Royce

by Frank Carey

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  COPYRIGHT

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Royce

  Heroes of the League Book 4

  By Frank Carey

  COPYRIGHT

  Copyright © 2015 by Frank Carey

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  This story appeared previously in The League Foundation Trilogy 2.

  League Tale #4

  CHAPTER ONE

  Explosions rocked the smoke-filled corridor as the remaining members of the Elf Protective Unit made their retreat. In front of them was the advancing enemy force while behind them were Princess Losira, her entourage, and members of the facility's staff whose lives the EPU was there to protect.

  "Royce! Find safe haven!" the Ell-Tee yelled as she threw a grenade.

  "Parker, Sensor sweep. I need a defensible position, NOW!" I screamed at my implant.

  "Working..." she replied, her voice in my head maddeningly calm. “Four-meters behind us, your left side. One entrance. Vacuum proof."

  "Rachel, four meters, room, get them inside and form a defensive ring."

  "Aye, Sarge. You heard the elf! Move your asses!"

  I didn't need to see behind me. I knew my people, and I knew they could do their jobs, so I did mine and sprayed the corridor with blaster fire before arming two grenades and tossing them the length of the hallway. I knew we were deep enough into the station that the chance of a hull breach was minimal, so I didn't flinch when the charges went off.

  "Ell-Tee, get inside, now!" I yelled. Too late, a round caught her. She exploded in a flash of light. Too bad, she was one of the better officers I had served with. I said a prayer for her soul before ducking into the room.

  "Seal it," I said as I checked my ammo and what I had left in the way of Marines. I was almost out of both. "Rachel, just you and Muskrat?"

  "Aye, Sarge. I estimate we're outnumbered at least ten to one, so the odds are pretty even."

  "Ammo check." They both shook their heads.

  "Sergeant Aymar, sitrep," the princess ordered as she walked up. Behind her, the others took cover.

  "The three of us will do everything we can to protect you and yours, but we are fast running out of options."

  "Then surrender," she said which got a chuckle out of my two compatriots.

  "What's so funny?" she asked, obviously miffed by the joviality. I guess she had never danced with the Devil.

  "The three of us are dead. That force out there is being led by an elf who has sworn a vendetta against me and those under my command. None of us are leaving this room alive, but we are taking as many of those bastards with us as we can. Now, get behind those barriers and stay there until someone asks you to step out. When you do, identify yourselves and cooperate fully with them, understand?"

  "But, you..."

  "Don't worry about me or my people. You are now in charge of you and your people. Keep them safe," I said as I took a defensive position in front of the door. She'll be one fine queen one day if I have anything to say about it. "Rachel! Muskrat! It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve with you."

  "Aye, Sarge!" they yelled as the door blew open. I saw them both go down, their ammo exhausted, before I took a blaster bolt in the middle of my chest. As the lights went out, I saw Rathstok walk through the door, laughing as the universe disappeared around me.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The exam table was cold and hard against my back as I lay in the darkness., waiting. My captors left me here as they went to rest before another long day of torture began. It was quiet, dark, a time for sleep, a time for escape. I spit the bitter pills out onto the floor while morphing into a small female form. As my shackles fell away, I returned to my normal form as an elf male and looked around the room, my night vision using every available photon to discern what objects lay about the room. There, in a corner, a janitor left a mop. I got up, padded over to the tool, and picked it up before ripping the head off. I examined the long wooden handle and saw it was straight-grained, burnished smooth by countless hands running over it as it was used to clean up after the torturers. A fine weapon. A deadly weapon.

  I took my staff and moved to the door. Unsurprisingly, it was unlocked. I opened it a crack and saw a single guard outside. He was reading something with such intent he did not hear me as I reached over and snapped his neck before pulling him inside the room where I stripped him, placed his body on the exam table, and covered it. I quickly donned his tunic and weapons belt before checking the door once more. It was clear, so I left, locking the door behind me using the guard's keys. I found an exit and ran out into the warm night.

  I waited near a refuse bin until two aircraft techs walked past. Neither noticed me as I fell in behind them. We were well within the airfield perimeter before they noticed me, but my staff made quick work of them. After dragging their bodies into a corner of a hangar, I relieved them of their keys.

  My search for a ship was interrupted by more voices, three of them to be exact—two males and one female.

  "What the hell happened to the lights?" the female said before sending the two males off to fix the fault. Shortly only one returned—me.

  "Who the hell are you?" She hissed, but I had her by the throat before she could raise the alarm. When I’d killed the males, I had taken the form of the guard in front of the room and maintained it as I spoke to her.

  "I need a ship, and you’re going to take me to it," I hissed in her native tongue."

  "Who are you?"

  "Ask again and the answer will be your death. Now, show me!"

