The Quest for Nobility

by Debra L Martin

  “Well, why don’t move to the doorway so we can escape any prying eyes.”

  Dyla smiled and nodded, accepting the offer. Rikervic drew her into the doorway, moving in front of her to block any retreat.

  “Now, let’s see what you’re all about,” he whispered into her ear while his hand traced the skin of her open neckline.

  “Oh yes, let’s see.”

  Quick as lightening, Dyla smashed her knee into his groin. Rikervic doubled over in agony and instantly knew he’d been made a fool. He reached up to his lapel and pressed his alarm transmitter. At the same moment, Dyla smashed her elbow against the back of his neck, rendering him unconscious. The alarm activated momentarily, but Rikervic’s hand fell away as he collapsed in a heap.

  Dyla watched the Sergeant crumble to the ground.

  “Men,” she scoffed, “so predictable.”

  She stepped out into the street and signaled for Darius and Eclair to move forward. The two men hurried to meet her.

  “Quickly, before we’re spotted,” Dyla said, dragging the unconscious guard through the doorway and into the warehouse.

  “Darius, help me find someplace to hide him. He shouldn’t bother us again.”

  “That was quick. What’d you say to him?” Darius asked.

  Dyla winked at her brother.

  “Only what every man wants to hear.”

  Darius nodded, but Eclair was left wondering what exactly that was.

  ***

  Corporal Feller was the senior team leader for Rikervic’s squad. As the senior team leader, he had the prestigious honor of guarding the event’s objective room. He received an alarm bleep from the sergeant, but it was only a brief buzz, hardly noticeable. It was more of a blip than an actual alarm, and he wondered if Rikervic had accidentally activated his transmitter again.

  Wouldn’t be the first time, Feller thought.

  Feller was hesitant to check in, knowing that if Rikervic had activated it accidentally, he would give Feller an earful to cover his blunder. Nevertheless, Feller knew his duty and called on his squad leader.

  “Corporal Feller to Sergeant Rikervic, come in please,” Feller called on his mike.

  After calling twice more and receiving no reply, Feller decided he had better go check on his sergeant. Feller positioned the other member of his team inside the objective room, and cautioned him to stay alert. He moved quickly to the front entrance where Rikervic was supposed to be, opened the door and found no one standing guard.

  Great, where the hell did he get to now?

  Feller moved into the street and walked to each corner of the warehouse building, looking down the side streets and alleyways. When he found no trace of Rikervic, his military instinct kicked in and he activated his communicator.

  “This is Corporal Feller. Has anyone seen Sergeant Rikervic in the last 15 minutes? Team Leaders report.”

  “Bravo team leader reporting, negative on Sergeant Rikervic.”

  “Charlie here, negative here as well.”

  “Delta team reporting, negative here.”

  What’s going on? Feller thought furiously Rikervic would never desert his post.

  “All teams, shift to high alert. Rikervic is missing and I’m going to look for him,” Feller commanded over his communicator.

  He went back inside the warehouse and started to sweep the foyer inside the front door, spying a side utility closet further down the corridor. He ran to the door, opened it and found an unconscious Rikervic lying inside.

  Feller’s hand flew to his communicator, opening a channel.

  “All teams, we have a breach. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. We have been penetrated. Rikervic is down. Lock down all areas and trank any unknown personnel on sight. Team Leaders, check your areas and report.”

  He left the unconscious sergeant in the closet and ran back down the corridor toward the objective room. Rounding the corner, he found the Bravo Team leader sprawled on the floor, unconscious. He slowed his stride and pulled out his trank pistol, continuing to scout ahead, looking for the intruders. Around the next corner, he spotted a lithe figure at the end of the corridor leaning over the body of the second Bravo team member. Two others intruders were ahead and heading down the hallway.

  “Halt, stop right there!” he shouted, running forward and firing his trank pistol at the strange woman.

  Dyla looked up and saw the sentry running at her. There were no more places to hide.

