by L A Warren
“The rest are on their way.” Alice was slightly out of breath, but her eyes lit with purpose.
Elise scanned the faces of the women Alice had brought. These were fighters, her warriors. They’d come through the crucible of Vendel acclimation and Tender Training together and stood united.
“It feels good to have the collars removed.” Alice fingered her bare throat. “I feel like I can do anything.”
“Is everyone ready?”
Alice turned around. “What do you say, girls? Ready to kick some S’Lorek butt, and then maybe a little Vendel ass to finish it off?”
Vigorous nods were her answer.
Alice clapped her hands. “As we practiced. Form your circles. We don’t know how long we have until the vlor’lords figure out we’re missing.”
The rustle of silks sounded as the women arranged themselves into circles.
Paula, and then Chandra approached, each with their clutch of s’vlor. They grinned in greeting, but wasted no time in saying hello. Instead, they formed up their newcomers and prepared to link together. Paula’s eyes danced.
Elise watched the circles form, and her chest swelled with pride. The women held hands and snuck surreptitious glances around the enormous hangar. A sound from behind announced the arrival of another group.
Aomi brought the last of the Fifth Rank s’vlor. Aomi’s face pinched with worry. She hustled her gaggle of s’vlor into place, and whispered a hurried warning to the others.
“Take your spots girls. We’re going to have company shortly.” Aomi turned to Alice. “I’m sorry, but Sarah woke up after you left. She’s sure to have raised the alarm. We’d better figure out how to shield everyone, because all hell is about ready to break loose.”
In response to her warning, booted-steps echoed from the far end of the hangar.
Elise squinted in the distance and made out black uniformed shapes coming toward them at a trot. Behind the WOR-guards, tan suits marked High Tenders racing to keep pace.
She raised a hand. “Aomi, get into position and form the links. Don’t worry about the WOR-guards. I have them.” She turned to her Vendel friends. “This is where it gets ugly. If you choose to stand with us, you need to move to the center of the circle. I can’t shield you if you’re at the edges.” She turned her attention to Alice. “Ready?”
Dove shepherded Jeena, Larkin, and Carek to the center of the WOR.
Larkin eyed Aomi with appreciation as he passed. She blushed and turned away to work.
“Elise, do you need help?” Alice directed Aomi’s group into place with a wave of her hands. The booted-steps approached with a thunderous roar. They didn’t have much time.
“This I have, but you need to make sure every link is in place and let me know when it’s done. Once you have it sorted out, I’ll need you and your link to take over the shield. A single link can handle it while I form all of us into the super-link. I can’t do both and I’ll need you to watch the construct as I fold it, so you’ll know what to do.”
The black mass of towering WOR-guards closed in, sprinting. It was going to be close.
Alice gave a nod and set to work. The woman was a natural leader.
Elise felt keystones activate linking constructs all around her. They had eight full circles and one partial of eight women. It would be barely enough. The keystones pulled women into place and the links solidified. Now, to shield them all from the encroaching force of WOR-guard and Tenders.
Alex, are you ready?
Yes.
Malice, Shriek, Whimper? You with us?
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
They answered in resounding chorus. Even Whimper sounded confident.
Good! Let’s show these bastards what we can do.
Elise folded space around herself and the s’vlor. An invisible shield surrounded the women and formed a complete sphere. It guarded their feet as well as the space around and above them. She wasn’t about to be surprised by an attack from below. Elise knew of the service corridors beneath their feet and the vulnerability that posed. If Gregor, or the High Tenders, expected her to have forgotten about that facet of the shield, they’d be in for a nasty surprise.
The first WOR-guard descended upon the group. He came at them, whipstick at the ready, and running full speed. He hit the shield, bounced back, and skidded across the deck-plating. A surprised grunt followed. Ten of his fellows repeated the performance, surprise, then alarm flashed across their faces as they sailed through the air. The men nursed bruised elbows, backs, and backsides and laughed.
No.
That wasn’t the men. Malice cackled with glee.
Alice signaled the completion of the nine links.
Elise arched a brow, asking if Alice was ready to take over control of the shield.
Alice nodded. She was ready.
Elise transferred the WOR-bubble shield to Alice.
They fumbled for a minute, dropping the shield. Tense seconds passed while Alice struggled to reform the barrier. Fortunately, the WOR-guards had retreated and were giving the invisible barrier wary consideration. In the meantime, Alice recovered and reformed the shield.
The High Tenders arrived a few seconds behind the WOR-guards, braklavs in hand, out of breath, their eyes gleamed with menace.
Elise ignored them. They would be treated to a unique surprise if any of them attempted to breach the WOR-shield.
She began the arduous process of weaving the individual links into a massive unified structure. The first flash of the WOR-shield sparked. Screams of High Tenders filled the hangar deck as the energy of the shield radiated back through the braklavs into their hands. As long as they held the braklav, the WOR-shield would be unforgiving. Several more flashes of energy lit the hangar. Evidently, the High Tenders were not as smart as she thought.
Forming a super-link of nine circles gave her difficulty. It was much harder than the link of two circles she’d accomplished within the am-net tank. She struggled. Minutes passed. Her first few attempts failed. Just as with learning to juggle, the harder she tried, the more balls she dropped.
