"I remember that. He gave you guys a late report that got Donavan nabbed." Donavan looked at his hand and frowned. He could still feel the spike they'd driven through his palm that day.
"They had a gun on me. 'Tell me where your men are posted or I'll ventilate your head' they said. I refused, and he pulled the trigger. Marcus burst in in that split second. Saved my life." Donavan paused for a moment, remembering. "We were forced to attack head-on and fight them the hard way. We lost a lot of good people that day."
"When it was over,” Ian added. “Robby had not only lost his closest friend, but both of his legs and one hand to a stray grenade. He was so messed up he wouldn't talk to anyone," Ian finished. "He died about three months later. He just stopped living." Rebekah frowned at the conclusion.
"And you think Ellis is like that?" she asked finally.
"He's headed that way. I think Ellis is going to need a very hard lesson to snap him around," Donavan said simply.
"Problem is, hard lessons tend to leave you broken," Marcus pointed out.
"That's where you come in. If it comes to a tough lesson, you've got to be there to pick him up. Robby didn't have that." A low mood fell over the room. Rebekah broke the silence.
"Uh, I don't mean to change the subject, but your deck officer said something about a visitor for me." Donavan snapped around and cursed himself.
"I'm sorry. It slipped my mind."
"It certainly did Captain," a growling voice said from the doorway. Everyone looked over and saw a mountain of a man. Rebekah jumped up in excitement, elated at the harsh face that greeted her.
"Darius!" she squealed, throwing her arms around his thick neck. Marcus sized the man up immediately. A shade less than seven-foot-tall, wearing a long brown duster over what looked like a light armor compression suit. He was pale-skinned, almost to the point of having no pigment, and his head was shaved. Behind him, deck officer Lesnin was looking into the room nervously.
“He asked to be escorted to you Captain. We’ve been waiting downstairs,” Donavan nodded.
“No problem Tracy. Go on back to the ship. I’ll be there in a little while.” Tracy gave her brassy red hair a little flip and started out. Marcus could’ve sworn she was looking at him again. He shook it off.
"Your Highness. Your mother told me you were staying at the Academy again." Rebekah pulled herself away and gave Darius the once over.
"You old dog. Where've you been the last five years? After you left the Dragoons, we all started to wonder what you'd gotten yourself into. Highmaster Troius was worried." Darius's square face made a bit of a grimace, though with all the crags and creases in his skin, one could hardly tell.
"Well, I've been keeping busy wandering about. You know. Daring-do and all that." Rebekah smiled.
"Oh, where are my manners,” Rebekah shook herself a little, forgetting anyone else was in the room. “Darius March, my former bodyguard, this is Ian Sodaro." Ian extended his hand, and got it swallowed up in the massive paw before him. It took him effort not to react to the pain in his hand.
"Pleasure," Darius said simply. Ian pulled his hand away, wondering where all the blood in it had gone.
"Donavan you've met. And this is Marcus Kasidyne." Marcus put out his hand, and received Darius's hand in return. He could tell that most men would have winced at this handshake. It certainly wasn't flimsy. But Marcus gave grip as well as he received it. Darius's face was hard to read in that moment.
"I've heard of you," was all he said. Marcus nodded. He'd heard of him as well. But only through Rebekah's hyperbolic storytelling. Darius March was the only other direct student of Highmaster Nilikahn Troius. And by all tales told, he was the Highmaster’s and Rebekah’s near equal.
"So, what brings you to Littlefield anyway?" Ian asked, watching the handshake and not knowing quite what to think. Marcus pulled his hand away, watching for a reaction. Darius gave very little.
"Other than visiting an old friend?" Ian nodded. "I was hoping I could enter a few events in the Peace Games." Marcus figured that might be why he was there. He relaxed his mind a moment, allowing his own personal defenses to relax. Besides, Rebekah knew him.
"Well, I'll be defending my swordsmanship title, so I doubt we'll meet out there." Darius nodded slightly.
"Yes, I hear Cole Remec is coming to challenge you again. He's not too happy about you taking his title." Marcus smiled a little, remembering the finals of the previous Peace Games. Cole Remec had not taken losing very well.
