It took Therol a moment to adjust. He’d changed his body so that he looked like his alter ego Loreth – a typical mortal with a beak of a nose, small eyes and thick unibrow – but he had to change his mannerisms and speech so that he sounded like Loreth too. His own Genister appearance would have given him away. Therol needed to be careful. He didn’t want Themrock to know just how much he was interfering in his mortal life.
“It doesn’t matter who Rhen is. We still need to remove him to make Neptian glorious.” Loreth stepped down onto the plush rug in front of Te’s desk. He’d transported himself across Solar System 3 to the outer planet of Neptian, which was a part of Thestran’s Council. Loreth scanned the opulent room to make sure the doors were closed. He preferred to talk with Te when his son, Yfetb, wasn’t around.
“Please.” Te gestured towards the seats in front of his desk. “What are you talking about?”
Loreth sent his powers into Te’s mind, scanning the Neptian’s memories. It appeared Te had yet to learn that Rhen was Themrock. Since he knew the elves would never be able to keep Themrock’s presence a secret, he told him. “The Black Angel is Rhen.”
The corners of Te’s mouth turned down as his eyes narrowed. “What?”
“You heard me,” Loreth said impatiently, waving his hand at Te. “Rhen is Themrock.”
Te collapsed onto the chair behind him, shaking his head back and forth. He couldn’t believe it. He’d been going after Themrock? He’d been trying to hurt his own God? How could such a thing have happened? How could Themrock have deceived him? What kind of God would do that to his own people? It was a horrible thing to do. Themrock had set him up. How dare he!
Loreth smiled. He’d been reading Te’s mind. It was humorous to see how his weak mortal brain morphed from surprise about Themrock’s return to hatred at being duped. He had picked his pawn well. He wouldn’t have to threaten Te to keep him on course. The man was more than willing to go after Themrock. He just had to keep reminding Te that the only way to make Neptian great again would be to remove Rhen from power.
Te sat up straight in his chair, his dark eyes focusing on Loreth. “What’s our new plan?”.
Loreth sat down across from him. “Now, more than ever, we should be targeting Ceceta.
“You want to kill her?” Te’s face lit up. He was obviously hoping for permission to proceed.
“No.” Loreth shook his finger at Te. He didn’t want to hurt Ceceta. If she was injured, Themrock would go ballistic. All he wanted to do was to remove her from Rhen’s life. He was gambling that once she was gone, Themrock would give up his mortal shell. The part of Rhen’s life that Themrock was enjoying the most was his relationship with Ceceta. If he could remove her, Themrock wouldn’t have any reason to stay mortal. “Let’s go after her in another way. Our goal will be to get her to leave Rhen. Once she does, he will be vulnerable.”
“And without Ceceta by his side, there will be no reason for him to target us. Once Surpen is no longer a threat, Neptian will be able to grow.”
Loreth squeezed his lips together to keep from laughing. Rhen had never targeted Neptian, but since Te’s son had left Ceceta at the altar, in Te’s mind that meant it was only a matter of time before Ceceta turned Rhen’s focus on Neptian to get her revenge. This was why Te was the perfect pawn for him. The threat of Rhen would force Te to do his bidding without question.
“Correct,” he said.
Chapter 5
Thestran Royal Palace – Rhen’s Hospital Room
After Latsoh had left the conference room earlier that day, James had broken down under the elves’ arguments and had drawn up an agreement with the elfin royals and their priests allowing one member from each of the four elfin tribes to act as Rhen’s bodyguard. Each guard would not only be responsible for protecting Rhen, but they would also be instrumental in working to soften Rhen towards their tribe, and if they were lucky, bringing Rhen back to the elves. James had insisted that the elves choose guards whom Rhen knew, which meant that Sarah, Aaron and Jack were now sitting in the hospital room, waiting for an opportunity to talk to Rhen. As of yet, nobody had explained to Rhen why they were there. James had mentioned that he’d take care of it, but he had yet to arrive.
“This is awkward,” Sarah mumbled under her breath to Aaron. She and Aaron had been in love ever since they’d first met at one of Reed’s jetbike races. Since she was a Water Elf and Aaron was a Fire Elf, they’d had to hide their relationship, because The Supreme had banned the elves not only from marrying out of their race but also out of their tribe.