  “Move it, quickly,” she yelled to Darius and Eclair. “The objective is down that corridor.”

  Darius, half-carrying Eclair, raced down the corridor. Dyla tipped every waste container she came upon, trying to slow the sentry down. She picked up a small metal one and launched it at his head. Feller ducked as the container flew over his head. He got a few more shots off before the three intruders disappeared around the corner.

  Darius opened the objective room door and felt resistance behind it. He quickly pulled the door back to give it some slack and slammed it forward again. A grunt and the accompanying sound of a body hitting the floor let him know he had successfully knocked the sentry out. He rushed inside ready to take out any other guards, but found the room empty. Eclair slogged into the room behind him and leaned against the wall.

  Dyla was right on their heels, and she slammed the door shut. Looking around, she took the only chair in the room and wedged it tightly against the door, trying to buy them a few precious seconds. She saw Darius probing his arm.

  “I’m hit,” he said.

  “Damn, let me see.”

  Darius held out his left arm for inspection.

  “You’re lucky, you’ve only been grazed. You shouldn’t feel any effects from it.”

  Dyla looked behind her and saw Eclair begin to slide down the wall. Darius reached over and managed to catch him before he fell to the floor, but he was barely conscious.

  “We need to check him out. I think he’s been hit too.”

  Dyla started patting Eclair down looking for darts and spotted one sticking in his backside.

  “Eclair, can you hear me?” Dyla asked.

  You’ve got to be kidding, Eclair thought, feeling the trank working.

  He cringed when Dyla pulled the dart out. Darius reached over and grabbed Eclair’s crystal and moved to the recorder. He inserted his own crystal, then Eclair’s into the device. Dyla was behind him recording her crystal as well. At least the event would be recorded on the scoreboard.

  Dyla glanced over at the barely conscious Eclair and then at the chair wedged under the door. That door was the only way into the room.

  “That chair won’t hold long. Those guards will start bursting through any moment. Any suggestions?”

  “I don’t know,” Darius replied. “We have to get out of here, but without Eclair to open a portal, I don’t know how. This sucks. We’re so close to finishing, I can taste it.”

  Darius walked back to Eclair and slipped his chain and crystal back around his neck.

  Dyla, her brow creased with concentration, looked at her brother.

  “We have to do something,” she said, her frustration mounting.

  In the background, they heard the guard calling for backup.

  “Any suggestions?”

  “Maybe, but it’s a long shot. Eclair might not be able to touch his power, but maybe we can channel our power through him and open a portal.”

  “Huh? Can that even be done?” Darius asked. “I’ve never heard of anyone doing that before.”

  “I don’t know. Like I said, it’s a long shot, but we’re out of other options.”

  “OK, let’s try.”

  The twins knelt beside Eclair and each grabbed one of his hands, with the other touching the side of his head. They could hear the mounting commotion in the corridor outside as the other guards converged on their location. They had mere seconds left to get out of the room.

  “Eclair, wake up, shake it off,” Dyla said. “We’re going to channel our
power into you so you can open a portal.”

  Eclair barely nodded.

  Dyla channeled her power into Eclair, probing and feeling for his center. At first, she felt nothing, but then became aware of a strange emanation closing around her, surrounding her.

  “Darius, channel your power. I’ve found his center. Hurry.”

  “I’m already channeling. I feel it too.”

  The pounding footsteps in the corridor were getting closer.

  “Eclair, concentrate on a portal,” Darius implored. “We’ve given you all the power we have. Get us back to the waterfront, back to the crates on the pier. Now, Eclair, now.”

  The twins continued channeling their power and in their minds pictured the image of the crates at the end of the pier.

  A glimmer formed directly in front of them, solidifying into a portal to the docks. Without a second thought, they each grabbed Eclair and jumped through the portal. The last thing Darius saw was the door to the room as it came crashing open.

  “Man, that was close!” Darius said as the portal winked shut behind them.