"Well, it was his title to lose." Marcus stood in place for a moment, glancing at the door. "Anyway, I've got a class that's waiting for me. Donavan?" Donavan nodded as Marcus headed for the door. Ian began along after them, but Rebekah lingered.
"If you don't mind Marcus, I'd like to do a little catching up with Darius." Marcus made a face for a moment. After a second he nodded.
"All right. But stay on campus this time. We don't want another thing like what happened at Grant's Foundry." Rebekah put her hands on her hips. She was trying to look offended, but she knew he was right. She needed to stay inside the paladin jurisdiction. The room cleared and Darius made a relieved look.
"Your boyfriend's got a short leash, eh?" Rebekah blanched.
"How do you do that?" Darius gave Rebekah a pleased look.
"I don't understand why he's coming down on me!" Ellis snapped, kicking his chair before slumping down in a huff. Jack took a towel to his face, wiping at the sweat that didn't seem to want to stop flowing. Jack had been the point man on the exercise, and thus had gotten the brunt of the work.
"Maybe it's because he's right," Jack said shortly. Ellis kicked the chair next to him, not bothering to look up.
"I don't see why you're taking it so hard," Mary offered. Ellis folded his arms, not wanting to hear what she was saying. "Captain Dirk's just trying to teach us how to be better at what we're training for. I learned a lot frankly. After a while, it actually started being fun." Ellis shook his head.
"But it's just an exercise," Ellis said. “It doesn’t count.” Jack threw his hands up in disgust.
"If you say that again Ellis, I’m gonna thump on your head. I swear." Ellis didn't react. He didn't want to talk about it. This wasn't his fault. He had done what he'd been asked. It was just a simulation. It didn't count. At least, that's what he thought.
Uther sat down on the floor with his legs folded in front of him, closing his eyes slowly. He had not said anything since they'd left the simulator. His mood had been both sober and silent. Mary watched him for a moment, his breathing becoming even and his movement becoming nil. This was the first time that Uther had ever come out of a simulator exercise and not joined in the conversation. It wasn't his habit to meditate with people around. He usually meditated alone.
"Staring at the back of my head will not tell you what I am thinking Mary," Uther droned out. Mary opened her mouth to say something, but let her mouth fall closed. Uther did not move to react to the silence. Jack looked up to see what Mary was looking at.
"You don't meditate in class," he said, rather matter-of-factly. Uther took a deep breath, as though his meditation had ended, and turned. "What gives?" Uther had a concerned look on his feline face. It wasn't a look that any of them had ever seen before on Uther. Even when he was bothered by something, he tended to look fairly serene.
"A few nights ago, I felt a presence in the Holodrome during my meditations. Not for very long, but long enough for it to make an impression. It felt like someone was watching me." Uther turned his eyes downward towards the floor. His fur rippled ever so slightly as he continued.
"I do not know how to explain it, but the presence was back just a few moments ago, stronger in the Holodrome during the simulation." Jack looked at Mary, who glanced back in surprise.
"But we didn't see anyone," she said quietly, trying to remember if she had seen anything unusual.
"With all the simulator drones around, someone could've passed for one of them without our noticing," Ellis sa
id softly. Everyone looked over at him. He hunched down in his chair a bit. He wasn't used to the attention.
"Possible. But why go to the trouble?" Uther asked simply.
"You think someone's after you?" Jack asked. Uther shook his head.
"Whatever it is I am feeling it was not watching me this time. It was watching Ellis." Ellis looked up at that. All eyes turned to him. He could feel the probing gaze of his companions. They wanted to know why.
"What?" Nobody said anything. Ellis wasn't sure what was going on. "WHAT?" Uther shook his head.
"Things are not correct on this campus. There are persons about somewhere who wish ill to all in Littlefield. There is more than one. One seems to just watch. The others feel as though they are scheming." Uther closed his eyes again. "Not that I can pinpoint them, or why they seem to have focused on Ellis and I. But things are not right." Jack wiped at his face again and frowned.
