“I’m not sure of the specifics, but it was basically what you said. I was able to survive thanks to the commander and professor.” He glanced at Chiyo who lingered in the corner of the room. “I heard I also have you to thank as well.”
“And Cyra. It was her plan, to begin with,” she said, walked over, and sat on the bed. “I’m glad I could help and that you are okay.”
“Much better than the whole brain-melting thing,” Kaiden agreed.
“So, will you take the get out of the Academy free card?” Flynn asked.
“Are any of you?” he asked.
“Well, none of us had a psycho gunning for us and we’ve all come this far.” Silas shrugged. “I’d feel more of a failure leaving now than actually flunking.”
“Same here,” Julius agreed.
“Like my mom would let me.” Amber rolled her eyes dramatically. “Did you know she named a potent healing serum after you?”
“I use it a lot,” he confessed. “What about the rest of you?”
Everyone confirmed that they would stay and Kaiden nodded. “I already told Sasha I wouldn’t let Gin have the last laugh. I’ll stick around.”
“Good on ya, mate.” Flynn bumped his fist against his shoulder.
“Someone’s gonna have to try real hard to get rid of the Nexus crew,” Mack declared and elicited giggles and strange looks from the others. “What? Not a good name?”
“Not the best.” The ace chuckled and he gazed encompassed Chief and his friends. “But I agree. If someone comes for us, we’ll take them on. I ain’t gonna settle.”
Glitch: RAZA: The Brotherhood of Two Warriors
Chapter One
Ran’ama Aboren Zin’til Arcquini, the tribal leader of the Tul’Zera Sauren and one of nineteen war chiefs, looked out from the balcony of his spire and over the planet of Saura, his home.
Or it should be, at least, but it seemed he spent less and less time there as he aged. That wasn’t abnormal for the Sauren, however, once they earned their marks. Warriors and war chiefs spent many cycles out on the hunt to bring back trophies, valuables. and honor for themselves and their people. But once he’d been elected to both positions two decades earlier, those years of wanderlust should naturally have been brought to a close. However, between his duty as a delegate and his own personal missions, he seemed to be off-world more than he had ever been before.
“War chief?” Raza turned as Ken’ra, his advisor, entered his chambers. “You seem preoccupied.”
“I’m merely enjoying a last look upon the land, Ken’ra. I’ll depart soon and I wanted to soak it in before my prolonged leave.” He turned to face his advisor and friend. “What do you need from me?”
Ken’ra placed a fist against his chest and bowed his head. “It’s actually not a request of mine, but from a number of the potential Jah-Wai. They begin their hunt soon, but once they heard that you would not be here to see them off, they all agreed to begin their preparations early so that you could attend.”
“The Jah-Wai? Has this cycle’s initiation begun already?” he muttered as he shook his head. “They should know not to take it so lightly and that they need that time to prepare. Forsaking adequate preparation simply to ensure my presence is not a sound strategy.”
“Agreed, War Chief, but you know the youth. They did not grow up in the thick of blood and battle as we did. As a result, they hold onto traditions with a kind of sacred mysticism rather than as the real trials of hunters.”
Raza sighed and descended the steps. “I leave tomorrow days. When do they believe they can be ready?”
His aide looked solemn. “They say they are ready now, sir. We can begin at dawn.”
“The only thing more deadly than a fool is an eager one.” He sighed again and clicked his teeth in irritation. “But I admire their spirit, and it has been some time since I took part in the send-off ceremony.”
“Not since the initiation four cycles ago.”
“That long?” he asked, almost aghast. “Very well. I shall meet you at the grounds at the break of morning.”
“Very good, Chief. I shall tell them at once. I’m sure they will be ecstatic.”
“After the ceremony, I will make my departure, but I will try to make it back to greet and congratulate the survivors.” His aide nodded and departed, and Raza watched his old friend for a moment before he walked over to his chambers. Above his resting mat was a collection of his trophies, the skulls or taxidermied parts of many prey along with weapons and emblems from battles long before. Above all of them hung something that looked out of place—a simple staff, the tip partially broken.
