he could strike him again, Todar lolled his head sideways and Kirk’s fist met the earth. Todar laughed evilly. Instantly, he flipped Kirk over, pinning the captain’s arms under his knees, and grabbed him by the throat. Kirk choked and coughed, his eyes rolling back in his head.
A figure emerged from behind the rocks, draped in Albix’s orange robe. The hood was drawn over their face. A single breesa was clutched in its hand. Drawing one arm back, the figure threw the fruit past Todar’s head. Todar whirled his head around, loosening his grip on Kirk’s neck.
Kirk used the distraction to rear back and kick Todar hard in the abdomen with both feet, sending him staggering backwards into a tree, inches from his dagger which was still buried in the trunk. He gasped and plowed forward into Kirk, tackling him to the ground. Todar grabbed a handful of Kirk’s sweater, pulling him upwards again, ripping a hole in it in the process. Both men were streaked with dirt and grass stains. Todar’s cheek still dripped blood from the gash Kirk had given him.
They struggled there, deadlocked, each staring the other in the eye, determined and dangerous. Kirk sucked in a ragged breath, shoving him away towards the tree again. As Todar yanked on the dagger handle, trying to pull it out, Kirk dove towards his phaser, grabbing it and rolling over onto his back, before rising slowly. Todar braced his foot on the trunk and pulled the dagger out, stumbling backwards and spinning around, only to find himself face to face with Kirk.
The captain pointed his weapon at Todar once again, his shoulders rising and falling rapidly. “Only a coward…compels men to do…something…he hasn’t got the stomach for…himself.” He wiped his sweaty face on his torn sleeve. “So tell me…” He jerked his head sideways. “What changed?”
Neither man noticed Spock creeping over the ridge, his phaser drawn as he crouched behind a low bush. Or the figure in orange, moving slowly around the other side of the rocks.
Todar held the knife in front of himself, seething. “Needs must, Captain. It’s not my fault your people are so weak-willed that they can’t even finish the job.”
Kirk smiled angrily. “No. Not weak-willed, Todar. It takes far more strength to control oneself than to remain a slave to hatred. To allow old wounds to finally heal instead of twisting the knife deeper and deeper.” He approached the angry man slowly.
PH-CHOOM!
Everything happened in slow motion.
Spock fired his phaser over Todar’s head, startling both men.
The figure in orange waved its arms frantically, running towards them.
Todar thrust his elbow into Kirk’s side, knocking him off balance and sending him sprawling face-first into the grass, his weapon landing beneath him.
“Captain!”
Kirk pushed up from the ground at the sound of Spock’s voice, but the slippery mud made rising difficult. He reached out to grab Todar’s ankle as the furious man raised the dagger back over his shoulder and heaved it at the figure with a loud roar. It soared through the air towards the figure, embedding deep in his shoulder.
“Ooooh!” He crumpled to the ground in a heap, collapsing against the rocks. Spock ran to his side, dropping onto his knees. He took the figure in his arms, lowering him slowly to the ground before flipping his comm open. “Spock to McCoy, your assistance is needed here urgently.” Dropping the comm, he pressed down on the wound with a fold of the robe.
A smile of satisfaction crossed Todar’s lips as he turned, yanking his leg out of Kirk’s grip. Defiantly, he strode down the hillside.
And right into Kevin Riley’s fist.
Todar slipped backwards on the grass, landing unconscious on his back, his head slumped to the side.
Kirk looked up from the grass in surprise and relief as Riley stood over the man, one hand on his hip, thoroughly pleased with himself. “Stay out of my head, ya jerk.” He raised his head and shrugged in Kirk’s direction before pointing to the prone assailant with his thumb. “Hey, Captain, want me to truss him up for you?”
He reached out a hand and Kirk took it, standing up on shaky legs. “Riley. What are you doing down here?”
“Eh, Mr. Sulu figured you might need some help after all, so he sent me along. Seeing as how Toad-boy’s hypno-creepy influence has no effect on me anymore, it kinda made sense.” They lifted Todar to his feet and leaned him against the tree. His head rolled to the side as he moaned weakly.
Riley tapped his temple with one finger. “I think he was counting on me forgetting everything. And I did, too…but it all came back to me this morning in a dream.”
“Well, I’m certainly glad it did.” Kirk laughed. He glanced over his shoulder, the laugh dying as his features became concerned. “Well, Spock? Was I right?”
Spock looked down at the figure, then up at Kirk, his face unreadable. “Yes, Captain.”
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