Leo found himself in the latter category. He had survived his years in the Royal Academy with the help of his father, Karl Exe. His father was a professor at the academy in the capitol city of KL’en. Leo remembered spending his nights with his father—the two of them cuddled together on their lackluster sofa, books in hand. Karl would always take his time with Leo, making sure that his son knew his subjects…but also ensuring that Leo understood the most important things in life: empathy, critical thinking, and love.
“Remember, Leo. You can always be better than the world you live in. Hold on to your good heart, your values, and the world will be better for it,” his father would say, as he rustled Leo’s hair and gave him a powerful hug. Leo had never felt safer than as a child, in his father’s arms.
It was important for Karl that his son knew enough to survive, but he also made a choice that would give Leo a chance at a free life, even though that choice—if discovered, could result in their executions. Karl Exe decided to hide the fact that Leo was an evolved. He refused to register his son, which set in motion Leo’s life of hiding in plain sight. Karl had found a way to fake his son’s medical tests, and Leo learned to suppress his ability. He played the part of the good but average student so he could survive the academy without drawing too much unwanted attention. He slid under the radar, until he graduated and left KL’en for good. As he left, Leo made a promise to his dad that he would earn enough money to get off world and escape AzzaNation for good. It was too late for Karl to get away from the royals’ clutches—once they found a valuable use for you, they never let you go—but Leo still had a chance. He could earn enough money to buy a ticket off this tormented world.
At least that was what Leo and his father had hoped would happen. In actuality, when Leo graduated, he left KL’en and struggled to find work. He moved from city to city, surviving off scraps of food and whatever shelter he could find, until he eventually found Darrod—scamming travelers and royal soldiers out of their hard earned thetinum.
Darrod had taught Leo how to survive more effectively in AzzaNation. He taught the young man that on this planet, it was every person for themselves. Don’t trust anyone, and make sure at the end of the day you look out for number one. Leo respected Darrod. As closed off as the grifter was, he did offer bits of wisdom now and then. And even though Leo knew Darrod was selfish and untrustworthy, the grifter did have his own code of ethics and honor.
Standing next to Darrod at the table was a young man that Leo knew had no honor…Brian Grishaw. Brian was in his late twenties, privileged with good looks and medium length blonde hair, the man was an arrogant prick—making his way through the world as an intellect with a heart filled with avarice. He scammed any royal officer he could find and usually tried to find his way into their beds as well. Needless to say, he had worn out his welcome in most of the AzzaNation cities. He wanted to get off the planet as quick as possible, and he needed a big score to make that happen. So, when Darrod invited the sleaze to join his crew, the arrogant prick jumped at the chance.
“I don’t know, Brian,” said Darrod, crossing his arms as he scowled at their make-shift model. “I’m starting to rethink this plan. What if we walk into an ambush?”
“I’m telling you Boss,” replied Brian with his smug smile painted on his face, “I’ve observed the Regent’s behavior. I guarantee that when the King’s people come with their new payment, he will put all his attention on that transaction—leaving the safe in his estate free for the taking.”
“If they have just a few more guards than we accounted for…we’ll be dead—or worse.”
“Believe me,” said Brian, placing himself in front of Darrod’s line of vision, forcing the gang’s leader to look him in the eyes. “I have no intention of winding up in Adras…You know that I need this money just as much as you do. You have to put a little faith in me.”
“I don’t put faith in anything Grishaw, let alone a narcissist like you,” Darrod chuckled and looked back at the table. “…But I suppose you’re right. We’ve put too much time and money into this plan to back out now. As soon as Len and Jax come back we’ll proceed.” Darrod looked up from the table and glanced over at Leo. “Hey kid, how far along are the villagers?”
Leo glanced back out the window. “I believe this is the forty-sixth wagon being loaded into the granary right now, which would leave…” Leo took a second to do some quick math in his head. “Ninet—”
“Ninety-two,” said Brian, cutting Leo off with a smug look of superiority. “What’s the matter Exe? With response times like that I’m surprised you left the academy with your throat intact.”
