Rankor Burning

Running down the trains aisle Sable had to try her best to avoid people, unfortunately she had to push some people out the way, praying to whoever was listening that she hadn’t hurt them, that’s not what she wanted. She took one quick moment to look back, only to see the strange man in black still chasing her. Letting out a frustrated groan she moved her focus back to the path in front of her, fast enough to see the upcoming obstacle.

The dinner cart, every afternoon at one pm, one of the staff members would bring around the lunch cart. Sable was many a time excited to see this but today was a different story, it now stood between her and her life.

“God damn it.” She had to think fast, looking to the sides she thought about maybe climbing the seats but she thought better of it, it would take to long to scramble over them. No, the only way was over the cart, someone was definitely going to get hurt this time.

The lady that was serving lunch, bent down to get something for someone from under the trolly, this was her chance. She placed her first foot on the poor ladies back, shouting an apology as shocked gasps were let out around her. Her other foot landed steadily on the top of the cart, jumping down she landed on two feet but wobbled forward steading herself on the arms of the chairs in front of her but she knew she couldn’t stop. Looking back again she noticed the man in black was now fighting with people beyond the cart, smiling to herself knowing this would but her some time she kept going.

When she got to the connecting door she frantically pushed the release button, the door whizzed open, scrambling inside relief flooded her body when the door sealed behind her. It was only when she turned that she found herself in an empty carriage, panic set in again when she realised that there was nowhere to hide in here.

She knew her only option was to make it to the next carriage and hope to everything good that there would be somewhere to hide in there. But Sable only made it halfway to the door when the whole train jerked violently, so much so that it threw her off balance and she stumbled to the floor, to make matters even worse as she was starting to stand up all the lights completely shut out.

Her first thought was that the energy field that kept the train safe out here in space had failed, if she wasn’t terrified before she was now for a completely different reason.

Hearing the whiz of the door that she had just come through she spun around to face it, but the darkness of the carriage was too much for her to even see her hand in front of her face, squinting as if that would make it easier for her to see, a white hot flash lit up the entire carriage.

It was only a second but she could hear the strange man's hurried footsteps coming towards her, she knew she had to move fast. As quickly as she could, without knocking herself out she felt for the sides of the carriage. She listened and heard the footsteps stop, now the only sound was heavy breathing from both parties.

She didn’t know what to do her mind was racing too fast, she could make a run towards where she thought the other door was to the joining carriage but what if she tripped or ran into something? Then the strange man in black would definitely know where she was. Just like before there was a one second flash of hot white light, she caught a glimpse of the man who now stood in front of her in the middle where she was once stood, although this time he was facing the wrong way and so luckily he didn’t see where she was this time.

Lightning, that’s what the flashes were! It must have been a power surge that had stopped the train, at least that was one less thing to worry about.

This was like a nightmare and just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse a red glow of the emergency lights just above Sables head flashed on her face, she couldn’t move she was frozen in place like a statue. He would surely see her now, she wished for the lights to go back out before he turned but it was too late.

Looking back she saw the man was now staring right at her. The look on his face said everything that Sable needed to know, panic set in again and she tried to think of what to do, how to get out of this but her brain was scrambled. The man started to charge, seeing her life flash before her eyes and that’s when it came to her.

A month earlier she had been running from the man in black for the first time. Ever since she had boarded the train at Lorth she had felt like someone was watching her which then had escalated to her finding out that someone was definitely following her.

She had sneaked onto the train, more than ready to start her new life. Two years ago she had seen off her twin brother Skye and his partner Jess, who where to travel to Rankor first. Sable had to stay behind to sort out some debts before she left Lorth, which was easier said than done. It was when she started to rank in more debts that she decided that she was done, she missed her brother and so she would get on the light train no matter what.

She tried to hurry down the aisle but she didn’t want to bring any more attention to herself than what she already was.

Sliding into the first available seat she came across, she sunk into the fabric trying to make herself as small as possible. She suitably looked back from the side of the seat to see a strange guy all in black stop at the threshold of the carriage, scanning every seat but not moving forward.

“Running from someone?” Turning quickly to where the voice had come from, she hadn’t noticed that she had sat in one seat of four that had a table in the middle, a man was sat directly in front of her, he slowly put down the book that he had been reading. His hair was a lightish mousy brown and shoulder length. Sable noticed it had a slight wave to it.

“No, I just thought I heard the dinner cart.” She tried a smile but she was still out of breath from running.

“Liar.” The stranger leaned forward placing both his elbows on the table that separated them. “You were running from someone, you tried to make it not noticeable at which you failed miserably at, it was quite amusing actually. Besides the lunch cart only comes around at 1 pm sharp, has done for the past two weeks we’ve been on this train.” Sable squinted at the man as he smirked at her, she could have sworn that as he bared his teeth she saw two fangs at either side. “So what are you going to do? We’re only two weeks into our year long journey to Rankor, you don’t know how far you can run in this tin can, their going to catch up with you soon enough.”

Sable looked to the side trying to avoid the question. This was the first window Sable had come across on the train, hiding in the luggage compartment had no way to see outside, and she hadn’t really had time to concentrate on her surroundings while running.

