The Chronicles of Lorrek Box Set

by Kelly Blanchard

  However, although Lorrek had not been there all these years, Inecha had been there every step of the way. While Erita flaunted her abilities and proudly went by the title of ‘sorceress’ for the royal family of Cuskelom, Inecha stayed in the shadows and rarely called upon her powers. At times Honroth doubted her magical abilities, but when the occasion called for it, Inecha had stepped forward in all her simple beauty and grace, and with a whispered word she revealed the motives of those in Honroth’s court.

  Once, when Honroth couldn’t sleep due to a complicated choice he had to make, he went to her, and she took him by the hand and led him into the realm of magic. Honroth had heard of its beauty, but he had never expected to experience it, and it was an experience he never forgot. Sometimes, when he was alone without the wise counsel of Inecha, he thought back to the memories of magic and felt envy claw inside him because it came so easy to people like Inecha and Lorrek, but he had to wander through life blindly.

  And now without Inecha, he felt blinder than ever—and emptier.

  “You loved her,” he could almost hear his mother say, but Honroth shook his head then scrubbed his face dry with a towel.

  Turning back to his desk and the pile of work still left to do, Honroth sighed. He couldn’t say he loved Inecha. He felt strongly for her. He had paced back and forth outside the healer’s ward after Erita alerted him that Inecha had overworked herself when she spent several hours in the magic realm investigating claims of weaknesses in Cuskelom’s borders. When he was finally allowed to see her—though chided by the healer to let her rest—Honroth had realized how pale was she, how delicate she appeared, and how frightened he had been. He had seized her hand and gave her a hard look. “Don’t ever do that again!”

  Back then, she had given him a puzzled look by furrowing her brows. “But I—”

  He had silenced her with a sharp gesture and never softened his glare. “I said don’t. I cannot allow you to bring harm upon yourself—not like this. There are others who can seal our borders without straining themselves. For now, I do not want you to use your magic unless absolutely necessary.” With that, he straightened and shifted to leave, but she snaked out her hand and snatched his wrist.

  He looked down at her hand on his, and when he glanced to her, she nodded. “I will do as you ask, but I will also only use my power when you request it of me because...” she gave a small smile, “Erita might not always be around.”

  This was acceptable, so he nodded and she released his hand.

  He had wanted to linger and say more—wanted to forget about the kingdom for now and simply stay by Inecha’s side and enjoy her company, but Cuskelom could not wait. Bowing his head to Inecha, Honroth turned then marched out of her room.

  On his shoulders he had felt her stare. He had wanted to turn around—wanted to say the things he never let himself even think upon, but he kept walking.

  But that had been the past.

  Now, alone in his chambers, aware of the untrustworthy alliance he was considering with Verddra, Honroth wished Inecha was here. Her quiet companionship had been the anchor for his calm, and now he felt more alone than he had throughout his entire reign as king.

  Sighing, Honroth sat down at his desk and began reviewing the proposed strategies of the coming battles, requests for reinforcements, and a report of inventory for the army. He signed the inventory list as confirmation that he had read it and began to write a proposal to gather reinforcements for the more desperate fortresses under attack.

  Being king—he could do that. Leave out all the emotion. Make the difficult decisions and necessary sacrifices. He was good at being king.

  15

  Pelham marched through the glass corridors of the Senate building. Beside him, Kyra walked in step and informed him of the latest developments among the Guardians, but then Pelham stopped at a specific door and lifted his hand to silence the humanoid. “Send word to the game masters. This annual Guardian Games will not take place in the usual arena, but it will be a very, very different game.” With that, he turned and stepped into a conference room adjoined to the main Senate chambers.

  His light blue eyes gazed over those already gathered—Asalda, six main advisors, and Gaetana, the queen of Jechorm. He also noted Drathan, Ceras, and the older assassin Calder standing like statues along the walls, watching and hearing everything, but he ignored them and went straight to the circle of accomplices with a proud smile. “I just received word—we are ready to proceed to the next stage.”

