by James Somers
Tiet’s ship was lying askew across the valley floor nearly a half mile away from the main fighting and Lucin’s black clad form was running right for it. Once there, he would find Mirah and the girl, Ramah, with Emil protecting them—Lucin would surely kill them all.
Tiet broke into a sprint, full of panic. He felt out of breath before he had taken five steps. The thought of losing his wife and the others gripped him in a strangling hold that both pushed him onward and sapped his last ounces of strength, all at once. Tiet evaded the rest of the fighting altogether, sensing a peace about his son that was uncommon—Kale was safe, but Mirah and those aboard the Equinox were not. He was pouring every last ounce of strength into his stride, but Lucin was so far ahead of him. Tiet’s former injuries were sending out pain signals that he was trying to ignore, but his torso felt like it was on fire. He tapped his com-link located on the breast of his uniform trying to hail the ship. Static. Tiet kept pressing the com-link hoping to hear the beep that sounded when a connection was established. He had to warn them. He had to tell them that the Wicked one himself was coming.
☼
Emil was standing at the bridge window watching the battle raging in the valley a half mile away. He wanted desperately to be there fighting along side his father and Kale, his best friend. But the king’s order was firm in his mind. He was charged with protecting Mirah and Ramah. There was no telling what would happen if he wasn’t here to see to their safety.
The storm clouds hanging over the valley were obscuring the sunlight and making it difficult for him to make out what was going on. The laser trails from pulse weapon’s fire was the most visible thing in the valley. A sense of foreboding suddenly invaded his consciousness, sending a chill over his body. The flashing of lightning revealed a dark figure approaching the ship—the sense of foreboding was forced out of Emil’s mind by the threat of imminent danger. This was what he had been left at the ship for—he had sworn his life for the safety of the king’s wife and for Ramah. He had a job to do.
Emil tapped the intercom button and said, “Doctor K’ore, someone is approaching the ship. I’m locking everything down as I head outside. Don’t come out for any reason.”
“I understand,” said Mirah’s voice over the speaker.
In the background Emil heard Ramah’s voice saying, “Be careful, Emil!”
“Yes, Emil, please be careful,” added Mirah.
“I’ll do my best, ma’am,” and he switched off the intercom.
REVENGE
Lucin approached the heavily damaged vessel that housed the transgate technology he would use to escape the planet. He could see light coming through the cockpit windows twenty feet above him. The main hatch to the side of the cockpit was closed as well as the loading ramp entrance. Lucin removed a Barudii blade from the sheath on his back, intending to cut through the hull if need be. Despite the storm noise and the sounds of battle in the valley behind him, he heard the whisper of something coming through the air at him.
Lucin dodged left of an incoming spicor disc and just managed to catch another already in flight with his ignited blade, nullifying the spicor’s charge. He looked to the top of the bridge section of the ship and saw a dark-skinned youth leaping away from the hull surface toward him. The young man said nothing. He quickly linked two kemstick hilts, end to end, and ignited the weapons forming a staff.
“Step aside, boy. I don’t have time to toy with you,” threatened Lucin.
The young man remained silent, but he began to cautiously close the distance between them. Lucin struck at the boy furiously with his blade, using multiple strikes to try and penetrate his defense, but to no avail. The young man quickly mounted a counter-offensive with the dual blades of his kemstaff, incorporating complex strikes and spins, but he was unable to land the killer blow.
Lucin thought, I don’t have time for this. He was waiting for just the right moment and then it came. There was a fraction of a second where the dual hilt became exposed and Lucin took quick advantage of it, striking the young man’s weapon and nearly severing his left hand in the process. One of the hilts fell away in two pieces as Lucin simultaneously knocked the other out of his path of attack and brought a powerful kick to the boy’s head. He reeled backwards, dropping the functioning kemstick, as he tried to keep from falling to the ground.