The war chief clawed at the strap on his left arm and unwound it. He moved a finger to trace along a scar there—a curved design with a slash through the middle—and two smaller ones above and beneath it. This was his mark of a successful Jah-Wai, a proven Sauren hunter and survivor.
It took him back to before his duties and life as a leader, to when he was still an unproven little drek. One who believed he was unstoppable, that simply being a Sauren was enough to prove his superiority. It had taken a brush with death against a creature that nature had intended to be a near-perfect killer to prove him wrong and correct his course.
Raza landed with a loud thud, and Lok and Ken’ra eyed him warily.
“We are in the Jearo section of the jungle, Ran’ama,” Lok warned. “These beasts will not be the easy prey we have faced before. They specialized in ambush and have claimed Sauren lives before.”
“Let them come,” Raza challenged and snapped his teeth as he patted the razor disk on his belt. “We are more than prepared, or did you not come here for victory?”
“Victory is all we seek,” Ken’ra attested. “But we would have to return breathing for that to matter.”
“Pah, this will be where we make our stand,” he stated and gestured into the forest. “When we claim the heads of these beasts, we shall return as Jah-Wai. Then, our true lives can begin.”
“You say that, and yet you brought along a memento of your youngling days?” Ken’ra asked and pointed to the training spear on the back of Raza’s waist.
He chuckled. “I brought it to throw into the flames at the ascension as the final marker of my youth.” He squinted into the jungle. “But first, we need to find our prey before we can fell it and claim our marks.”
“If we do this right, that is how this will play out.” Lok nodded. “But the Jearo are creatures of amazing speed and their shells are hard to crack, even with our weapons.”
“And their poison is lethal to almost any creature,” Ken’ra added cautiously.
“Except for the Sauren,” Raza boasted. “They cannot poison us enough to kill us, not with our regeneration and blood cleansing.”
“It’s potent enough to slow our natural healing and clot our blood,” Lok reminded him. “If we are stuck, the tide turns to favor them. They could finish us off at their leisure.”
Raza huffed air out of his nostrils and pushed past his comrades. “Then I suggest not getting stuck.”
The two Saurens shrugged. Ken’ra activated his wrist-blade and followed. Lok held his spear up and with one last look around, trailed behind the others.
None of them were aware of the eyes that studied them intently.
Raza activated his wrist blade and cut through the brush. It was both noisy and inefficient, but he hoped it would draw their quarry to them. He looked back when one of his partners sniffed the air. “Do you smell something, Ken’ra?”
The green-and-brown Sauren nodded. “Yes, but it’s familiar.” He hissed slightly with a sharp intake of breath. “Blood—Sauren blood.”
Lok peered apprehensively into the undergrowth as Raza narrowed his eyes. “Lead us to it.”
With Ken’ra on point, the three sprinted ahead and they made their way to a clearing in the jungle. They halted abruptly at the sight of the source of the blood. “Yal’ko and Core…” Ken’ra sputtered, unable to look away from the bodies o
f their fellow Jah-Wai hopefuls.
Raza approached the corpses to roll Core’s black-and-blue scaled body. Three large gashes scored his chest and his tail was severed at the tip. “These are long marks and deep—he was run through,” he noted and dipped a claw into the wound. “His blood is thick, like mud.”
“Jearo poison,” Lok confirmed, and he studied the bodies grimly. “They are mostly intact and look at the way they were gored—Core from the back so the poison set in quickly. Yal’ko’s throat was cut, which cut off her air and she could not heal quickly enough to recover.”
“They were attacked unawares—an ambush,” Ken’ra finished.
Raza eased the body down gently. “Core was an excellent hunter.” He glanced at their other fallen comrade, her brown scales darkened by blood. “Yal’ko had almost no equal among our group as a tracker. If they could not pursue the Jearo without attracting its attention—”
“Then perhaps your open defiance was an ill tactical choice?” Lok jeered.
He looked over his shoulder at his sarcastic friend. “I intended to say that stealth has no use in this situation.” His eyes widened as he caught sight of something that tried to blend into the jungle as it crept closer to Lok. Raza snatched his razor disk and flung it over the other hunter’s shoulder. Both his companions turned as the disk struck the creature, which uttered a high-pitched wail when one of its limbs was cleanly severed. It sounded more surprised or annoyed than pained, though.