  “Attacking the heart of Cuskelom and assigning our Guardians to the task...are you certain this is a sound plan?” Queen Gaetana looked to her counselors then fixed her gaze on Asalda and Pelham. “And what of the annual game? Investors have set down much money throughout the year to ensure that this game is the most spectacular of them all. If you cancel this game, you will not receive any of the funding, and you cannot function without that funding.”

  Annoyance rattled through Asalda, but she clenched her hands as she shifted where she sat at the table. She glimpsed at Pelham where he sat beside her with his arm draped over the back of her chair. He caught her gaze then nodded toward Gaetana for Asalda to answer.

  Gathering a calming breath, Asalda smoothed out her expression and locked eyes with the advisors and the queen then offered them a brilliant smile. “The game will not be cancelled, but I assure you it will be most spectacular. Right now we need the support of our Guardians in Cuskelom. With their unique abilities, we have the upper hand, but we will make this much, much more interesting. All Guardians will be assigned to Cuskelom, and even the Hunters will be allowed to join the battlefield. However, I am sure you are aware of the virus shared by all Guardians, who come forward wishing to be human?” When she received several nods, she went on, “We have developed technology that allows us to visually identify those who are infected. We plan to install this software into every Guardian’s program, so when they come across an infected Guardian, they will not hesitate to offline them—even in the midst of battle with Cuskelom.”

  Drathan straightened when he heard this, and he shot Calder a look. Did he hear right? But Calder nodded at him before fixing his attention once more on those gathering; already Drathan could see the older assassin’s mind working to read the motive, intentions, and hidden thoughts of the council members.

  With Calder preoccupied, Drathan shifted his gaze to Ceras. They locked eyes, and he saw the ghost of a cunning smile upon her lips. He knew once she left this room she would go straight to Sirros, Nyvera, and the others and inform them of this new development in the games, so he would inform the other Hunters as well after this meeting.

  The council had no idea what was unfolding in their very midst, but Drathan preferred it that way. He never liked the control the Senate had over the Guardian Games, and he preferred being the element of surprise rather than being surprised.

  “Asalda,” Gaetana’s commanding voice caught the woman’s attention, and even Drathan cast his gaze to her to hear the order she would give the woman behind the Guardian program. “What of Prince Theran?”

  Several advisors shared a look. “What of him? He accompanied King Honroth and apologized for stealing the handblade from us.”

  Pelham chuckled. “No, that was his identical cousin, Therth. The real Prince Theran came to Asalda, disguised as Therth…” Then he paused and thought about what he was saying. “This does get a little confusing.” However, he shook his head and looked at the councilmen. “Needless to say, a Guardian informed us of the mistaken identities, and we plan to use it to our advantage.” He smiled.

  The advisor frowned. “But he should be held accountable for ambushing our men and stealing the handblade from us.”

  “Perhaps,” young Queen Gaetana spoke up then looked at the man. She smiled at him. “But his actions brought us war with Cuskelom, and that is what we wanted in the first place, wasn’t it?” When no one argued with that, Geatana looked at Asalda. “Go to Prince Theran. We will proceed
to the next phase, and we need his absolute cooperation.”

  Asalda bowed her head to the queen of Jechorm and gifted her with a confident smile. “I have it under control. He will readily agree.”

  Beside her, Pelham gave Asalda a doubtful look but then shook his head and focused on the counselors. “With your permission, I would like to dispatch a squadron of filming drones to oversee the operations of the Guardians. The Guardian Games will begin sooner than usual, and we should begin advertising and announcing it in order to prompt viewings and ratings. The Games will also be larger than before, so we need every available drone. This will be a massive and amazing battle, and we must get started as soon as possible. We want the public to find each Guardian enticing, so the bets will begin over who will win.”