  She took me to a ship and led me inside. I activated systems with one hand as I held her with the other. Satisfied, I stunned her with the guard's pistol before placing her gently in a chair safely away from the ship. I kissed her on the head and called her by name, "Anna."

  I rolled out of the hangar on minimal power and then took off into the night sky as the sound of sirens broke the night silence.

  ###

  The vehicle stopped outside the 'hospital' and a large Trogon wearing jungle fatigues jumped out and ran into the building only to find the Doctor pulling a sheet over the body of the dead guard. "Report!" Camp Commander Rathstok barked as sirens sounded outside.

  "Subject zero-one is gone, sir. That guard on the table and two techs are dead, and a ship is missing, sir"

  "Blast and damn. Doctor, what ha
ppened?"

  The Trogon doctor walked over and showed the commander a blue pill. "We found this in the corner, Commander. He seems to have skipped his medication. We'll probably find more of these in his cell," the doctor said as he slipped the pill into a small plastic bag.

  "What does this mean to the program?"

  "It means you have a psychopathic killer on the loose in a Trogon ship. He's got a psychotropic drug in his bloodstream that screams Trogon origin," the doctor explained.

  "That's bad," the commander observed.

  "It gets worse. If his primary personality takes hold and he remembers what happened here, he will either inform the elf authorities or come after you, Colonel, and do everything in his power to kill you."

  "Is there an upside in any of this?"

  "He could kill his target. If that happens our complicity will be apparent during his autopsy which means the Trogon race will be blamed for both his and the target's deaths."

  "Suggestions?"

  "Erase any trace of this place, and then pray he dies alone and his body is never found."

  "That's not a plan."

  "Commander, you knew the conditioning was at a critical juncture, yet you insisted on indulging your 'needs,' then you left him in the care of morons and imbeciles. I don't know about you, but I'm getting the hell out of here. I suggest you do the same," the Doctor said as he ran out the back of the building, grabbing a pack from a counter on the way out. The last the commander saw of the doctor was his back disappearing into the forest.

  Before the commander could respond, a loud voice echoed off the buildings.

  "Rathstok!"

  The commander spun around to see a tall and very angry elf surrounded by seven heavily armed guards striding toward him.

  "Sir! I wasn't expecting you. I..."

  "Silence! What happened here? Where's Royce?"

  "Gone, sir. He escaped in a ship..."

  "Where is he?"

  "We don't know, sir. He's done something to the ship making it impossible for us to track. It was a high-speed, long-range courier, so he could be anywhere. Sir, we can..." he stopped talking when the elf shot him dead.

  "Burn this place to the ground! Leave no survivors. Incinerate everything," the elf ordered as he looked at the camp. "What a waste," he said as gunfire erupted around him.

  ###

  The transport lifted off into the night as the fires consumed the camp and the bodies of its personnel. Even inside the transport, the occupants could smell the acrid smoke. "Lieutenant, report," he said to one of the figures sitting with him in the darkened rear section of the ship.

  "Yes, sir," the Lieutenant replied. "The camp is erased as you ordered. Only the lead doctor and Subject Zero-one are unaccounted for."

  "The doctor is of no concern and Subject Zero-one has a name as you well know. It’s Royce," The tall elf said. "Any word on his destination?"

  "No, sir. His ship has disappeared."

  "Find it, kill him, and dispose of the body. Under no circumstances can he meet the target."

  "Sir, it would help if we knew who the target was." the lieutenant pointed out.

  "The king, you idiot, was primary while Prince Royce and Princess Gloria were secondary. If Royce finds the target in his present condition, he will be traced back to us, and we will all swing from the yardarm together. Now, find him!"

  CHAPTER THREE

  I left the system on a random heading. Once I engaged the star drive, I set course to the elf home world where I would find and kill the person responsible for the death of Anna. I don't know who Anna is or why her death is important, but I am compelled to find and terminate the man responsible. Only then can I rest.

  I lay down in the bed and activated the first-aid system. I closed my eyes, the bed cover slid over me as it went about healing my wounds.

  ###

  I woke and found the cover retracted, the bed having finished what work it could do. It would have to suffice. I sat up just as a technician walked into the ship. She gasped when she saw me. "Prince Royce, you're alive! Why are you in a Trogan ship? My gods, you're injured. Let me get help!"

  I walked up to her and raised a single finger to my lips. "Shhhh. All in good time. I must find King Montagor immediately," I said as I stood there. I noticed she was staring at my hand. I looked down and saw it tapping incessantly on my thigh, as if the infernal thing had a mind of its own. I ignored it as I ignored her inquiries for I knew not who this Prince she spoke of was.

  "The king is in the main council chambers as he is each day at this time," she said.

  This information jived with what I had on file, so I let her live. "Please prepare my ship for immediate departure," I ordered as I walked out into the cool night. At least my damn hand had quit trembling.