"You think maybe it's Prit and his flunkies?" Uther gave a negative shake.
"Your old companions are malcontents to be sure, but they do not have a motive." Uther took a slow breath. "Every person has a different emotion linked with their spirit when I sense them. It is like a mental first impression. Monroe and his friends are malicious, but only to me. And not in a murderous way. This presence is vengeful and full of ill will. But it is not focused. It is spread all over. Yet, it has been intensely focused on Ellis and myself." The room felt cold all of the sudden. "I cannot feel the presence now however. It is as if the person whom I sensed has disappeared." Mary shook herself a little, trying not to get caught up in all the shivering she felt like doing.
"So, what do we do about it?” Jack asked. Uther shook his head.
“I am not sure.” That’s when Ellis decided to speak up.
“Why don’t you tell your favorite teacher, huh? Tell him all about your spooky feelings. And after you make a fool of yourself, maybe you can fix all of our paper cuts with your weirdo powers.” Uther’s fur ruffled just a little bit, but he did not move. Ellis held a dark look on his face, trying his best to stare the Un’Hok Tol down. But Uther met his gaze and matched it.
"Ellis," Mary said, trying to counter Ellis with reason.
"No. He wants to be an idiot. That's fine. I'm sure Kasidyne has a whole diatribe about creepy crawlies in that big mouth of his." Both Mary and Jack grew quiet. The only sound in the room was the crunch of Jack's fist tightening. "You wanna take a shot at me Roykirk? Huh? You're as big a fool as he is if you follow that hack." Jack really wanted to take Ellis up on that offer. He wanted to hit him.
"I don't take insults well Ellis," Jack said through gritted teeth. “You push, I’m gonna push back.” Uther decided to insert himself into the conversation again.
“I may believe that Sir Kasidyne is trustworthy, but until I know more, I do not trust anyone outside this room. We will keep this secret for now.” Ellis didn’t look convinced.
“This’s all stupid,” he said finally. Uther frowned. Ellis just didn’t get it. Or he didn’t want to.
“Stupid it may be. But we cannot discount the possibility that we are targets of some malicious attack.” Uther could feel someone coming. Ellis stepped a little closer to Uther as the door started to open.
“No one’s after us! You’re a fool, you gray headed freak!”
“Are we interrupting something?” Donavan asked solemnly. The looks in the room said yes, but that no one was going to tell him what it was he had walked in on. Ellis walked back to his seat, and the others averted their eyes. Marcus stepped in and gave the class a once over. Something had just happened. But no one was saying what.
Chapter 7
Nothing but Trouble
Darius and Rebekah walked around the quad in Littlefield, talking and sharing old stories with one another. It hadn’t taken long to catch Darius up on all that had happened in the last few years. The last year had been the bulk of the conversation.
Darius had not yet been to Norik, which was his next destination. He had heard rumor of the young princess he had once defended living in the Academy again, and had booked passage on the Triumphant’s shakedown cruise. Donavan had been vaguely familiar with the former Dragoon, and had agreed, so long as he didn’t disturb the normal operation of the ship.
“So, Rand and Skeel are in league with the Innova, huh?” Darius asked after Rebekah finished her story. Rebekah nodded grimly, trying not to belie her disappointment. Darius had trained the both of them, and it had become a sore point for Rebekah that two of her closer friends from home had turned out to be traitors and fiends.
“Yeah. After the attack in Meridian, we couldn’t find any trace of them. And since I’m on a city lock down, I can’t go track them.” Darius smirked a little.
“I doubt there’d be any other Dragoons besides you, me and High Master Troius who would be up to the task.” Rebekah shrugged, the grimace not entirely gone from her face. Darius wisely changed the subject “So how long have you been dating the paladin?” Rebekah’s mood brightened immediately.
“Less than a year. We’ve been trying to keep it quiet, like before. But then, you remember that.” Darius chuckled a little.