  “And while you do that,” Asalda rose to her feet, “I will get to the technical work and see to it that Prince Theran is well-suited for action and that every rebel Guardian is marked and ready for the Games.” With that, she bowed to those gathered in the room then turned on her heel and strolled out of the room.

  Prince Theran—their unexpected guest courtesy of Countess Verddra—had been found probing the systems for one named Fawn or Radella, but so far Asalda was pleased he had found nothing. It kept him in Jechorm, and the longer he was here, the more willing he was to assist them in their ultimate goal. He had no idea of the real issues in action now or the consequences, and Asalda preferred it that way.

  Passing through the glass corridors, Asalda came to a lift and stepped inside then pressed the button for it to go down. At a smooth but swift pace, the lift descended.

  Theran stood in the observation room above the Guardian training arena with his arms crossed, watching the Guardians practice. Their armor covered their bodies entirely, but they moved with a human smoothness. For the last several times that he had observed, he watched their very human interactions—the way they communicated with each other with words and body language, how they moved, and how they reacted sometimes with emotion.

  Tilting his head, Theran tried to imagine these armored warriors as real humans or as simply wired machines. He couldn’t comprehend this, especially after he had seen the faces of several Guardians—especially Noden and Pelkin. The other Guardians insisted they were highly advanced humanoids, which look like humans, but Theran wasn’t sure if that was true.

  At the edge of the arena, Guardian Drathic stood, watching the other Guardians work in unison against the female Guardian Pelkin. He waited for the right opportunity to strike.

  Pelkin never stopped moving, and her feet were rarely on the ground. With all the ropes dangling from the ceilings and multiple raised platforms far above the ground, she climbed with ease, pulled herself up and did not pause to estimate the distance between each platform but instead ran and then leapt from one platform to another and ducked and rolled back to her feet. The other Guardians shot at her with their guns, blasted her with their magical powers of lightning, fire, glass, ice, and metal, but she dodged them all with amazing strength, flexibility, timing, and gymnastic skill. She raced from platform to platform then dove for another landing with hands out-stretched, but Theran held his breath—it was too far.

  However, Pelkin grabbed a horizontal supporting bar and swung her body up and around onto the landing where she crouched, her hand balancing on the floor as she assessed the situation below. Seeing her fellow Guardians staring up at her, she laughed. “Is that all you have? A trainee could have done better.”

  Theran stared at her perplexed. She was outnumbered one-to-five, and she taunted them?

  “Some say Pelkin’s gift is her wit.”

  Startled because he had not heard anyone approach, Theran glanced over his shoulder and saw Asalda stroll confidently into the room. She drew near to the window and lifted her chin when she saw the situation. Then she turned to Theran, unimpressed. “However, her mouth does have a tendency to get her into more trouble than not.”

  Just as she said this, Drathic stepped away from the edge of the arena and joined the others silently. Theran could tell by his posture that this was a deadly Guardian and one not to be trifled with, but Pelkin ignored all evidence of this and smirked at him.

  “Ah, the Keepers’ favorite Guardian is coming to play?” She straightened but held onto a wire for support as she stood on the dangling platform far above the rest. “What are you going to do?” She placed a hand on her hip. “Stare me to death?”

  Drathic stepped forward, but the Guardian, who Theran knew as Noden, moved to intervene. “Drathic, don’t.”

  However, Drathic looked at Noden then shifted his gaze up to Pelkin. Spreading out his hands, he lowered his stance then began to bring his hands back together when Noden sprung forward. “Drathic, don’t!” But two other Guardians grabbed Noden and yanked him back as Drathic clapped his hands together, creating a powerful shockwave directed at Pelkin.

  Restrained by the others, all Noden could do was stare in horror as Pelkin anticipated the blast and dropped low to the platform to dodge it, but Drathic’s power wrenched the entire platform out of the ceiling. Pelkin plummeted with a cry, though she twisted to try and minimize the effects of her fall.