The hunters huddled together and focused on the creature as it pushed from the brush. It was tall with a hardened green carapace and stared at them with three eyes in a triangular shape, gray in color with intersecting grids across them. The large mandibles flinched and extended. Its three remaining arms ended in scythe-like blades. Despite that its legs were unnaturally arched, it moved almost like it glided across the jungle floor.
This was, without a doubt, the Jearo.
While Ken’ra and Lok simply stared at it, wide-eyed, Raza smiled. “We have found our prey.” He extended one hand and drew it back to call the razor disk back to him. Hopefully, it would slice through the creature’s midsection on its return. “It will soon be our prize.”
One of the creature’s arms turned backward to an unnatural one hundred and eighty degrees. It cleaved effortlessly through the returning disk, shocking all three of its adversaries. The beast released a low, ghastly hiss as it stooped in preparation to attack. Raza held his arm with the wrist blade up as Ken’ra and Lok readied to fight.
“We must find a way to break through its shell,” Lok stated. He scrabbled at his belt and tossed a kinetic hammer to Raza. “Our blades alone won’t be able to cut through it. We must expose the meat underneath.”
Raza activated the hammer and swung it in the air. “I will make sure that happens.” He pointed at the insectoid. “Hear me, Jearo. I am Ran’ama Aboren Zin’til Arcquini of the Tul’Zera tribe. I will be your hunter.”
Whether the creature could understand him or not, it had enough instinct to know a threat. It leapt forward and Lok and Ken’ra ran to the sides as Raza met it head-on. One of its arms slashed at him, and he blocked the attack with his blade as he pounded its chest with the hammer. The blow pushed the Jearo back, but no cracks appeared. Ken’ra threw his razor disk at the creature. It struck it squarely in the chest but bounced off and careened past Raza’s head, who ducked frantically to avoid the bladed weapon.
“My disk did nothing,” Ken’ra shouted in surprise.
“But mine did,” Raza noted with some bewilderment. His gaze shifted to the insectoid’s arm and the fleshy string around the area he had cut, which was unarmored like the rest of its body. He also noticed that the string seemed to tie itself together. Color returned slowly as if something was reforming. He had thought that the Sauren had the best regeneration ability in the galaxy, but the Jearo was proving him wrong.
“We must kill it quickly,” he shouted to his companions. “It’s already repairing its arm and it can outlast us.”
“Continue to strike its shell, Raza,” Lok instructed and dashed forward. “I will get you an opening. Build up the force of the hammer.”
Raza hefted the weapon and tightened both hands on the haft before he barreled after Lok. The Jearo brought down two of its arms, which Lok blocked with his spear. It readied the third to bisect the hunter, but he held the staff with one hand and raised his other with the wrist blade activated and caught the second strike. He struggled against the strength of the creature. “Ran’ama.”
“I’m here,” Raza shouted. He stepped past Lok and swung the hammer into the Jearo’s side. When it connected, he pressed the switch and the hammer exploded with a wave of force. The impact thrust both Sauren and Jearo back and also demolished sections of the jungle around them. Raza and Lok scrambled quickly to their feet, but so did their adversary. It immediately lashed out at Lok and opened a deep gash in his chest.
“Lok,” Raza shouted as the hunter staggered back.
“Raza!” the third Sauren yelled and threw him a vial. “Heal Lok. I will distract the beast.”
Ken’ra hurtled in and swiped at the monster with his wrist blade as his fellow hunter caught the vial. Raza ran to Lok, who had already collapsed. He undid the top of the serum and applied the liquid to the wound. “Will this help with the poison?”
“I thought you believed us indestructible.” Lok chuckled but without any real mirth.
“You joke now when you’re injured?” Raza mocked.
“I’ll live. That wasn’t enough to fell me,” the wounded warrior stated. “But even with the medicine, I am too injured to assist other than as a distraction.”