“At least, we’ll get to be together more,” Aaron whispered. The two of them had been sneaking about, meeting in private for years. It was going to be nice for them to actually spend some quality time together, even if they did have to hide how they felt about each other. “And no one will be able to question it.” Sarah smiled and checked to make sure no one was looking, before blowing him a kiss.
Someone was playing music from Rhen’s last concert while Tgfhi and Crystam were dancing around the room singing along to it. Rhen was standing alone by the windows staring out at the palace's lawn and the ocean beyond. He reached down and turned the crank, opening the casement window in front of him then stuck his head outside to get some fresh air. A purple dragon flew by. Rhen clicked to it with his tongue. The dragon seemed to like his comment, because it flew off in spinning circles, belching out a marvelous display of fire balls.
“We’ve never seen dragons this close to the palace before,” Kate said beside him. “I heard from Bosternd that you can talk to them. What are they like?”
Rhen ignored his birth mother and leaned farther out the window. Since he couldn’t speak, he had decided that he could disregard anyone who didn’t ask him a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question. Besides, she’d never apologized for abandoning him on Surpen. Everyone else had said they were sorry but Kate had always acted as if she were innocent. It was so very Thestran of her.
A breeze blew against his face, lifting his spirits and bringing with it the scent of ocean water. He wondered if the Water Elves, whose castle was in the middle of Thestran’s largest ocean, appreciated their home or if it they took it for granted. Rhen raised his chin as the setting sun turned the sky a deeper shade of blue. If he wanted to, he could drop from the window and fly away. He’d love to do that right now. He glanced back into the room and noticed that everyone was staring at him. Rasack’s whore. He hated being watched.
Rhen’s shoulder had begun to throb, so he stepped back inside the room only to find himself blasted by noise. He hadn’t realized how loud the music was. Sticking his head back out the window to ease the headache that had started to form, Rhen leaned against the window frame to rest. He sighed then doubled over in pain as an ear-splitting screech ripped through his skull, bringing tears to his eyes. He jerked himself back into the room and covered his ears with his hands. He was about to stomp on the audioplayer, when he realized the noise was coming from his ankle bracelet. Ceceta mustn’t have heard her bracelet, which was timed to go off first. Holding onto his ears, he ran towards the medicine cabinet.
Aaron noticed Rhen’s strange behavior and turned off the audioplayer to ask him what he was doing. As soon as the music was off, the room was filled with the sound of Ceceta’s bracelet beeping rapidly. “Oh, no.” She dashed to the cabinets. “I’m sorry, Rhen. I didn’t even hear it.” Rhen’s ankle bracelet was emitting a low beeping sound, which wasn’t affecting anyone but him. He stumbled on his way towards the cabinet and fell to his knees, clutching his ears in obvious agony. The combination of his headache and the piercing sound that was echoing inside his mind from his ankle bracelet made Rhen lightheaded. His hands and shoulders dropped downward as his eyes started to roll up.
“He’s going to pass out,” Reed yelled. The elves braced themselves, expecting to lose consciousness.
Ceceta ran past Reed and injected a shot into Rhen’s arm. At once, their bracelets fell silent. Rhen slumped onto the st
one floor. He stared up at Ceceta with tear-filled eyes.
Ceceta felt terrible. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t hear my bracelet over the music.” Dropping down to her knees, she placed her hand on his back. “I’m really, really sorry. Are you okay?” Rhen gave her a half grin. He looked so cute, she leaned down to kiss him. “Well, on the bright side,” she whispered, while tapping her fingertip on his nose. “At least we know your bracelet works.”
Rhen sighed and rose to his feet then reached out to help Ceceta up. When he started to pull her into his arms, she said, “Wait. Let me get rid of this.” She held up the used shot and turned to go to the medicine cabinet.