“Yes. I remember. You two needed your bodyguards more to run interference than to actually guard you. I remember going over the paperwork.” Darius had never actually been on the campus. His charge after Rebekah had left Norik was to oversee the guard duty situation. Some of the reports he received during his posting were quite comical.
Rebekah walked across Firion Street and didn’t say much. Her relationship with Marcus was defined, and not. She liked to talk about it, but it wasn’t the simplest conversation to have. The open plain of Nikko Park came before them and Rebekah continued, walking toward the tree that she, Marcus and Ian usually shaded themselves beneath.
“I figured you to wed a royal,” Darius said after a moment’s thought. It wasn’t the first time someone had said that to the young Norik princess. She was used to fielding that kind of comment from people who didn’t get her intentions.
“I’m not a big fan of royals, despite my upbringing. You should know that better than most.” Darius shrugged. He had seen that streak in his charge over the years.
“I just don’t think a paladin is who you should have.” Rebekah sat herself down under the old withered tree and shook her head.
“Did I ask for dating advice?” Darius frowned a little. “I’m not thinking about what anybody else wants for me and I’m not asking for advice. I’m thinking about what I want for myself. And I’m thinking about what’s right for me.” Darius set himself down in the grass and put his hands up in surrender. He wasn’t going to push any farther. It wasn’t his place.
“So, tell me,” Rebekah asked. “What’s with the pressure suit? That’s for people with breathing problems.” Darius opened up his duster a little to show the form-fitting black outfit and frowned.
“It’s more than a breathing problem. This suit is a complete respiratory assist module. Basically, an iron lung.” Rebekah frowned at that. “When you do good as long as I have, you make enemies. There’s always some punk who wants to cut a stripe out of your hide.” Darius paused a moment, staring off into the distance. “I took a few bullets in the chest a year ago. Nearly killed me. As is, I’m lucky this keeps me going.” Rebekah frowned a little. The Darius she remembered wasn’t one to keep himself alive with a piece of overpriced machinery, no matter how well intentioned. But then, Rebekah hadn’t seen him in so long, it was hard to know what his tendencies were.
“You’re not worried they won’t disqualify you from competition with that thing on.” Darius smirked.
“I could turn it off and disqualify myself permanently.” Rebekah didn’t think that was funny. “I know what you’re thinking.”
“Do you now?” she scoffed.
“Why wear this at all? What happened to an honorable death?” Rebekah shrugged. She was indeed thinking that way. Darius slouched a little.
“What
happened? Details.” Darius took a breath and began.
“Last year, I got shot during a skyjacking. I was in Sha-Nor, hitching a ride in one of their Cloudrunners when a group of insurgents tried to take the ship. I acted, they shot me.” Darius’s face went ashen for a moment. “They say that my efforts saved the ship, so they saved me, instead of allowing me to die. But I kept thinking I should have died.
“I was sleeping in their infirmary that evening. I couldn’t sleep, trying to get used to a machine breathing for me. I started thinking that this was the worst thing that could ever happen. I was living by a machine. I started to cry. I wanted death. But just as I thought that, I saw this fantastic light. A voice spoke out to me and said that I had much to do. I had a mission to accomplish. I wouldn’t be allowed to go yet. I needed to go forth and find my true purpose.” Darius faltered a little. “I’m still looking.” Rebekah nodded. The story felt true to her.
“So how long are you here for anyway?” Rebekah asked, changing the subject.
“Well, I planned on heading for Norik tonight. Thought I’d stop off and visit a few old friends. See if I might talk with Highmaster Troius for a bit. You know, patch up some old wounds.” Rebekah nodded.
“Or reopen old ones?” she asked coyly. Darius smiled.
“Six of one.” The rumor was that Darius and Nilikahn had had the philosophical argument of the decade. Not that anyone knew what the argument had been about. But when it was over, Darius had resigned his post and laid down his lancet, determining to head out for parts unknown to see if his belief was true.
“I think he’d be happy to see you. Tell him I said hi.” Darius nodded. Rebekah closed her eyes for a second and breathed deep. “I miss home. I’m kinda stuck here.”
The Paladin Archives Book Two The Withering Falseblade Page 12