Once he had the advantage, Lucin was relentless with his follow-up. He swung his weapon toward the boy as he stumbled backwards, but the youth was more resourceful than expected. The boy ducked below Lucin’s weapon and moved in towards the body of the Mithri-man, striking at his knee, face and hands with enough force to disarm him.
His weapon fell from his hand, but Lucin went for the youth, catching the boy by his uniform collar with one hand and smashing fore and backhands into the sides of his young, dark face. Noise from the valley caught Lucin’s attention again. He could still see the chariots of the Almighty charging through his thousands of human soldiers and destroying the physical bodies of his Agonotti brethren that were intermingled among them. I’ve got to escape, now!
Lucin tossed the battered youth away into the dirt behind him, focusing once again on getting inside of the Barudii’s ship and the transgate portal within it.
“Lucin!!”
The Mithrial-man turned to find the Barudii king running at him with an ignited blade in his hands ready to strike. Lucin summoned even more of the power that had been returning to him and with a thought, he commanded the topsoil to erupt upward between himself and Tiet Soone. The wall of soil was suddenly penetrated by the spinning blade of the Barudii king. Lucin evaded the unexpected throw and the blade sank into the hull of the ship behind him. Tiet penetrated the veil of dirt, following just behind the thrown sword—he held a kemstick in each hand. Lucin was quick to counter Tiet’s attack, grabbing both hands in his own—they stood face to face in a struggle of pure brute force. Tiet was pressing, teeth gritted, against the strength of the Mithrial-man, but Lucin was grinning wildly at his human opponent.
Lucin began to bait his opponent and said, “So, you know who I am?”
“I know you’re going to burn in a lake of fire for all eternity,” countered Tiet.
The truth of his words made Lucin boil with fury. Tiet could feel the darkness closing in around him and the press of Lucin’s ominous energies crushing in upon his mental defenses. Tiet was losing ground by the millisecond.
Tiet whispered, “Lord Elithias, give me strength.”
“You’re going to meet Him today,” threatened Lucin.
Tiet looked up and caught sight of Mirah’s horrified expression as she gazed down at them through one of the bridge windows. And then, his strength was gone—Tiet had pushed against the Mithrial-man with every last ounce of energy he could muster and it was not enough.
Lucin sensed the change in his opponent and blasted the Barudii king with such a furious kinetic burst that it shattered the windows on the ship’s bridge and propelled Tiet’s body thirty feet away. He landed in a bloody heap and did not move.
Lucin looked back up toward the bridge and fixed his gaze upon Mirah. She could not scream; could not breathe. The dark Mithri from her nightmare was gazing beyond her physical body into her very soul and she was terrified. Mirah pulled away from Lucin’s villainous smile and stumbled backward. She found the pulse rifle she had retrieved from the ship’s small armory, laying on a control panel. Mirah’s hands were shaking terribly as she fumbled with the safety release.
Lucin appeared in the space where the bridge windows had been. He brushed through the loose fragments of transparisteel and stepped down to the floor over the flight control panels. Mirah managed to release the safety and heard the brief whine of the gun’s charging system. She raised the weapon and fired as he approached, but the black armor covering his body absorbed the shot and he was suddenly upon her, knocking the weapon out of her hand. Lucin snatched her up by the throat, lifting her small frame completely off of the floor. Mirah thrashed in his arms lik
e a fish in a net. She felt the tracheal cartilage crushing under the man’s vice-like grip. The loss of oxygen took her strength and her consciousness.
Lucin tossed the woman’s body away like a rag doll and headed down the main corridor to find the transgate mechanism. He had to leave the planet before the chariots of Elithias found him.
☼
Kale could not believe the scene playing out before his mortal eyes. At least a hundred chariots of bright light were forging their way through the enemy army of symbyte controlled humans and the Agonotti. The chariots were pulled by bright, fiery leore, driven by Mithri and fire trailed away from the hooves of the leore and the wheels of the chariots. Everywhere they rode through the enemy army, the human soldiers collapsed unconscious and the Agonotti’s physical forms disintegrated in violent disruptions of matter and light.
