by C.L. Mozena
Chapter 33
Glancing at each of the one-on-one fights going on around him, Boss strolled slowly throughout the dojo with Slasher at his side. Slasher had proven himself to be one of the top fighters of all of the people here, since he had been boxing almost his entire life. Boss looked up at Slasher. He was larger than Boss, about the size of a telblec, but more muscular. He never wore a shirt, Boss guessed, because he was proud of his body. Slasher’s bulging muscles looked as if they stretched he skin like rubber, which would pop at any time. Slasher’s presence made Boss feel small, but Slasher had fallen at Boss’s hands in the ring. Size isn’t everything, Boss thought, thinking about all his sparring sessions with telblecs on Olhoe. Each telblec, just like Slasher, towered over Boss. He knew that, while telblecs had size and strength to their advantage, lunimorves had agility and swiftness. Not to mention shape shifting.
“Boss, I was thinking,” Slasher said quietly, so as not to be overheard, “You said Prince Orion is strong, and not distracted easily, right?”
“That’s right,” Boss replied. He had confided his plan of attack to Slasher, who thought it was pure genius.
“Well, wouldn’t it be easier to take him down if he was distracted? Like, maybe by a girl like before?” Slasher asked, glancing down at Boss. Boss had told Slasher about the times he and his three followers had failed to kill Prince Orion, but had succeeded in distracting him enough with the girl, Sandra, to get him alone and vulnerable.
“You may have a point, Slasher,” Boss thought it over. He didn’t see how a girl would help them destroy Prince Orion this time, but it certainly couldn’t hurt to open that option. He remembered Prince Joshua taking off for Olhoe when he heard that his brother was hurt in a fire. Unfortunately, Orion had survived. But when he got back, Prince Joshua had complained about how Prince Orion wouldn’t shut up about some girl named Tanya. Maybe, with a little push, Prince Orion could be so distracted by her charms that he would neglect his training and become weak and vulnerable again. Boss smiled to himself.
Fixing his gaze on one particular sparring session that was going on in front of them, Boss paused to watch the outcome. Slasher stopped, too. When the zealots had rallied several new members for the ATA, they were all pathetically weak. Now, after months of training, they were almost ready. Just a few more weeks, Boss thought, then we can attack Olhoe, and be rid of Prince Orion once and for all.