  The three of them were standing behind the stack of crates on the dock, safely out of harm’s way.

  “Put Eclair down for a minute and let him rest,” Dyla said.

  “Eclair, can you hear me? Are you all right?”

  Eclair opened his eyes and groaned as another wave of nausea passed through him.

  “Dyla, you’re right,” he gasped. “I’ve never felt this bad before.”

  “Sorry, but we had to get out of there. We had no time to go back out the way we came in.”

  Darius leaned over Eclair, patting his back.

  “Eclair, we have to make one more jump back to the duchy’s portal station to complete this objective. Once there, we can use the Seleas portal to get back to the Institute. This is it, I promise and then I’ll carry you the rest of the way if I have to. I know you’re hurting, but just one more jump and we’re done. Can you do it if we channel through you again?”

  “After all this, we better win,” Eclair said weakly.

  The twins surged their power through Eclair again. They both felt the same sensation and concentrated on forming a mental picture of the main Seleas portal station. Within seconds, the station materialized into view and the opening stabilized. The twins held a barely conscious Eclair between them and stepped through. They quickly moved to the final recording device and inserted their crystals.

  The competition official pointed at Eclair.

  “What happened to him?”

  “He was shot by one of sentries in the Seleas Duchy,” Dyla replied.

  “Shot? You mean tranked?” the official asked.

  Darius glanced at the scoreboard. They were in the lead. They had finished their last objective ahead of the Dalcon team. Every moment counted.

  “Yes. Are we clear to move?”

  “Wait a minute. How did you get here? He’s your telekinetic and he’s tranked, so who opened that portal you just came through? If you’ve had any outside help, then you’re disqualified.”

  “We didn’t have any help. My brother and I surged our power into him and the portal opened,” Dyla said.

  The official stared at Dyla, confusion written on his face.

  “You combined your powers?”

  “Is there any rule against that?” Darius asked impatiently.

  Precious seconds ticked by.

  A crowd began to gather around the group. The tension was thick in the air, waiting for the official to respond.

  “No, but I must report this to the Council. This has never been done before,” the official sputtered.

  Darius pressed the official.

  “Do whatever you have to do. Are we clear to go?”

  “Yes, you’re cleared. Go.”

  The surrounding crowd cheered and the twins dragged Eclair over to the main portal. Darius turned to the operator.

  “Please, a portal to the Otharian Institute.”

  As the portal solidified, Darius adjusted Eclair on his shoulder and stepped through behind Dyla. Once through, they began to jog the final distance from the Institute’s portal station to the amphitheater. They were ahead and they were going to win. Elated but still wary, Darius chanced a look over his shoulder and saw another portal opening.

  “Another portal,” he yelled to Dyla.

  He sped up to a run, bouncing Eclair on his shoulder, while trying to look back.

  “It’s the Dalcons,” cried Dyla, looking back and then sprinting ahead. “Hurry, they’re right behind us.”

  Darius hitched Eclair higher and sprinted after Dyla to the finish line. They weren’t that far ahead of the other team.

  ***

  “Yes Sire, that’s what the report said. All three of them combined their powers and now they’re in the lead. They were just at the Institute’s portal station and are now making their way to the finish,” the official said.

  Grand Duke Vogdo sat in his royal box, frowning as he looked at the finish line directly below him. The report from his man at the final recording point was not what he wanted to hear.

  “What do you want me to do now, Sire?”

  “Nothing. You’re dismissed.”

  “Yes, Sire.”

  Vogdo leaned over and told Marek Dalcon the news.

  “So the Telkurs are leading,” Vogdo said to Marek. “The portal station is well over a league away and I’m sure anything can happen in the time it takes to run that distance, but I wonder if I have misplaced my trust in whom the winner will be.”

  “No, my lord,” Marek answered, “I can assure you that you have not.”

  “My dear Marek, do you know something that I don’t?”