The Mithri were dressed in flowing white robes with breastplates that shined like burnished brass. They were wielding broadswords that trailed flame from the blades as they struck at the Agonotti. The entire enemy army was falling like dominos before their attack.
When the chariots had swept completely through the army and the last of the symbyte controlled humans lay unconscious on the battlefield and the last Agonotti was vanquished, the chariots, their fiery leore and their Mithrial riders began to dissipate from Kale’s view. The rebels, including Merab, Jael and Juli who was standing next to Kale, huddled against the back of his shoulder, were all bewildered by the apparent destruction of the enemy army under the invisible wave that had swept through the valley. They could see Grod and Wynn jogging toward them with the same expression on their faces—Kale, alone, had seen the truth.
When the vision had completely faded, Juli was startled by Aija the prophet suddenly standing next to them. Kale turned to see the prophet—he couldn’t help but smile at his reappearance.
“Aija, did you see what happened?!” asked Kale excitedly.
“I did indeed.”
“I remembered what you had said before leaving us; about praying when hope seemed lost.”
“As I knew you would. You have become the fulfillment of the prophecy of the empty hand.”
The truth of the scripture and how it had transpired, hit Kale with sudden realization. He had never expected that Elithias would use him to fulfill the prophecy.
Aija put his hand firmly on Kale’s shoulder saying with a grim tone, “Young master, your father needs you.”
The smile was snatched from Kale’s face. “What do you mean? Where is my father?”
Aija leaned in closer to the young man’s face. “The time of his journey has come. Don’t delay,” he said, and he swept his robed arm out toward their crippled ship near the base of the mountain.
A pale mask covered Kale’s face as he understood the prophet’s words. Kale bolted away toward the Equinox. He muttered a prayer over and over as he ran with all speed. “Please, Lord, don’t let him die before I can see him…. Please don’t let him die before I can see him….”
Kale covered the distance with surprising speed—the others, following after him, had not been able to keep up with him. When he arrived on the scene, he first noticed the light coming from the shattered bridge window, and then he saw Emil lying on the ground. His friend was moaning and trying to move. Kale went to him, speaking to Emil saying, “Are you alright? Emil, can you hear me?”
He moaned again and appeared barely conscious. The sunlight was beginning to break through the dissipating storm clouds and Kale could see that Emil’s face was a mass of edema. Blood trailed from his nose and mouth and both of his eyes were swollen shut. In Kale’s mind he sensed his friend had sustained multiple facial fractures, but his airway was patent and with proper medical care he would most likely make a full recovery. Then he saw him, in the short grass nearly twenty feet away.
Kale stood watching the figure lying there in the grass; it was his father. He wanted to run to him and at the same time run away from the awful sight of seeing what had happened, but his legs were frozen in fear of what he was going to find. Grod was suddenly at his side and kneeling to examine his son, Emil. Wynn was approaching and the others weren’t far behind.
Kale made himself move. He walked cautiously toward his father’s body; praying in his mind that the man would suddenly move and get up unharmed, but it didn’t happen. When Kale reached him, he knelt down beside of him. He was still breathing and Kale’s mind raced with the possibility that Aija was wrong about his father leaving this world, but faith and growing experience kept telling him it wasn’t true.
Kale rolled his father from his side to his back carefully. When he was at rest in that position, Tiet shuddered and his eyes opened and sought out his son’s face.
His voice was strained as he asked, “Kale?”
“Yes, Father, I’m here.”
Tiet’s face was bruised heavily on one side and the eye was swollen shut. He was hemorrhaging from both of his ears, his nose and his mouth. His good eye found Kale’s face as he continued to try and speak saying, “I think I lost this fight, eh, son?”
The boy in him was welling up—Kale may have passed the trials of manhood, but this anguish was more than he could contain. Tears began to flow down his cheeks.
“How did we fair against the others?”
“We won, Father,” Kale choked upon the words. “The Lord Elithias gave us a great victory.”