Alex whispered in her ear, providing encouragement. Elise nodded, and dipped into the dimensional cracks—a time and space only she could touch. The third circle joined the first two, and then the next slid into place. Alex guided her, and together they brought nine linked circles together.
Alice glanced at Elise. Her mouth gaped in wonder, feeling a power Elise controlled that she could never touch.
Elise gave the construct over to Whimper to hold. Whimper took control, sat down, and hummed with contentment. Elise had a new task to perform. Two figures approached at a dead run. Gregor and High Tender Marcus vlor’Vardhal sprinted across the flight deck. Their boots rang out on the hard surface and echoed off the walls.
His timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
Chapter Twenty-One
The blood in Elise’s veins thrummed with power.
Somehow, Gregor had defeated her pacification construct. She would figure out later how he’d accomplished that feat. By all accounts, he should still be sprawled on the bed in his quarters. Behind Gregor, a new group of men advanced. These carried weapons. Imperial soldiers spread out, forming a defensive line.
They had no idea what they faced.
She paused, relishing the moment of confrontation, and waited for Gregor to make his move. The glower in the High Tender’s face promised retribution. She was done with his brand of pain. He couldn’t touch her anymore. None of the High Tenders could touch the Earth WOR. He would soon realize that.
Gregor’s expression was harder to read. Fury was not reflected on his features. The swirling tattoo did not promise pain like the High Tender. Silver eyes flashed in the light. A ghost of surprise and wonder crinkled at the corner of his eyes.
For the briefest of moments, he looked impressed, but then the cold steel of his gaze locked onto her. The beginnings of anger darkened his expression. Dark brows turned
down and the muscles of his jaw bunched as he clenched his teeth. His eyes narrowed and he stared at her across an unimaginable gulf.
She nodded, acknowledging her adversary, and Gregor stopped short.
The High Tender made to approach the barrier, but Gregor held him back with a restraining hand.
“She has them shielded, Lord vlor’Vardhal.”
Her brows quirked up in surprise. He could see the barrier?
Gregor ran his gaze around the WOR-shield. He definitely saw it. But not the High Tender? Now, that was interesting.
A new group of men poured into the hangar, singly and in small groups. The vlor’lords had arrived.
They were now complete. Emperor, High Tenders, WOR-guards, and now the vlor’lords. They would all stand witness to what they had created. As the vlor’lords neared, they too traced the boundary of the WOR-shield. The High Tenders couldn’t see the boundary, but their masters could.
“You have much to answer for, opés,” Gregor said with a growl. His fingers clenched, forming fists, and he took a half-step forward.
She ignored him, but did not take her eyes off him.
Slowly, the growing crowd of Vendel men encircled the women. WOR-guards formed the innermost ring. High Tenders stood beyond. Imperial soldiers spread themselves out in several configurations, and the newest arrivals, the vlor’lords, weaved between the rings of men to stand at the edge of the shield.
“Alice, rejoin your circle,” Elise commanded. “Shriek will manage the shield.”
Alice’s eyes widened in surprise. She knew about Elise’s silent sisters, but this was the first time Elise had spoken of one of them as an individual. Alice closed her mouth and transferred the shield.
Shriek grabbed the construct from Alice. Unlike their first transfer, Shriek took control seamlessly and enlarged the shield with a shove outward. Those vlor’lords, too slow in their reactions, slid backwards twenty feet as Shriek gave the WOR more room to move within their bubble.
The Earth WOR continued to hold hands in their assigned circles. They felt every move Elise, Alice, Shriek and Whimper made. Only Alex and Malice had yet to openly announce themselves to the group. A growing excitement blossomed as the women understood the full extent of what was happening.
The Vendel watched from outside the shield. Immune to the influence of their captors, the Earth WOR settled into their power.
“Everyone ready?” Elise asked.
Through the combined super-link, their response rang in her ears.
“Opés,” Gregor hissed, “what are you doing?”
She turned to stare at her former master. “You will never use that derogatory name with me again, Emperor vlor’Malita. We declare our independence.”
High Tender vlor’Vardhal inhaled sharply. “My lord . . .”
Gregor waved him to silence. “You won’t get away with this. At some point, you will have to lower this shield. Do so now, and none of you will be punished for this . . .” he waved his hand in the air, “transgression.”
“Emperor, you fail to understand your position. We have declared our independence. We are free of you and any threats you make toward us will be addressed. Touch one of my women and you will feel the full force of my fury.”
“You dare speak to the Emperor this way?” High Tender vlor’Vardhal screamed.
She chose her words carefully. “Lord vlor’Vardhal, shut up.”
His face turned beet red as his expression twisted in rage. He raised his hands and lunged for her throat.
Malice cackled as he contacted the barrier.
Lights flashed and his face morphed into a rictus of pain.
Shriek trickled power into the shield and held the High Tender at the edge of the boundary.
Elise gave Shriek her moment of revenge. Shriek had certainly earned it.
The High Tender spasmed in agony. His mouth opened to scream, but no sound came out.
