Ultimate Warriors

by Jaide Fox

  "I don’t know her reasons," he repeated. "The histories don’t say why, but she started a war over it, the only war on Suraden."

  The victors write the histories. His father told Julien that not long before he died. Empathen — Jake, his mind supplied his father’s name, the name that it was illegal for him to say aloud — believed in that saying enough to teach Julien that it was true, but had Jake been wrong? After all, the Grellan killed Empathen. Were the old tales wrong? Or was Jake the one who had been wrong?

  * * * *

  Julien nodded to the old man grimly as he took his seat across the desk.

  Adrien steepled his hands, a sure sign that he wasn’t sure what to do with Julien. It was a pose that he had seen often since the old man lost the ability to read his mind eleven years earlier. "I wanted to speak to you about the last time you went to a scene."

  He nodded, forcing down a mixture of panic and embarrassment behind a careful mask of indifference. It had been three days. Julien had felt he was safe from any backlash after two. He should have known not to allow himself to become complacent. "I’ve debriefed that account for you," he noted calmly.

  "Everything?" he asked pointedly.

  "Anything of use to us." That was a safe enough answer. "You always trained us to disregard extraneous knowledge."

  "Then tell me everything."

  Julien furrowed his brow, as if in confusion. "Why don’t you tell me what has you confused," he countered, a bold challenge of the old man’s authority. Why am I doing this? He can crush me. Only if he believes I am guilty of something. Yes. This tack might work.

  Adrien darkened in fury. Strands of it escaped the old man’s tactician control. "You masturbated there. Explain that, Soulchaser."

  Julien smiled, shaking his head while he fervently searched for a lie that would save him from that synth-cloth-padded room. "Night Warrior and Moon Current are a couple, a married couple. They — engaged in some rather interesting sexual antics, and I encountered the strands. I have a man’s needs. Play a memory of sex complete with wisps of sensation, and I respond. But, their antics were hardly important to the report."

  "So, you are sitting there telling me that you beat off to their mental sex tape on assignment?" he demanded incredulously.

  Julien allowed a blush to creep into his cheeks. That sure as hell beats admitting the truth. "It was less of a distraction than trying to sift around it. You know that letting strands play out is easier than ignoring them." He scowled. "Even when strands are murders." He reminded Adrien of his early days on street crime. Julien had paid his dues in the nightmare images that would haunt him for the rest of his days.

  "There is nothing else you have to tell me?" He was testing Julien’s shield again, trying to gauge him for a lie.

  "Nothing."

  "Then go about your duties," he ordered.

  Julien nodded and headed to the door, trailing his fingers over the surface of the old man’s desk deliberately. Adrien seemed not to notice. Perhaps, he viewed the move in amusement. Julien wasn’t sure what he intended even as he did it. The old man never left strands for Julien to read. Either he spent all day in synth-cloth to avoid a repeat of their first night together, or he used a comm unit of some sort to wipe his office clean before Julien came in.

  No. He hadn’t used a comm unit. There were strong strands in the room. Three first-years had been to the office that morning. One of them was Jennifer. Her terror made Julien ache for her.

  He stilled as Visionchaser’s essence assaulted his mind. The trustee had always been high-strung, and his panic was not unusual, but the panic wasn’t what stopped Julien.

  The memory was crisp. Visionchaser — Larry Meyer — sat forward with his fingertips pressed to the desktop. "What if he’s become a traitor like his father?"

  "We will handle it as we did the last time," Adrien answered calmly.

  The vision was gone as quickly as it had come. Julien lifted his hand and ambled toward the door.

  "Something interesting, Soulchaser?" Adrien drawled in that same suspicious, challenging tone.

  "Sealife was in to see you, and she was very upset. I should check on her."

  "You spend quite a bit of time with her," he noted.

  "She’s a smart little girl, and she’s very powerful. Sealife will be a handsome asset to a unit someday, better than Water Demon, by far."

  "Ah. I see. You’re recruiting from the cadets again."