Leo wanted to jump across the room and beat the living hell out of Brian in that moment. But he took a deep breath and forced himself to fight his desires. They needed the blonde sleaze to pull off this job, and if Leo was being completely honest—he wouldn’t stand a chance against Brian in a fight. Not that Brian was particularly skilled as a fighter, in fact he wasn’t. But Leo was even worse. He never had the taste for it, and by the time the skill could have been useful to him, he was already facing opponents who had been fighting all their lives. It may have been a different matter if the young man could use his evolved ability to aid him in a fight, but if he did then all would be lost. He would have a bounty placed on his head. Every mercenary or bounty hunter would come after him until he was captured, and then he would undoubtedly be placed in Adras prison—where he would live out the rest of his days in a cramped windowless cell. Leo could not let that happen, so he held his tongue and looked to Darrod.
“At this rate Darrod, they’ll be done in approximately eight hours.”
“Eight hours and twelve minutes…to be exact,” said Brian.
“Yes, we know Brian,” said Darrod, clearly not impressed by the show of intellectual prowess. “So that gives us eight hours before the Regent calls KL’en to come for the pick-up. He’ll come out of his estate, with an arrangement of guards, head to the granary…and that’s when we move.”
“We’ll have about thirty to forty minutes to get in and out, without anyone knowing we were there,” said Brian, “Loads of time.”
“What’s the matter Brian, you can’t calculate the time we’ll have to the millisecond?” said Leo, with a smirk on his face.
Brian didn’t have Leo’s self-control and made a move to cross the room. Darrod intercepted him and placed his hand on Brian’s chest.
“Now, now Grishaw. If you’re going to be an asshole, then you gotta take your punches with good humor, just like Leo did for you.”
Brian grimaced at Leo through a patch of blonde hair that fell over his eyes. He pushed the silky locks up to where they sat before, and then he shrugged and moved to one of the broken-down mattresses in the room.
“Once we part ways, you better hope I never see you again Exe,” said Brian laying down with his usual arrogant demeanor. Something in his tone, made Leo know the narcissist wasn’t joking.
“I assure you, none of us will have to see each other for any longer than we have to,” said Darrod, trying to keep the peace. “But on that note…you memorized the rendezvous that I gave you? Cause I don’t want any paper copies lying around.”
“Yes, I memorized the location of your super-secret hideout Darrod,” replied Brian with a sigh of boredom.
“Good. Now let’s just keep our heads together until Len and Jax come back.”
Darrod looked to Leo with a smile, and the young man smiled back. Leo knew that the grifter would protect him for as long as he could. For some reason, Darrod took a shine to Leo, and wanted the young man to survive. Whatever the reason, Leo was glad to have any comradery he could get.
_________________________
Hours later, a loud knock startled the three men. Darrod went to check it out—opening the door a crack at first, and then smiling as he confirmed the identity of the people outside. Quickly, he opened the door the rest of the way and let a female drake and a large humanoid looking man into t
he room. The two of them were carrying a couple of duffle bags and as soon as they were securely inside, they placed the bags by the table in the center of the room.
Len, the female drake was a powerful force. Light brown scales covered her body and various scars cut across her face and arms. Most drakes Leo had met were aggressive to some degree, but Len was the most frightening out of any of them.
“Everything went well?” asked Darrod.
“Three sets of Royal armor,” replied Len, with a slight hiss. She opened the bags that they had brought in and tossed one of the lightweight chest plates to Darrod.
“Very good work, Len,” replied Darrod with a smile. “And what about you, Jax?”
The large humanoid, Jax, reached into his bag and pulled out a beautifully crafted suit, made from a blue velvet fabric. He then revealed a picture of a human man. The man in the picture was wearing a nearly identical version of the suit that Jax held in his hands.
“That’s the Regent today?” asked Darrod, referring to the picture.
“Yup,” said Jax flatly. “I still don’t see how this is supposed to fool them.”