  I walked through the empty hallways unimpeded. The castle was surprisingly empty for a structure with the reputation for never sleeping. The Realm of Gweyr was immense, and its business ran all hours of the day and night.

  I passed by a suit of armor and stopped when I saw its sword. It was a fine sword, a sword made for a knight. It was polished bright, and I could see the nicks in its blade, probably from the neck bones of the ones its owner had vanquished in battle. Something inside me insisted it belonged in my hand, so I ripped it out of the grasp of the suit and held it. I threw my weapon to the side as I beheld this incredible piece of workmanship. Yes, a fine weapon with which to dispatch my foe.

  I continued on my way until I turned a corner and found a dozen heavily armed guards facing me. So what? They were mere guards whom I could kill without a thought. Then, to my dismay, I saw they were all women. As I watched, they all changed to Anna, the woman who haunted my waking dreams. "Away with you, Anna," I yelled as I brandished my sword. "I do not know who you are, but I must avenge your death."

  I heard a sound from the hall behind me. I spun around and saw a dozen more warrior women led by the technician I let live back in the ship. "I assume my ship isn't ready to leave, is it?" I asked.

  "Nope. In fact, I scrammed the engines right after I called the king. The only place that beauty is going is the scrap yard," she said over the barrel of a large blaster.

  "I should have killed you," I hissed.

  "Yep, you should have," she replied as she snapped her chewing gum.

  Unbidden and without warning, I said, "Thank you. Your service to the king will be remembered." Why I felt the need to say that is a complete mystery to me, but say it I did.

  Then I felt a stabbing pain in my shoulder. I turned and saw someone in a physician's uniform quickly stepping out of my reach. "That was a mistake," I said as I tried to advance on her. I took one step forward and felt the room spin around me.

  "What have you done to me? I must avenge Anna..." I said as the room went black, the slate floor slapped me hard in the face, the universe went dark, and I was no more.

  ###

  I opened my eyes and saw my father standing over me. I realized I had to end this now, before he or anyone else got hurt. I broke free of my captors—that'll teach them the meaning of maintaining control of a prisoner—and grabbed him by the front of his tunic. "Father, no time, kill me now."

  "Royce, by the gods, it's you. What..."

  "Sire, there is no time. I am fighting for control and quickly losing the battle. Kill me and this thing inside of me."

  "Royce, I can't. You're my son."

  I let go of him and grabbed his Lieutenant. "Ariel, as Prince of the Realm, I order you to take your sword and strike me dead. Be quick woman, for my control is slipping."

  "Sire?" she said as she looked at the king with pleading eyes.

  "Hold!" a voice said from beyond the crowd. I watched as a tall woman knelt next to me and put her hand to my forehead. She was the last thing I saw as the lights went out, and I was no more.

  ###

  "Healer, thank the gods you are here. What has happened to him?" King Montagor asked.

  She silenced them with a
frown as she walked through Royce's mind. Then her eyes shot open as if she had received an electric shock, though she did not release her grip on his head. "I will find who did this to him, rip their soul out, and show it to them before they die. Physician! Ten milliunits of Corlatenum."

  "Mistress, that could kill him."

  "Not as long as I am linked to him. Quickly, before the thing inside his mind regains control."

  As the physician administered the drug, the healer turned to the king. "How did you know something was wrong?" she asked as Royce visibly relaxed.

  "Technician Valla called me from the airfield,” the king said. "Go ahead, Valla. Tell her."

  "He was tapping out a message on his leg in flyer's code."

  "What did he say?" the healer asked intrigued.

  “‘Save King. Kill me. Can't harm women.' over and over again."

  "And he never harmed you or threatened you?"

  "No, not really. He was actually kind of a gentleman."

  "You have done well, child. Your efforts and those of Prince Royce saved the king. You should be very proud." The Healer turned back to the king. "Sire, I hesitate to say this, but say it I must. Royce is right. You should dispatch him immediately."

  The king and everyone around him stopped and stared at the healer in shock. "I will not kill my son," he said as he reflexively went for his sword. All around the healer, elf tails were waving back and forth in dismay.

  "Sire, I have been a healer for many centuries and have never seen anything like what is lurking inside your son. I think it may be a manufactured soul whose only purpose is to kill you and possibly other members of your family. Most likely it will kill itself and Royce when it has accomplished its task. I don't know if I can remove it while keeping him alive."

  The king stood up as a gurney arrived. With the help of several guards, the medical technicians loaded Royce's still form on the cart and strapped him in tight while the physician supervised. "Healer, you will save my son, kill that thing inside him, and find out who did this to him. You have every resource the Realm can supply at your disposal. Am I understood?"

  "Yes, sire. Completely. I will have the facilities on Faltosia prepared," the healer said as she waved to the techs to take the prince to her ship. "Sire, I will let you know when he arrives there. For your own safety and his, I have to insist you do not visit him until I say otherwise. “