  Julien forced a predatory smile onto his face. "A good leader never rests."

  Adrien chuckled, but there was something uneasy in his manner. "No. He doesn’t."

  Julien headed for his quarters, barely taking note of the cadets at their training, waving distractedly as Firebrand instructed third-year cadets in fireball control.

  Traitor? If there was any question in his mind that Visionchaser meant himself and Jake, Julien might not be so affected, but there was no question. The strand left no doubt. Julien couldn’t argue that he was acting the part of a traitor, but had Jake done the same? Perhaps, not a sexual encounter. That was unlikely. By all accounts, Jake doted on Patrice. Still, there were other forms of treason.

  Julien closed the door to his quarters slowly. His eyes locked on the shelf lined with his father’s mementos and medals. Pieces of Jake’s life and not a single strand of his father’s essence to lead Julien, not a single memory to tell the truth.

  I have to think logically. What do I have of him to guide me? The answer came, but Julien resisted it. Jake taught him. He left pieces of his wisdom behind for his son to learn from. The problem was that Julien always argued what Jake taught him versus what his training said. Maybe he needed to take every comment as a truth and see where it led him. What did he teach me?

  The victors write the histories. The histories of Suraden were written by the Calante. That was suspect. If the histories were suspect, the axioms and accepted truths were suspect. The Grellan might not be what he had been taught they were.

  For every rule, there is an exception. Julien was brought into service two years early. No cadet was brought into service early unless his or her powers posed a danger to child or society — except Julien. Perhaps, there were other exceptions. Was every Grellan a traitor? Should even the laws that governed the Calante be absolute? But, what were the acceptable reasons for an exception?

  Julien shrugged off that maddening idea. Until a few moments earlier, he hadn’t acknowledged the possibility that the rules might not be absolute. Defining it further was too much for his mind to process.

  Always trust your gut instinct about people. Who did Julien trust? Jake and Patrice topped the list, but that was a dead end. He groaned at his own pun. Jennifer? Yes. Julien trusted Jennifer, but it wasn’t wise to show that openly. Using her name showed less vulnerability than allowing her to use his. Did he trust Angel?

  Julien shifted nervously. Don’t use your mind, he reminded himself. Don’t think what you were trained to think. From the gut. Do you trust Angel? Logic was the wrong course. Logic said that he should trust the old man, but Julien never had. He took a deep breath. It was time for another of Jake’s teachings.

  Have faith that your heart will lead you. When you meet a true confidant, you will ache to bare your soul to her. Julien nodded, biting back a laugh. He trusted Angel. He’d always wanted to trust her on some instinctive level.

  Chapter Six

  Angel took a deep breath, stretching out on the bed and following the draw of Soulchaser’s mind. He looked up as she approached, nervous. He was fully dressed. Angel sighed. She’d pushed too far the last time. His loss of control must have shaken him.

  She smiled. "I’ve made you uncomfortable. I’m sorry."

  He shook his head, pulling Angel into his arms and covering her mouth with his. His movements were urgent, a pressing need that made her ache for him. A week had been too long.

  Angel groaned, reminding herself that it was only his mind she was touching, only a simulation she felt �
�� the interaction of thoughts and desires.

  "I want you," he breathed into her ear.

  She shivered. Angel wanted it, too. She’d dreamed of allowing him free rein, but she’d set a rule for him, a level of trust he had to prove to her. "Not until—"

  "I trust you."

  Angel blinked. She pulled back to meet his eyes. "You—" She had to have misheard him. It was too much to hope that she had been successful so quickly.

  "My name is Julien," he whispered. His eyes darted about as if he would be punished for saying it aloud.

  She gasped in surprise, nodding. "Julien." Angel was dumbstruck. He’d actually said it. For weeks, she’d wondered what she would do if he gave her a fake name to try and trick her, and he told her the truth.

  He blushed. "Yes.."

  Angel touched his face. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Julien Cross."

  His eyes widened. "You’ve always known?"