“We may not always see things the same when it comes to the ways of the hunter, but I will not throw your life away. I wanted to fell this beast on my own as it was.”
“Hopefully it doesn’t come to—”
“Grah!” They looked up, their expressions grim. The Jearo had sliced Ken’ra’s bladed arm off. He staggered back and his adversary pressed the attack and raised its arms to deliver a final blow. Lok sat hastily and fired a bolt from his gauntlet to pierce the top eye of the beast with an arrow.
“At least we know that is vulnerable,” he muttered. “Ken’ra, retreat!”
“It looks like I’ll have my wish.” Raza stood with his blade at the ready. “You two need to leave.”
“You would claim this beast alone?” Ken’ra asked as he applied a gel hastily to his severed arm to stem the bleeding. “The poison that coats its blades is lethal. I can already feel it coursing through me.”
“Which is why you need to recover and prepare,” he pointed out.
“You think tactically now?” Lok asked.
“You said you would be its hunter,” Ken’ra reminded him.
“I am,” Raza agreed. “But it might have companions, and I’m sure you don’t desire more battle.”
The two injured Saurens exchanged a quick glance. “Hunt well, Raza.” Ken’ra offered his hand to help Lok to his feet.
“I will.” Raza shifted his stance as the Jearo focused its attention on him. “But it will be a short hunt.”
The creature wailed defiance and Raza roared in return and charged. He caught an attacking blade with one claw and sliced the vulnerable area of the arm with his wrist-blade. The limb severed easily but his opponent did not ease its assault. It raised a leg and kicked the Sauren back while the vicious blade clashed with Raza’s to break it apart and drive him back even further.
Once he recovered, he looked up and snapped at the beast as it waved its remaining arms at him threateningly. A quick glance confirmed that his last attack with the hammer had cracked the creature’s armor, but the hole was too small for his wrist-blades. He wasn’t sure his claws were long enough to penetrate and damage the beast deeply enough.
As it approached menacingly, Raza’s hand skimmed across his old spear. It was small and meant for a youngling’s hands and height, but it was sharp with barbe
d edges on the tip and could be exactly what he needed. He drew and unfolded it, then readied himself as the Jearo careened toward him, its blades poised and ready to run him through.
He held the spear aloft, dug his feet into the ground as he met the attack, and swung the spear to thrust it through the crack in the shell. It slid in easily and skewered the beast. This time, the wail definitely sounded pained.
Raza grimaced at a sudden searing pain in his stomach. The arm he had severed with the razor disk had regrown enough to inflict a deep incision. The Jearo stepped forward and shoved the blade deeper. The Sauren met its gaze boldly and roared at the beast. He snapped its head between his teeth, thrust the spear deeper, and twisted it as he tried to crush its head at the same time. In response, his adversary slashed the hand that blocked its blades, and Raza hissed in pain. He eased his grip enough for the Jearo to twist its head out of his mouth and pull back to free its blades. It dragged them back and flung them forward in a powerful motion. The hunter held the spear firmly and pulled as he moved out of reach of the strike and eased himself off the blade still protruding from his abdomen. The tip of the spear snapped as he yanked it out, and the jagged edges gouged the creature’s flesh as it withdrew.
The beast made garbled sounds as it stumbled back. He knew, though, that it could recover rapidly. This wouldn’t be enough to end it. Raza dropped the spear and approached the beast. It tried to attack, but the thrusts were slow. He was easily able to dodge some, and others missed him completely. A hard kick brought the Jearo down and he placed his hands on the sides of its head. He summoned all his remaining strength and increased the relentless pressure. Finally, when he was sure he could no longer endure, green blood and clear fluids burst from the creature’s eyes and the skull caved inward. The beast went still, and he dropped the head with a grunt of triumph. He was victorious.
Raza stood, looked at the Jearo’s blood on his claws, and used it to paint the Jah-Wei symbol onto his arm. He would receive the real mark—a scar given to those who passed their trial—when he returned, but for now, he simply flung a final look at his prey before he roared into the sky. He was a hunter.
Animus Boxed Set 2 (Books 5-8): Revenant, Glitch, Master, Infiltration Page 40
