Daughter Of Ethos: The Ascension Book 7

by L M Lacee

  Just then, Bendrix asked in a loud voice. ‘Your answer, surrender to the Star Daughter or die. What is your choice?’

  No one answered, and before Bendrix could ask again, several round disks were flicked into the room followed by several hooded males.

  Dantara called out. ‘Sonic grenades!’

  But it was too late and in truth would not have prevented what happened. Everyone who was not a Menturian fell to the floor, including Dantara. Peneria called to Willian to no avail, she tried calling Peyton with same result. She could see Ipeara and knew she would be struggling to free herself. She wished she could tell her to cease. Nothing but time would help them now if they had any left. She could feel the thump of boots on the floor under her.

  Anger gripped Gunner, he could see and hear but not move. The sonic grenades had caused his muscles to lock him in place. He knew that he was in serious trouble, depending on the type of grenade it was. He and everyone else could remain like this for hours, if not days. Despair filled him as he mentally struggled against his invisible bonds. His Avana and Koana would be left alone and unprotected. Fear for them, for all the people in the Embassy made him desperate, until he heard Bendrix’s voice.

  ‘Foolish males, we are Nanite based, your little toys do not harm us. Now let us show you what toys we can make.’ With those words, his people stepped from the shadows and the carnage began.

  Gunner and the others were dragged from where they had fallen by hands that were neither hard nor gentle. Bendrix yelled as he fought three males. ‘Sorry, my friends, safer for you out of the way. The Senes will restore you as soon as we make it safe for you to be taken upstairs’

  Gunner was not the only one who would report later, he heard him giggle like a girl on sugar.

  FIFTY-SEVEN:

  Kardan and Wolf flanked Jarrod as they ran through the tunnels under the city. Following thirty Warriors led by Jorge as he followed Rage, Midnight and Tipper. While other Prowlers and Warriors, covered them from behind.

  They arrived at their destination, warmed up with energy to spare. Jorge led them at a run up a stairway that exited at street level next to the building they knew the Elders were in. Five blocks from the rest of the fighting.

  Hearing a cry, they looked up and saw Coraan and his Draygons had ceased all traffic, making it easier for the other Elites and Warriors to reach their target buildings.

  Another scream made them look up in time to see Draygons flying, then as they watched one swooped down and picked up someone from a rooftop. As blaster shots rang out, the person in the Draygons hands started screaming, his arms and legs flaying. The Draygon rose higher and then suddenly stopped in mid-flight and dropped the person he or she carried. The screaming stopped half-way to the ground, or they assumed it was ground. So far no one had gone down pass the underground service areas.

  So for all they knew, it could be a great big abyss where trash ended up or a pit filled with lasers. That was Peyton’s favorite theory.

  ‘Anyone want to bet that was Zen?’ Wolf asked.

  There were no takers, although Hue said. ‘It looked like Ran?’

  ‘Nah, it was Lucca.’ Jorge assured them.

  ‘How do you know?’ Wolf asked him.

  Jorge smiled as he pointed to the flying Draygons. ‘It’s in the wings.’

  ‘Do you mean the color?’

  ‘No, how they move them. Coraan has a specific sweep when he flies. Zen arches hers just before she scoops them back. If you like, when we get home, I will show you what I mean.’

  ‘I would like that.’

  Kardan murmured. ‘It may be as well to explain what you see to Coraan. Our Warmaster may not like the idea you can identify his people so easily.’

  Jorge nodded and smiled. ‘I do not think he will.’

  As they had spoken Draygons flew above them and plucked people from buildings, blaster shots could be seen but the Draygons were too fast and skilled. The shots went wide and harmlessly missed their targets.

  Hue said as he studied them. ‘I think they are betting.’

  Jarrod muttered. ‘Probably on the length of screaming time.’

  There was scattered laughter, even Kardan and Wolf grinned. Turning their attention from the skies, they looked across to the empty parking level and saw several bodies. Wolf jogged to one and rolled the male over. Seeing the cut throat, he surmised. ‘The scouts have been here.’

  Matt emerged with Po from the shadows, proving him right. He clasped arms with Matt, then Po.

  Matt told them. ‘There are soldiers at each level of the stairways and each floor has Masters. We couldn’t get to the top, there is a barrier stopping us at one hundred and fifty-eight. We believe the Elders are on one hundred and fifty-nine.’

  Jarrod asked. ‘Did the barrier feel dirty?’

  Po replied with a grimace of distaste. ‘Yes slimy.’

  Jarrod nodded. ‘That will be them.’

  Kardan made his plan and told Jorge and the other Warriors. ‘We will go take out the Elders, your task is to take out the soldiers and Masters.’

  Jarrod said. ‘Matt, you and your Falears have the best shot at killing them?’

  ‘How, we have never killed a Master before?’

  Jarrod’s eyes bled white as he answered. ‘No one can control an attack without a head.’

  Kardan asked. ‘Jarrod, what was that?’

  ‘I am the Kail, it is what it is.’

