Razing Pel by A.L. Svartz

CHAPTER ONE
     
    THE RESCUE
     
     
    "Kaj!” a voice shouted out.
 "Kaj!  Kaj!  Get up!"  The wooden floorboards
creaked as hard footsteps hit them.  A middle-aged man ran up
the steps and into Kaj's room.  He quickly went over to where
Kaj was sleeping and viciously shook him until he got
up.
     
    Kaj quickly jumped to his feet,
facing his surprised uncle.  "Uncle, what's the problem?" The
late teen asked.  Before his uncle said anything, he pointed
to Kaj's sac.  He went over and slipped the strap over his
shoulder, across his chest.
     
    "There's trouble again," his uncle
proclaimed.  "Three men were seen picking on the same older
man from a few days ago.  Go down there and help him!" he
nodded.  Kaj zipped past his uncle, but was quickly halted
when he placed his hand on his shoulder.  "If worst comes to
worst, use the dagger."  Kaj nodded and quickly ran down the
stairs.
     
    Kaj ran out onto his wooden porch
that overlooked the entire village.  The whole village was in
an underground cave, while Kaj's house was nudged up in the corner
of the cave.  His only way down to the village was a long wire
that hooked up from the roof of his house down to a small fish
kiosk.  Kaj unzipped his sac and pulled out his dagger.
 It had a short, curved handle that extended out and formed a
circular base from where the blade curved out.  Kaj left the
cover of the blade on and lifted the dagger over the wire, grabbing
the other side.  He then jumped off his porch as he zipped
down the wire.  Zipping down to the ground below, he tried to
spot the area as to where the trouble was.
     
    As Kaj neared the bottom, he let
go of the one side of his dagger, and he dropped to the rocky
floor, landing on his feet.  Kaj looked around until he saw
the three men, kicking the older man while he was on the ground.
 He dashed through the short alleys and leaped at the bigger
one of the three, knocking him to the ground.
     
    The other two noticed that their
friend had been knocked down and quickly left the old man to go
after Kaj.  They went over and each grabbed Kaj's arms and
threw him back.  The two men helped their injured friend up.
 He dusted off his knees and arms.
     
    "Ok!  What the heck man!" the
bigger goon said as he wiped the blood from under his nose.
 The three walked over to Kaj as he was down on his back.
 "Oh, well if it isn't this little twerp again."  Kaj
quickly jumped to his feet, but the three men quickly surrounded
him.  "Nowhere to go now."
     
    As Kaj knew that he was in trouble
this time, his uncle's wise words appeared in his head, If worst comes to worst, use the
dagger .  Kaj slipped the cover off
the blade and swung it around at the three goons.
     
    They all stepped back, with their
hands in the air.  "Alright, alright," the bigger goon said.
 "You're lucky that dagger saved you again Kaj.  If the
Galactic Soldiers knew that you had a weapon down here, you'd be
banished to the surface.  Come on guys, let's go."  The
three goons took off.
     
    Kaj knelt down to pick up the
cover from his blade, sliding it back on.  Placing it back in
his sac, he then jogged over to the poor old man who was lying on
the ground in pain.  Kaj lowered down and saw the older man's
face, blood oozing from his nose and his left eye
swollen.
     
    "Are you ok?" Kaj asked as he
pulled out a rag and started to wipe the fresh blood from under the
man's nose.  He didn't respond.  "Hey, are you
alright?"
     
    The older man opened his eyes to
see Kaj with a bloody rag.  "Oh, it's you again," the older
man proclaimed.  "Please son, help me over to that bench."
 Kaj helped the injured man up and over to the bench.
 Kaj handed the older man the rag as he continued to wipe the
blood away.  "Thank you again young man.  If only more
people like you lived here.  When I was young, and before the
Oce attacked, my friends and I used to play on the surface of our
planet - filled with green grass and lively plants,