As Rhen watched her, his eyes landed on the door behind her. Since he couldn’t speak, he hadn’t exactly promised Ceceta he’d stay in the room, had he? Moving quickly, Rhen bolted out the door. He heard Jet yelling behind him and chuckled. James was walking up the steps in front of him. Uh, oh, Rhen thought. If he could pick up enough speed, he might be able to pass by James without his noticing. Rhen’s plan would have worked, if Kate hadn’t yelled from the hospital door, “James, stop Rhen!”
James glanced up to find Rhen beside him on the stairs. “Whoa, little brother.” He put out his hand to stop him. “I thought Ceceta explained to you that you can’t leave the hospital room. You have to stay there until you’ve finished all the anti-venom.” Rhen smiled and pointed past James to the stairway window. In the distance, a group of dolphins and merpeople played on the ocean’s cresting waves. James sighed. This was going to be harder than he had thought. “Sorry, Rhen. We can’t let you leave.”
Estan, the Wood Elf King, appeared on the landing below them. “Rhen?” he said, sounding surprised. “Um,” he gestured towards an elf with dark skin and curly black hair behind him. “This is my nephew, Shno.” Shno was going to be Rhen’s bodyguard from the Wood Elf tribe. Estan had asked Reed to do it, but Reed had refused, saying he couldn’t spare the time, not with his duties to Thestran’s Council and his family.
Rhen had met Shno before at the University. He nodded politely, wondering why the Wood Elf King had introduced them, then trotted down the stairs past them.
“Wait,” James said, running after him. “Rhen, you can’t leave. We need you to stay here. What would happen if your ankle bracelet went off and you were in the ocean?” In answer to his question, Rhen disappeared and then reappeared behind Henry, who had just arrived on the landing. Rhen’s actions startled Henry, making him jump. Rhen chuckled silently then turned to walk the rest of the way down the stairs into the public section of the palace. Using his powers just now had weakened him and made his headache worse, but he didn’t want anyone to know that.
“No!” Henry yelled. Rhen paused. Henry had never yelled at him before. “No,” Henry repeated. “Rhen, I want you to stay in the hospital. I’m worried about you.”
Rhen glanced around the stairwell. Everyone seemed concerned. They obviously didn’t want him to leave. Why? All he wanted was some alone time. He brought his gaze back to Henry and shook his head. “Too bad you can’t have a beer right now, because that’s what you need,” Charlie said from above. He was leaning on the balcony railing watching the show below. When Rhen looked up at him, Charlie lifted his drink in salute.
“That’s a great idea,” Henry said. “Do you Surpens have alcoholic drinks? Perhaps we could get you one?” Rhen shook his head. He had thought that Henry knew he hadn’t removed his bloodworms yet. The only thing he could drink was blood and his food had to be meat.
“Alcoholic drinks on Surpen? You must be joking,” General Nk laughed out in his deep voice. Rhen turned to find Bosternd and Nk walking up the stairs. He couldn’t believe how relieved he was to see them. Perhaps they could explain what was going on.
As if reading Rhen’s thoughts, Bosternd said, “We need to talk to you in private about a few things.” Rhen nodded and pointed towards the floor below. “No,” Bosternd said, gesturing up the stairs. “Let’s talk in your hospital room.” Rhen hesitated. What was Bosternd up to? Slowly, he followed his generals up the stairs. Nk emptied the room of everyone except for Jack, Aaron, Shno and Sarah. Rhen pointed his finger at them and then at the door. “Actually, Emperor, that’s why we’re here,” Bosternd began. Rhen slammed his hand against the door frame then pointed at the elves. “Okay,” Bosternd agreed.
“Perhaps, if you’ll just step outside for a few minutes while we talk to Rhen?” Nk told the elves.
Once they had left, Rhen plopped down onto one of the sofas in the middle of the room and sighed. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. The pain was making him tired.
Bosternd sat down on the glass coffee table in front of Rhen, while Nk propped his massive body on the arm of the sofa to Rhen’s right. They waited quietly, giving Rhen a chance to relax. When Rhen opened his eyes, Bosternd said, “So, here’s the situation. You saved the elfin royals’ lives. Strike that. You saved everyone’s life here in the palace. They’re in shock. I’m sure it feels like they’re staring at you, as if you’re some sort of god, right?”