Tiet tried to smile. Then he turned his attention just beyond Kale saying, “Oh, how beautiful it is…. Yes, Lord, I do want to go….”
Kale looked over his shoulder, following his father’s gaze. He expected to find Wynn standing there, but there was no one. “What do you see, Father?”
“He’s coming with your mother for me,” said Tiet with a peaceful smile. “He’s coming—“
And then, Tiet Soone was gone.
Kale laid his head down on his father’s chest and put his arms around his battered body. This would be his last opportunity to hold the man in this life. The others maintained a respectful distance, but all were saddened by the passing of their king.
Then a voice was heard from inside the Equinox saying, “Mirah! Are you there?”
Kale got up and leapt to the shattered bridge window of the ship and went inside. Wynn followed the youth into the ship. They found Mirah on the floor of the bridge. Her eyes were open and lifeless. “That’s what Father meant,” said Kale. “He said the Lord was coming for him with my mother.”
Wynn squeezed Kale’s shoulder; a gesture meant to express his sorrow for himself and Kale at the death of his parents. They heard the voice again coming from back in the ship somewhere, it was Ramah. The two Barudii warriors proceeded cautiously, in case Lucin was still on board. Kale held a kemstick hilt in his hand, hoping he would find his parent’s murderer still onboard. Mithri or no, Kale wanted vengeance.
They got as far down the corridor as the infirmary. When they opened the door, they found Ramah inside still confined to her bed. She was safe, but frightened. “Kale, what happened?” she asked. “Your mother went to the bridge to see what was happening and then I heard gunfire. She never came back. Is she alright?”
Kale didn’t answer her question. “Ramah, did you see anyone else onboard?”
“I heard heavy footsteps in the corridor after the gunshot, but they went past without coming in here.”
The two warriors looked at each other and Wynn voiced their insight. “The transgate?”
“Stay here, Ramah,” said Wynn and the two headed back out of the room and down the corridor toward the transgate control room.
“Is Emil safe?” she called after them.
Kale and Wynn opened the transgate chamber door cautiously and moved in with their weapons ready for anything. A quick survey of the room from top to bottom assured them that it was empty, but the control board was active.
Upon inspection, they found that someone had just made a jump. “It looks like Lucin escaped through the gate. He has jumped to plane
t Demigoth,” said Wynn.
The scriptures came alive in Kale’s mind; it’s coming to pass just like the Logostus says.
“Of course,” said Kale in a whisper.
“What is it?”
“Demigoth is where Elithias is supposed to come the second time with his redeemed ones to establish his universal kingdom of peace, according to the prophecies,” said Kale.
“What do you want to do?” asked Wynn.
Kale was surprised by the question. He wasn’t used to being asked by his elders what course of action they should take, but he realized Wynn was now addressing him not as his pupil, but as his king.
“We can do little right now,” said Kale. “Let’s take care of our wounded and regroup. It will take everything we’ve got to go after Lucin.”
His words show wisdom, thought Wynn. The two headed back out of the chamber to assess the damages to their people and take care of Emil and Ramah. Kale tried to fight his emotions, he was going to have to bury his parents and truly become a Barudii warrior.
HEIR TO THE KING
Aija stood with Kale next to the newly prepared gravesites for Tiet and his wife. The whole company of soldiers that had survived the battle was assembled for the funeral of the king. Those that had been led there by Lucin under the domination of his mind-bending parasitic symbyte seed had been freed by the same Mithrial cavalry that had destroyed the Agonotti. There were far fewer rebel soldiers among the congregation, but some had survived.
Kale stood silently as Aija spoke to those assembled. It was very odd to him; he felt nothing. Only being near to the beginning of his fourteenth year, he had expected to be more emotional about all that had happened and especially the reason for their being gathered here. His parents were gone, but at the same time, he knew that they really weren’t. Had he only had hope of them living on in his memory alone, he would have been sobbing at this point. But he had the assurance from a prophet of Elithias that his parents were now safe in His arms—there was no reason to weep for them.