She didn’t know what planet they were passing but it was beautiful, Passed the energy field that surrounded the train, that shimmered of iridescent pinks and yellows. The massive planet just beyond them was a tan colour, its clouds where splodges of bright orange and dark pink, the ring that spanned around the planet was made of rock pieces that were all different shapes and sizes. Sable had to bring herself back to her reality.

“I’ll be fine.” Looking around again with panic streaming through her veins she had forgot that the strange man was still looking for her.

“Well stranger, my name is Wilder and I’m going to Rankor to start a new life of peace and hopefully happiness. How about you?”

She was only half listening more focused on trying to wait for any opening she could so she could make a run for it. Just when she thought she would have to stay in the seat a bit longer, the man in black got distracted by something behind him. Getting up out of her seat she went to pass the stranger that she had only just caught him saying his name was Wilder, She wasn’t trying to be rude but she had no time to make friends right now.

But as she went to pass him he grabbed her arm gently. “Look I don’t have time to chat right now, I’d appropriate it if you’d let me go.”

And so he did, going back casually to reading his book. but not without saying one last time. “Good luck, whistle if you need any help”

Confused at what he was implying she knew she shouldn’t be wasting this opportunity to run, looking to check the man in black was still distracted she finally took off down the rest of the carriage.

She did it without even thinking.

Pursued her lips together she whistled, the strange man who had started to lunge at her again stopped dead in his tracks, looking almost frightened, a look which faded almost instantaneously.

She brought her right arm up to defend her face but the blow never came. Lowering her arm she looked around her to find the man in black was now crumpled in a ball at the far left wall.

Light filled the carriage again and it was like time stopped. “You whistled.” The man that now stood in front of her like a ghost, she remembered was named Wilder, the same one she had met about a month ago.

“How did you… what?”

“Never mind about that now.” He grabbed her wrist gently and tugged her towards the door that lead into the next carriage “We need to leave before someone discovers he’s dead.”

Wilder had dragged her through two carriages before she stopped him, they were now in what looked like a kitchen area and her eyes went straight to a knife block that sat on the counter behind where Wilder stood.

He turned to see what she was looking at. “Don’t even think about it! I’m here to help you, need I remind you I just saved your life.” He stood across from her, his hand raised and finger pointed at her like he was telling off a naughty child.

“I wasn’t they just caught my attention that’s all.” Wilder looked at her like he didn’t believe a word she was saying, and to be fair to him she couldn’t blame him.

They both leaned back on the counters, seeming to relax a little and to get their breaths back. “You never answered my question.” She looked up at him. This was the first time she was actually taking his image in. He was tall and slim but he had some muscle to him. He wore slim black pants and a tan round necked t-shirt that was covered by a black leather jacket. His eyes where what stood out the most to Sable though, they were the lightest blue with little specks of green in them.

“Sable, my names Sable and I’m going to Rankor to reunite with my brother Skye.” Wilder gave her another wild smile and once again she caught sight of fangs.

He’d crossed his arms over his chest “Wasn’t so hard was it?”

Sable rolled her eyes and started to walk again. “That was a thank you, for saving my life.”

Everyone was gathered in carriages that were purely made of glass, Sable worked out fairly quickly that these rooms were made for passengers first look at Rankor, it was an exciting event looking at your future paradise for the first time. Sable and Wilder has spent the rest of the months on the light train getting to know each other, he wasn’t as bad as she first thought. He was funny and insightful and after months of spending everyday with him she started to feel something for him.

They both stood in the middle of the carriage, people crammed in around them. They were all waiting for the final jump. “There was something I didn’t tell you.” Sable turned to Wilder not expecting him to look so sheepish.

“What is it?”

“I don’t think the strange man in black was after you.” Sable's eyebrows furrowed and her head tilted when she spoke.

“What do you mean?” She didn’t understand, why was he bringing this up now? They had rid themselves of that man many months ago.

“He was after me, he was a shadow stalker.” Sable laughed, shadow stalkers were something of legend. They hunted down and killed a ancient race of vampires, but all those stories were now like Chinese whispers.

“Ha! good one.” But his face was still stone cold, she’d never seen Wilder like this. “But vampires don’t exist, Wilder stop being silly. We're supposed to be having a good moment.”

“They do exist, I do exist.”

Sable unconsciously took a step away from him, just as the light train jumped and everyone around them started to cheer. But they were only looking at each other.

Confusion crossed her face when she came to a realization. “The fangs, when you smile. Wait, But if he was after you all this time then why did it seem like he was always following me?”

Wilder tried to walk towards her but Sable just took another step back. “Because it was me who was following you, which in turn meant that he was only technically following you.”

Her breath started to quicken but she was suddenly distracted by the intense orange glow that was reflecting in Wilder’s eyes. She hadn’t even noticed that she hadn’t been paying attention to anything but the man, if you could even call him that, in front of her.

Turning quickly the screams and sobbing of everyone around her filled her ears, it took Sable a few moments to adjust to what she was looking at. The planet in front of them, their new start, their new home was entirely in flames.

Orange flames like veins ran around the whole planet, they had been told that Rankor would be blooming with greens and purples even from the outside but now all they saw were red and blacks. Sable didn’t know when she had reached for Wilders hand but the only thing she could feel was his gentle squeezes to keep her grounded. Everything she had just found out was forgotten.

Everyone around them were running around crying and freaking out, some were on their knees heads in their hands and their bodies shaking.

Wilder would never get his life of freedom, and Sable would never see her twin again.