Rhen nodded as Nk leaned over to slap him on the leg. “Don’t worry, Rhen. They’ll get over it in a few weeks. I got over you after you saved my life, remember? The first time you saved me, I followed you around like a puppy, but now, I just laugh at you when you bring me back from the brink of death."
Rhen chuckled silently at Nk’s words. It made sense. The Thestrans had never fought a battle with him while he had used his powers. They didn’t know how he worked. Their worship would wear off in a few weeks. Rhen turned to tell Bosternd and Nk that he agreed, when he remembered he couldn’t speak. Dropping his head down into his hands, he bent over in frustration. Bosternd misunderstood his gesture. “I know. Enough is enough already. I mean, we don’t want Thestran as one of our territories, do we?” Rhen lifted his head, his eyes wide. "Oh, sorry. I thought you knew. Since it was our soldiers who saved Thestran’s Delegates, they’re asking us to include them in our territory. Only a declaration from you will put Thestran back into James’ hands. I assume that’s what you want?” Rhen nodded vigorously. “Good. I’ll let James know, but he’ll probably want to confirm it with you directly at a later date.” Bosternd reached over to shift his sword, the position he was sitting in had caused the weapon’s hilt to stick into his waist. “One more thing. You may not know this, but elfin law dictates that anyone who saves the life of one of their royals receives the royal’s strongest child or relative as their… well, we don’t have the term in Surpen, but the closest thing to it would be a bodyguard.”
Rhen snorted and shook his head. There was no way he was taking the elfin children on as his bodyguards.
Nk and Bosternd were expecting this reaction from him. James had asked them to convince Rhen to allow the elfin royals to give him bodyguards. At first Bosternd had been against it, but now that Surpen was no longer a member of the Convention of planets, he had decided it might be a good thing for them to solidify their bond with Thestran.
Nk was ready to play his part. Leaning forward, he said, “Sorry, but you have to take them. Saying no to the elfin royals would be a great insult. They’d think you felt their child was unworthy. Instead of getting rid of them, you would get stuck with two of their children watching over you. And, if you refused again there’d be three of them and so on and so on. It would keep going, until you had the entire elfin community sleeping with you, eating with you, playing with you and pissing with you.” Nk laughed at the look of horror on Rhen’s face.
Rhen dropped his eyes to the floor. He rubbed the toe of his boot against the grey markings in the stone at his feet, while pulling absentmindedly on the trim of the couch. Bosternd could tell he was digesting the idea. He shook his head at Nk when he opened his mouth to speak. Let Rhen sort it out on his own.
A little while later, Rhen sighed and ran a hand across his face. It sounded like he didn’t have a choice. Maybe, after a while, his ‘bodyguards’ would get sick of him and take off. He jus
t had to bide his time until they left. Looking back up at Bosternd and Nk, he nodded, accepting his new guards. Nk slapped his hands on his thighs and rose. “I’ll go get them.” Rhen shook his head and motioned for Nk to sit down. He wanted a few more minutes of quiet time.
“By the way,” Bosternd said, moving someone’s cup of coffee away from him and flicking a few crumbs off the table onto the floor. “The Thestrans have kept your identity as the Black Angel a secret from the rest of the Universe.” Rhen smiled and gave Bosternd a thumbs up. He didn’t think he was ever going to be the Black Angel again, but he hadn’t made up his mind yet. “I thought they would have notified their Delegates about your identity but—” Bosternd stopped talking, when he realized Rhen wasn’t listening. Instead, he was focused on his thumb.
Rhen brought his thumb up to his face then opened his hand, inspecting each of his fingers. He grinned then pushed himself off the couch and marched over to the door. When Rhen opened the door, he found his elfin bodyguards standing in the doorway. Impatiently, he stepped aside and shooed them into the room, while he gazed around the hallway at the many faces, looking for Ceceta. When he spotted her, he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the hospital room. He pushed Ceceta down onto his bed and sat across from her, so they were facing each other.
Rhen held onto Ceceta’s hands and used his powers to speak into her mind. Unfortunately, every time he started to connect with Ceceta his headache would transfer over to her and she’d drop her head down in pain.
The Surpen King - Part 2 - Rise of the Elves Page 4