“It’ll fool them just fine,” said Brian, coming over and clasping Jax on the back. “Once you do your thing, no one will be able to tell the difference.”
“Except for his eyes,” said Leo, sarcastically.
They all looked at Jax and knew that as a shifter, he could change his body into another humanoid or animal. The more detail a shifter had to put into a transformation, the more skill it required, but no matter what a shifter turned into, one part of them always remained the same—their bright yellow eyes. Jax was a truly skilled shifter, able to resemble most species to the minute detail, but even he couldn’t hide his eyes. He had told the group that at one point he even tried wearing contacts to change the color, but the yellow glow was too bright. The contacts had managed to block some of his natural color, but there was still a radiated yellow glow surrounding his eyeballs, giving away his deception.
“Don’t worry about that, Little Leo,” said Jax, reaching into his bag once again. He pulled out a pair of sunglasses and smiled. “That’s what these are for.”
“You realize we’re going to be doing this at night, right?” said Leo.
Jax was silent. He looked confused. Clearly, he didn’t think that far ahead.
“Kid, I am tired of your negativity with this operation!” said Brian, moving across the room again. “Maybe if you were half as smart as me, you could come up with solutions instead of problems.”
Brian moved right into Leo’s space, intimidating the younger human with his height and more defined muscles. He stared Leo down, inviting him to make the first move and throw a punch.
“Enough!” said Darrod, once again coming to Leo’s rescue. He pushed Brian away, and then sent a fist into his abdomen. “Just because Leo points out flaws in your plan does not give you the right to hurt him. If he makes you feel stupid, then suck it up and stop being so. Bloody. Stupid.”
Brian held his stomach and slowly caught his breath. He stood tall again, showing his anger and humiliation. Leo could see that Brian wanted to speak—wanted to say something witty, but for once he managed to control his impulse to be the smartest one in the room and stayed silent.
Leo smiled, but not for long, as Darrod turned and slapped him across the face.
“And you! I didn’t pull you out of a gutter in Jinc so you could sit here arguing for no good reason. I understand that Brian pisses you off, but maybe you can come up with solutions instead of just pointing out flaws.”
This time it was Leo’s turn to feel humiliated. Within seconds, Darrod had truly managed to put him in his place. The gang’s leader reminded Leo that if it wasn’t for him, the young man would still be eating scraps in the street.
“I suppose…” said Leo, softly. “If we time it so we try to enter the house during sunset, the sunglasses will make sense.”
Darrod let out a hard breath out of his nose, and then smiled again. “That’s more like it. What do you think Brian?”
Reluctantly, Brian gave a nod in agreement, “It could work, providing our timing is perfect.”
“Well alright then,” said Darrod, trying to bring positive energy back into the room. “We’ll just have to make sure our timing is perfect. Everyone get your gear on.”
Leo, Darrod and Brian each grabbed a set of the royal uniforms and armor. Jax changed into the velvet suit and shifted his appearance to match that of Newon’s Regent. He no longer looked like a seven-foot-tall oddly shaped man. He now appeared middle aged, with salt and pepper hair, and a thin beard adorning his face. Once he put on his sunglasses, he looked indistinguishable from the regent’s appearance in the picture.
Leo noticed that his set of royal armor and gear included a fake ELC pistol. ELCs—short for Electrified Laser Control—were a standard weapon issued to most royal soldiers. They were incredibly expensive and only manufactured by the darthians at an Infinity station. ELCs were a useful and versatile weapon, shooting a laser-guided electric pulse towards the target, and allowing the shooter to choose a setting that varied from a low stun to a high incineration, and various options in between. If you combined their versatility with the fact that they were rechargeable—only needing a two-hour charge once a day, these ELC weapons, whether they were a pistol, rifle or cannon, were some of the most dangerous weapons one could possess on AzzaNation. However, because they were so expensive, only the army or rich mercenaries could afford them. Darrod and their crew were definitely not in either of those categories.