  Another Guardian—female by her form—stepped up and lifted her hand. Pelkin’s descent slowed until she was safely lowered to the ground.

  Asalda frowned. “Well, that’s a development.” When Theran shot her a curious glance, she nodded at at the Guardians. “That specific Guardian is Breksta. She never demonstrated any significant power, so we assumed her ability was similar to Pelkin’s—flexibility, strength, and endurance, but now it seems...” She went to a computer console and activated a holographic video of the training. Typing a command in the air, she stepped back and read the analysis. “It appears her ability is gravity manipulation, and her control is exceptional—”

  “Meaning she’s known for a while.” Theran guessed, and Asalda nodded as she went back to the window to watch the Guardian interaction.

  “And she kept it hidden.”

  Theran hesitated. He wasn’t sure what any of this meant. He knew he was ordered to ensure that none of the Guardians rebelled, but he did not yet believe anything he was told—not that anyone spoke with him at length about anything.

  Still uncertain what to think, he glanced back to the arena where all those Guardians had left and another team entered for their training session. He did not know what to think of the Guardians yet—were the humanoid or simply human? However, he knew one thing and looked at Asalda, “Keeping secrets is human.”

  She shot him a glare before she managed to smooth her features into a pleasant smile. “Of course.” Then she paused as if trying to decide how to voice her thoughts. Finally, she chose the words with care and looked up at Theran. “I never said they were not human, Prince Theran, but they simply are not allowed to know that.” She gestured to the arena.

  Anger flared within the prince of Cuskelom, but he forced himself to remain calm. Grabbing the railing in front of the window, he scowled down at the Guardians starting a new training session and saw them as real humans for the first time. “Then why...” He slid a glare over his shoulder to Asalda. “Why do you insist that they believe themselves to be less than human?” He straightened and turned to her. “And why do you want me to convince them otherwise?”

  “Because they will be put to death if they know otherwise.”

  “Isn’t that exactly what happens during each Guardian Game?”

  Asalda opened her mouth with an immediate retort but thought better of it and pressed her lips together. Turning to the arena, she crossed her arms and shook her head as she watched the Guardians train. “You don’t understand. It’s not simple anymore.”

  “Then maybe you should try explaining.”

  She gave him a helpless glance. So much to explain, so much to justify, did they really have the time?

  Glancing around the room, she found a chair in front of the control panels and went to it. Swirl
ing it around to face Theran, she began. “Many years ago, Pelham and I were married. We didn’t plan to have any children because we were very busy and very successful business people, but things don’t always go as planned, and I got pregnant. Here in Jechorm—before the Guardian program—there were abortion clinics where one could go to...” Asalda fished around for a less painful word, but finding no alternative, she went on, “Abort their child. They told me it wasn’t a child—it wasn’t a human being, that I wasn’t really killing someone when I aborted it, and I believed them. I let them take my child, but for months afterwards I couldn’t sleep. I kept having nightmares about what I had done—about what could have been. They lied to me.”

  She lowered her gaze to the floor. “At first, Pelham didn’t see my point, and our arguments led to divorce.” She looked back at Theran. “I continued my research and found the truth. They had not only taken my child, but killed it as well, while claiming it was nothing more than a fetus. Not only that, but this was routine for all unwanted children, and most parents never challenged them, so I came up with a solution that would not only save the children but also come to protect Jechorm in the future.”

  Theran nodded. “And that is where the Guardians come in.”

  “Previously, Pelham used to work as a supervisor of massive engineering projects for the government of Jechorm. As you already know, Jechorm is renowned for its giant leaps in technology, but that process is very delicate and requires a special team of engineers to oversee it.” Asalda gathered a breath. “I went to him with a proposal for the Guardian program, and we’ve been working partners ever since.”

  “That sounds like an ideal way to begin a business, but what does that have to do with me now?” Theran folded his arms over his chest and stared down the woman. “Why are you telling me all this? And why have you convinced the Guardians that they are not human?”