  Wolf said. ‘Next time brother, let us know?’

  ‘As you say.’

  ‘Well, that’s simple. We will distract them and you take their heads.’ Jorge told Matt and Po. Harm arrived hearing the last of what was said. ‘I am going to help Dinas. I will forward the information to the other Falears.’

  ‘Good hunting.’ Matt said to Kardan and Wolf. He looked at Jarrod. ‘Stay alive, my friend, I find I would miss you.’

  ‘You as well, my friend.’

  ‘Stay alive Warriors, remember what you fight for.’ Kardan looked at all the Warriors. ‘We can do this because we have family and friends to protect now and a way of life that is ours. No one has the right to take that from us. All who try shall fall against our blades! Do not be merciful, they will not be!’

  They roared their agreement.

  ‘Are they meant to do that?’ Wolf asked Jorge.

  ‘Melody says it gives them spirit.’

  ‘Spirit, what is that?’

  Jorge shrugged. ‘I do not know. You could ask her to explain it. Or you could ask Peyton to do so.’

  Wolf snarled. ‘No need to be mean. It was just a question.’

  Jorge laughed as Wolf moved off until Kardan placed a hand on his arm and looked down at Tipper. He whispered. ‘Jorge, my friend, the Shadullar is not required today.’

  Jorge stood completely still and turned pitiless black eyes to Kardan. Then he seemed to heave in a long, slow breath as his eyes returned to normal. In a voice that rasped with emotion he replied. ‘The Shadullar is never needed.’

  ‘And yet without him we would not have my friend who stands here with me today. I find my life would be bereft if that was so.’

  Jorge scowled as he said. ‘Friends do not send Po to kill me.’

  Kardan nodded and admitted. ‘I was wrong. I did not understand the desoul that drove you.’

  Jorge looked down at Tipper, who said. Will you punish him for something you yourself may have done in his place? You do not punish Po.

  Jorge grimaced and said. You make a good point.

  Time for the past to be just that, the past.

  Jorge nodded then said to Kardan. ‘I never knew if I was angry he came and you did not.’

  ‘And now?’

  He smiled and asked. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘You are alive.’

  ‘That I am my friend.’

  Kardan’s eyebrow rose as he asked. ‘So what you are saying is, I chose right?’

  Jorge shook his head and asked. ‘Has anyone ever told you,
you sound like your mate?’

  Kardan grinned. ‘We are good.’

  ‘We are good.’ Returned Jorge.

  ‘Stay alive, my friend, my mate enjoys you, and I find I want a future with you in it.’

  ‘Fight well and we will drink to our success.’

  Tipper nodded to Kardan as he and Jorge moved to the waiting Warriors.

  Wolf asked Kardan. ‘What was that about?’

  Kardan glanced at Matt and Po. ‘History, and old friendships.’

  Po nodded to Kardan and then with Matt, the two Falears raced back into the building.

  Kardan watched Jorge split the Warriors into teams, one for each stairway at either end of the cavernous parking level.

  He asked Jarrod. ‘Are you ready, remember do not kill the Elders. I need to talk to them.’

  Jarrod replied. ‘I will render them incapacitated, but we have to get to them first.’

  Wolf smiled and asked Jarrod. ‘How are you at climbing?’

  ‘If you are asking, can I climb, the answer is yes.’

  ‘Good.’ He looked up into the lift cavity.

  Kardan said. ‘Rage take your Prowlers, go hunt and stay alive.’

  Rage nodded. Amahka do not die. Our Beloved is not a pretty crier as you have seen.

  ‘You are a brave male.’ Wolf told him with a laugh.

  In tones reminiscent of Reeve. Rage snorted and said. I am Pride Leader!

  They grinned at the Prowler as he turned with Midnight, Remii and Drifter and ran from the building.

  ‘Okay brothers, let’s do this.’ Kardan nodded to the lift, just as a Warrior ran up to them.

  ‘Amahka Elite. Specialist Darby gave me these for you. She said perhaps you will find a need for them.’

  There were three pairs of gloves. ‘What do they do?’ Wolf asked the young Warrior.

  He grinned as he told them. ‘Specialist Darby said put them on and then grab hold of the walls.’ He saluted and took off running.

  With a shrug that was becoming a normal gesture, they all put them on and then Kardan placed his hands on the inside wall of the lift. Instantly he was glued to the side panels. He lifted one hand and moved it up. ‘This is very good… very good indeed.’ He smiled before effortlessly scaling the wall.

  Grinning, both Wolf and Jarrod placed their hands on the walls and followed Kardan. Once they had the rhythm, the three of them quickly crab walked up the inside of the lift shaft. Within a matter of minutes they were at floor fifty-eight.

  Kardan indicated that between the two of them, he and Wolf would open the hatch above them into the lift. Carefully they slid the panel open and instantly they could hear the clash of swords and grunts of fighting males.