  She nodded. "You had to offer me that trust. Thank you." Her mind whirled, and her body heated. She drew his hand to her breast. "I made you a promise," she reminded him. Angel should be securing his safety, but rewarding his trust had to come first.

  Julien stared at his hand, swallowing hard. "Not here. They suspect too much. I need— I need to give them something, something significant to throw them off my trail." He met her eyes hopefully. "Or will you tell me how to get past the checkpoints? If I leave now— You promised."

  "I can’t show you now. You’ll have to come to me one more time."

  Julien tried to rein in his disappointment, but Angel felt it clearly across the connection. He nodded, biting back a grimace that he had to go back to them. For a mad moment, Angel considered finding a way to free him immediately, but there was no way she and Anthony could arrange that on such short notice.

  Angel shook her head. "I will take you safely out, but you have to come to me at a pre-arranged time, and you must trust me."

  He nodded, a shaky nod. "Where and when?"

  "Six days from now at sunset. Come to the place where you first touched me. Julien—" She bit her lip.

  "Yes?"

  "You do trust me, don’t you? You would leave with me now, if you could?"

  He took a calming breath. "Yes. I trust you implicitly." Julien wound his hand in her hair.

  Angel sighed in relief. "Good. Then I promise that you’ll leave with me that night."

  He grimaced. "I still need something to tell them. What can I tell them?"

  She smiled. "Tell them we are operating out of the armory outside the north gate of the city. Tell them now, as soon as you get downstairs."

  His eyes widened. "If I do—"

  "Hurry. Use your comm unit if you want to. I guarantee you will miss us by minutes, no matter what you do."

  "They will track you down. My unit is the best."

  "Impossible. Run, Julien. I’ll race you. Do you remember that game?"

  He nodded and turned toward the door.

  "Run, Julien. Make a good show for them."

  Angel returned to her body, as he bolted for the door, pulling his comm unit from his jacket pocket and switching it on. The race was on.

  She launched into the main room, smiling widely. Julien trusted her. He’d come with them.

  Debra looked up in surprise. "Angel," she admonished. "You’re—"

  Angel waved her off. She would have to be naked to make the jump. It was simply her appearance this way that caught Debra off guard. "We’re leaving. Take anything of importance."

  Sylvia gaped at her. "He’s turned us in," she managed weakly.

  Angel laughed aloud. "No. He hasn’t. But, to save him, we have to let it seem he’s almost caught us. Hurry. They are on their way."

  The others scattered. They carried little with them, so collecting their belongings took only a moment. The helos were already approaching when Anthony grasped her hand. Sylvia looked at them nervously. This would be a close one but not their closest. She and Anthony wrapped the others in their shared power. They were long gone before the door burst open.

  * * * *

  Julien kept his expression studiously neutral. She’d done it. Angel had escaped without a trace. He moved through the room, touching items at random. "They’ve been here fairly steadily for more than two months." The whole time they have been playing cat and mouse with me. "The strands are strong. They’ve only been gone for a few minutes."

  "How?" Firebrand demanded.

  Julien shook his head. He stopped as a particularly strong mix of power, nervousness, and giddy happiness coursed through his body. Julien sank to the floor, closing his eyes as he opened himself fully to the sensations.

  "What is it?" Sky Master asked.

  Julien raised a hand to silence him then returned it to the floor. The pulse coursed through him again, an elusive strand. He drew it into himself and turned his face up.

  Angel smiled as Anthony took her hand. Light surrounded them. It was beautiful but bright. Julien winced. Too bright! The sensation started at his toes and rushed up his body, a sense of loosing himself, of being sucked down a vortex of light and sound.

  Julien threw himself out of the circle with a vicious curse. His eyes snapped open, but the colors remained, blinding colors that sent shards of pain through his mind. For a moment, the sensation of mind and body disassociating persisted. Julien fought back his panic, taking a wild swing at Sky Master when the older man reached for him. He didn’t know what this was. If Sky Master touched Julien, it might well kill him.