Leo examined the fake ELC the crew had acquired thoroughly. It looked similar to the real ones, but it was only a cheap husk, with no working parts inside. They also had their manufacturing numbers filed off. This made it easier for whoever stole them to ensure their crime was less traceable, but the act also made the replicas have a visible flaw. Their crew would be walking into a dangerous situation, hoping that none of the royals present looked too closely at their pistols. They were gambling hard. A bit too hard if you asked Leo.
The fake ELCs would also be useless in a fight, if it came to that. Each member of the crew did have some cheaper weapons, like a short sword or a knife—even Leo had an old rusted short sword that he had scavenged, back in Jinc. He didn’t know how to use it properly, but it did help intimidate those who lacked for any weapon. But would it help against a trained royal soldier? He doubted it. But lacking a solution to their problem, he decided to keep his mouth shut and go along with the plan, fake ELCs and all. He could only hope and pray, that the guards didn’t get too nosey.
Len, for her preparations, found her bakon—a unique weapon native to the drake people. In some ways, it resembled a mace or a human baseball bat, with a two-handed handle leading up to a cylindrical blunt top. Unlike a baseball bat, the bakon had one side of the top part covered in metal spikes. Len’s bakon still had dried blood on its spikes from her last kill. She gave a couple practice swings and then double checked the placement of her armor. Satisfied, she walked up to Leo as he was changing.
“You fit that armor well, young one.”
Leo’s face turned red. “Uh, th—thanks…”
“If we both survive, I will have you tonight.”
Leo’s tongue seemed to retreat inside his mouth in that moment. He knew that Len was blunt and had a way of taking whatever she desired—be it money, food or…sex, but Leo never thought that a woman of her power and aggression would desire him. If the young man was being honest, the thought of having sex with a drake was intriguing—but also terrifying.
Darrod, who was changing nearby, laughed to himself. “One thing at a time, Len. Let the boy change in peace. You ready for your part of the plan?”
“Yup. Kill Royals.” She said, as she looked Leo up and down.
“Distract Royals,” corrected Darrod. “You need to give us as much time as we can get.”
“Ya, ya either way, my bakon will taste some Royal’s blood
tonight.”
Darrod shook his head, half with amusement and half with concern. “Just make sure you stay alive and meet us in the woods.”
“Will do,” she replied. “After all, I have something to look forward too.” She took a step closer to Leo and ran her tongue up his neck and onto his cheek. Petrified and simultaneously aroused, he froze in place, until she eventually backed up. She gave him a wink and then headed for the door. “I’ll give you ten minutes once the Regent leaves, and then I’ll start.” She tucked her bakon out of sight and left the room.
“You heard the woman,” said Darrod. “Let’s get moving.”
The rest of the crew filed out of the room discreetly and made their way through the city of Newon, until they reached the front gates of Regent Jason Kren’s estate. The Regent’s house was noticeably different from the rest of the city. Newon had a bit of wealth, because of their contributions to the world’s food supply, but the residents never got to see any of the profits. Regent Kren would take the payment from Grindaull’s people directly and then horde the wealth to himself. He used the minimum amount of thetinum he could get away with to keep the workers fed, but other than that, he used the rest to maintain his lavish lifestyle. His estate had ten-foot-high walls surrounding it, with tropical trees and plants lining the interior. There was only one gated entrance, with guards manning it every hour. Normally, Regent Kren kept a garrison of royal troops stationed inside his estate, which would make the idea of robbing it preposterous. However, at the end of every harvest season, Kren would leave his estate with most of the troops, to secure the transfer of crops to the King’s representative. This left a short window of time when the estate was guarded by only a handful of soldiers.
“Right on schedule,” whispered Brian.
On cue, the gang watched from a nearby alleyway as the Regent left the front gates of his estate, surrounded by twenty royal soldiers. They walked in unison towards the granary at the other side of the city. The gang’s countdown began now.
The Chronicles of AzzaNation: Dawn of a New Age Page 2