  “Hardly, my lord, but there are things that you’d best not have knowledge of. Rest assured that I will take care of this situation.”

  “I’m sure you will,” Vogdo nodded, watching Marek leave the royal viewing box. “I’m sure you will.”

  ***

  Marek walked down the private staircase at the rear of the royal viewing box. There, in the seclusion of the private entrance, stood Nils, who instantly became alert as Marek approached him.

  “I have a job for you, and it must be done quickly.”

  “My Lord?”

  “The Telkur team is now leading the competition. They’re minutes away from the stadium and they’ll be the first team through the archway. They must not win. I want you to get rid of them.”

  “Temporarily?”

  “No, permanently.”

  “As you wish, my lord,” Nils replied. He turned and walked quickly toward the main entrance of the stadium.

  ***

  Darius looked ahead and spied the archway to the amphitheater, which was fast approaching. Shifting Eclair on his back, he reached deep inside himself to find the strength he needed for the final sprint to victory. Though the sweat was pouring down his face and into his eyes, out of the corner of them he was able to see Dyla stumble and fall.

  A wave of intense emotion struck Dyla and sent her crashing to her knees. She looked up and saw the archway directly ahead shimmer out of focus. As if in a dream, images of her and her brother, with Eclair still on his shoulders, were running in slow motion through the archway. A portal opened directly in front of them. They were running so fast that neither could stop and they ran straight through it. In the last vestiges of her vision, Dyla saw herself and the two men she cared most about falling to their deaths off a two-hundred-foot cliff.

  As quickly as it came, the vision vanished.

  Darius stopped and grabbed her hand, but in those precious lost seconds, the Dalcon team raced by them, laughing at their misfortune. Dyla looked up and saw the glimmer of the death portal forming in front of the archway. Heedless of the imminent danger, the Dalcon team raced right towards it. She stared helplessly as she realized what was about to happen.

  “Get up, get up,” Darius cried, yanking her to her feet. “We’re almost there. We can still
win!”

  “Noooooo,” she screamed.

  ***

  Aketis Dalcon couldn’t believe his eyes when he burst through the Institute’s portal station. The damn Telkur team was immediately ahead of them, racing to the finish line. They still had time and he was determined to catch them.

  “Let’s go,” he shouted at his brother and uncle. “It’s only a league to the stadium.”

  They began running after the Telkur team, but it soon became apparent that the Telkur team had too much of a head start. The Telkurs would make it through the archway mere seconds before the Dalcons, but enough to win. Aketis willed himself to go faster.

  As he ran and watched victory slipping from his fingers, directly in front of the archway, steps away from victory, Dyla Telkur stumbled and fell down.

  Aketis couldn’t believe his eyes, and shouted to his brother and uncle.

  “Let’s go, move, move, move. Telkur is down. Run, run!”

  Acaris and Bacara looked at the downed Telkur team, laughing and momentarily taking their eyes off the finish line.

  “So close,” Aketis jeered, racing past as Darius tried to get Dyla up.

  ***

  Marek Dalcon returned to his seat in the Grand Duke’s royal box after giving Nils his instructions.

  As the team approached the archway, the frenzied crowd began chanting.

  “Telkur, Telkur.”

  ***

  Nils planned his trap to perfection. He stood off to the side of the archway, carefully hidden in the crowd, ready to open his death portal. He waited patiently for the Telkur team to approach, relishing the chaos he would cause. When the first shadow appeared in the archway, he let loose his power and opened the portal.

  They’ll never know what happened.

  ***

  Marek watched, his anticipation growing. He craned his neck to get a better view of the incoming team. He watched eagerly as they came closer. When he saw them come through the archway, he froze in abject horror.

  “Noooooo,” he screamed.

  But it was too late; the trap was sprung. Marek watched helplessly as his only sons and brother disappeared through the shimmering death portal. They never saw the portal materialize, laughing at the downed Telkur team as they raced through the archway to victory.