Elise remembered the feeling well. Breath was required for screaming. How many times had he left her in a rictus of agony?
Shriek unloaded her version of Tender Training on the High Tender.
His body thrashed wildly. He emptied his bladder, and then his bowels.
Malice began to keen.
“Elise, stop it, please.” Gregor spoke softly, making his words a request rather than an order.
Perhaps he realized the power between them had shifted?
“You never showed such compassion for me.” She turned cold eyes on the Emperor.
“I never took pleasure in it either.”
“I’m not the one in charge right now,” she said.
“I feel you using the power. Stop this.” Gregor glanced at the flopping form of the High Tender. He eyed her with uneasy wariness. Lord vlor’Vardhal’s face turned a nasty shade of purple. Gagging sounds issued from his throat.
“Shriek’s not done yet.”
“Who is Shriek?” Gregor’s tattoo finally began its maddening dance. His anger was returning.
“Perhaps it’s time for you to meet my sisters, Emperor. You made them, after all.” The corner of her mouth twitched up at the look of confusion on his face.
The women behind Elise shuffled, and a few made gagging sounds. Light continued to flash around the WOR-shield as the High Tender remained trapped within.
It was enough.
Shriek? She spoke to her friend.
Shriek panted with the effort of her torture, and for the first time Shriek cried.
That had always been Whimper’s job.
Shriek, enough. Release him. We are not the High Tenders.
He hurt me so much and made me beg for more. Shriek sniffled.
You have to hold the shield, and I need you to stand by me with the S’Lorek. He’s not worth wasting your energy. Let him go, he can’t hurt you anymore.
I want to sleep, Elise. I’m so tired.
I promise, my sister, you may sleep once this is done, but we have much more still to do. Let him go.
With a sob, Shriek released the High Tender.
His body fell to the ground. Several WOR-guards pulled him back from the edge of the boundary. The purple coloring faded from the High Tender’s face, only to be replaced by a deep red and then a pale, pasty gray. He was alive.
Elise dismissed him from her thoughts.
An arcing beam of energy shot through the WOR-shield.
It pinned the High Tender’s body to the ground.
Elise traced the line of energy back to Paula.
Paula’s face twisted in rage and torment as she finished what Shriek had begun. High Tender vlor’Vardhal, Master of the Tender Conclave, jerked and then went still. The WOR-guards assisting him flew back ten feet from the force of the blast. The imperial soldiers rushing to his side would find no pulse in that body.
Paula stared at Elise, daring her to say a word. Madness flashed behind Paula’s eyes, before being replaced by a calming peace. Her friend drew breath, unclenched her fists, and stood straight.
“I take full responsibility for that devil’s death,” Paula said.
“We’ll speak about it later, Paula,” Elise responded. “Justice is an odd animal, never what you think it should be.” Elise bowed her head to her friend, and fellow Tender Group member. They had an appreciation of the High Tender which only a few others shared. Elise searched for the faces of their Tender Group cohort. Clipped nods greeted her examination. Yes, they agreed, justice was seldom what it appeared.
“Emperor,” Elise spoke with cool dispassion, “we have work to perform. Clear your men from the hangar.”
Gregor watched the body of the High Tender being carted off by four men. He turned to Elise. “I will not.”
He scanned the s’vlor. His eyes widened when he made out the four Vendel standing at the center. His voice lowered with menace. “Have you gone mad?”
“No, Emperor vlor’Malita,” she said, emphasizing his name. “You collected us to deal with the S’Lorek threat. We will stop it an
d then we will leave you.”
“I command you to stop,” he said. “The Binding . . .”
“You command nothing. The Binding Rite failed.”
“But you . . . we . . . you couldn’t have faked all of that.”
“Didn’t I?”
He didn’t need to know the truth. She had enjoyed it as much or more than him. Given another time and place, she wouldn’t hesitate to choose him, but that was not the way of things. She shook her head and gave him a cold stare. “Remove your men.”
“I can’t do that.”
“So be it. Interfere with what we’re doing, distract us for a moment, and I’ll personally treat you to the High Tender’s fate. This is what you brought us here to do. Let us finish it.”
“How are you going to do that?” Gregor took a step forward, but stopped two paces from the edge of the boundary. “You need us to stabilize your power.”
“I don’t need you anymore.” She sent out feelers and located the S’Lorek within the bubble of n-space it traveled within. “We’re going to fight. I trust you to leave us to it.”
Alex ripped the S’Lorek out of its dimensional folding and forced it into normal space where it reeled, stunned from the harsh transition.
Elise took a WOR-step and travelled from here to there.
It was time to end this.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Everyone in the hangar staggered as reality shifted. Like a rubber band, they stretched, snapped, and then wobbled before coming to a rest. The Gambit traveled twenty-five light-years within the space of a moment.
Elise lifted her arm and traced the outlines of a screen into the air above Gregor’s head. Sitting within a field of stars, a lumpy, potato-like moonlet sat dazed and confused. She lifted the combined voices of nearly ninety WOR and spoke to the S’Lorek, transmitting the conversation for all the Vendel, friend and foe, to follow.
Gregor, and those standing with him, moved from the space below the screen and took vantage points with clearer views.