  He cried out as the sensation eased. His strangled breathing smoothed, and Julien relaxed to the floor. Everything seemed to dim. Colors were muted and dull.

  Sky Master checked his pulse. "Medical, now," he ordered.

  "What the hell was that?" Firebrand roared.

  "Med-flight. STAT," Water Demon rasped into the comm unit. "It’s Soulchaser."

  "No," Julien managed weakly. "The strands." He grasped at Sky Master’s cover, his muscles leaden and uncertain. Julien stared at his shaking hand in dismay. "No. The strands." The electronics would destroy the weave.

  "Easy," Sky Master soothed him. "We lost this round. Whatever that was is better destroyed, Soulchaser."

  Julien’s protest was lost in the sound of a helo’s turbines. Medical red filled his vision as his eyes slid shut.

  * * * *

  "He’s coming up, sir."

  Julien couldn’t place that voice. It was female, not a woman he knew.

  "Good," Adrien growled.

  Julien licked his lips. His mouth was dry and his body ached.

  "Soulchaser," the first voice called again. "I know you can hear me, Soulchaser. Give me a sign."

  Julien forced his eyes open. The sea lavender walls swam before him. He cursed softly. They stuck him in medical. No operative wanted to end up in medical. For some reason, the med-techs always believed in putting the powers through hell when they were in, as if they were fragile.

  "He knows where he is," Adrien chuckled.

  Julien swung his eyes back to Adrien, moving tenderly. He took in the doctor in surprise, scanning his eyes over the white identi-card on her red work cover. "Human?" he asked.

  She nodded. "We do have some talents," she teased.

  "I’m sorry. I just thought—"

  "Quite all right. We were closer."

  "What the hell happened?" Julien demanded weakly, trying to raise an arm to rub his neck, and finding the task nearly impossible.

  "Medically? Shock complicated by an electrical imbalance — roughly the same thing that would happen if you got hit by a sonic wave unit blast coupled with a lightening strike," she answered dryly.

  "Lovely," he growled. "That’s about what it felt like."

  She winced. "You’re stuck here overnight," she informed him. "After that, your own people will handle you — beside the ones they have camped in the hall protecting you now."

  "How long have I been out?"

  "Overnight." She headed
to the door, nodding to Adrien. "He’s stable, sir. I’ll leave you alone now."

  Adrien smiled warmly. "My thanks, doctor, and the Calante’s thanks as well." The old man waited until the door closed behind her. When he turned back to Julien, the smile was gone. "What the hell did you think you were doing, Soulchaser?"

  "My job. How was I supposed to know it would bite back?"

  "You’re trained to know."

  "You didn’t train me for that," Julien groused.

  "What precisely was that?"

  "If I knew what it was, I would have been trained for it."

  Adrien glared at him.

  Julien sighed. He was too damn tired to spar with the old man today. "I don’t know. Light. Pain. A feeling that I wasn’t — there."

  Adrien nodded. "Understood. Who did it?"

  "Did?" he asked in confusion.

  "Which of the Grellan tried to kill you?" Adrien asked impatiently.

  "Kill me? You think that was a trap?"

  "Of course. It’s the same way they killed your father. Luckily, you have faster reflexes than Empathen did."

  Julien let his anger have free rein, though he hid his mind carefully. He was angry, and Adrien would accept that, but Julien wouldn’t let the old man know why he was angry. Julien had no doubts that Adrien was lying to him.

  We will handle it as we did last time.

  Julien pasted on a weak smile. "Yes. I watch my back much better than Empathen did."

  Chapter Seven

  Julien took a deep breath, scanning his eyes over his quarters, hopefully for the last time. He couldn’t take anything with him. It would look suspicious if he did. He straightened his mandarin collar and smoothed the shirtfront over his dress slacks. Julien took another deep breath. It was show time.

  He ambled through the corridors, waving to other powers as he went, assuring those who asked that he was fit and ready to return to duty when his ten-day restriction from duty was lifted. Julien smiled and handed his identi-card to the guard at the door.