  Sliding the hatch wider, all three males jumped into the lift itself. Wolf slid a device from his inside pocket and placed it on the control panel. Within seconds, the doors were sliding open. They took a quick look out and saw they had come to a small foyer where ten Warriors were fighting soldiers. The three stripped the gloves from their hands, then the Roeah brothers unsheathed their swords.

  With a nod from Kardan, Jarrod stepped back as the brothers shoulder to shoulder exited the lift. Jarrod spotted a Master hiding in the shadows and with a thought killed him.

  Wolf called out. ‘Maikonian Warriors stand back!’

  With one swift look, Sarn and his Warriors instantly broke off their attacks and flattened themselves against the walls. With swords moving faster than eyes could follow, the Elites walked along the hall. The Coalition soldiers, unsure what was happening, threw themselves at the two males only to fall under their blades.

  Sarn said to Jarrod as he came level with him. ‘We have to go back down, they are still fighting below.’

  ‘Go, we need to go up. There is nothing you can do from here. Fight well, my friend.’

  Blood splattered, Sarn wiped his face and grinned. ‘You too my friend.’ He nodded toward the two Elites as they killed the last solider. ‘Thank them for us.’

  With that he whistled and his Warriors peeled themselves from the walls and ran to where he stood. They slipped like shadows down the stairway as Kardan and Wolf made for the door to the stairs that led upward.

  ‘Good fight.’ Wolf said as he wiped the blood from his face and blade with a cloth.

  Kardan doing the same agreed. ‘They must have been training.’

  FIFTY-EIGHT:

  Quickly the three of them were through the door and halfway up the stairs, when they came to the barrier Matt had spoken about. The brothers made way for Jarrod, who placed one hand above the barrier and one on the wall.

  Letting his senses seek the length and breadth of the invisible force that halted their progress. With a little more effort, he sought and found the Elders and Masters on the floor above. His hearts stopped, then started again in determination his course was set. He offered a plea to the Higher Powers to watch over his Trina and his young ones.

  Finding his voice, he told the brothers. ‘The Elders have surrounded themselves with a ring of Masters who are strengthening the barrier and the Elders with their power. I am unsure how many soldiers there are. I can feel fifty, there will be more.’

  Kardan told him. ‘It makes no difference, we must go up.’

  Jarrod grinned but did not look at either Elite. Kardan looked at Wolf with raised eyebrows and a suspicious look in his eyes. Wolf returned the look, Jarrod was not telling them something.

  Jarrod continued. ‘The Elders are facing north toward the Embassy, if you can take out the Masters and soldiers. I will be able to impede the Elders.’

  Kardan placed his hand on Jarrod’s arm, making him look at him. ‘Jarrod, what are you not telling us?’

  Jarrod looked at each brother, then away. ‘The only way for me to halt the Elders, may stop my hearts.’

  ‘Think of another way?’ Wolf told him. ‘You have a mate and young, this is not acceptable.’

  ‘I have done so.’ Jarrod’s eyes saddened. ‘I will use up valuable strength taking down this barrier. It has been reinforced with the Elder’s power and supported by the Masters. Also, it seems these Elders are directing the attacks, which means they are being supplied power by not only these Masters but other Elders and Masters within the city. So as I said, I will use valuable power to remove the barrier. And as I cannot take every Elder and Master out at once, there may be some residual backlash.’

  He looked at the two brothers, males he thought of as friends, and said quietly. ‘It is the only way.’

  Kardan looked down at his hand holding his sword and thought hard. ‘If it stops your hearts, how do we restart them?’

  Jarrod looked away as he told them. ‘By stop I mean burst.’

  Wolf asked. ‘There is no other way?’

  ‘None I can think of, and I have been thinking very hard.’

  Then the essence of the Star Daughter was there as a ball of starlight. My Kail, did you think I would not know of the sacrifice you plan to make?

  ‘I apologize, Star Daughter. I see now it was unwise to keep it from you.’

  This is true, let us talk about that some other time. I told you once, I cannot do this without you. It is still so. Amahka do what you must. I will keep our valiant Kail alive.

  ‘Thank you, Star Daughter.’

  My Kail, I will not tell Trina of this folly.

  Jarrod sighed. ‘For that, I thank you. She would be most annoyed.’

  The light of the Star Daughter winked out as Kardan said. ‘Let’s do this.’

  Unlike the Elders who borrowed or stole power. Jarrod was the Kail, he owned the power he brought forth. As the two Elites watched him place a hand above the invisible barrier and the other on the wall, they saw his hair turn white. The strain was heard in his voice as he told them. ‘As I thought they have used Elders to reinforce the barrier, it will register on their senses, but if we are lucky, there should be minimum disturbance to their needars.’

  Kardan and Wolf had their hands f
illed with swords. Kardan said. ‘We are ready.’

  Jarrod closed his eyes and between one breath and the next, the barrier collapsed. He staggered against the wall, taking in deep breaths to center himself for the next task.

  Kardan and Wolf charged up the remaining ten steps side by side at an amazing pace. In a move as old as time, the two brothers kicked the doors in. Taking out three Masters and four soldiers who must have been coming to investigate the disturbance to the barrier.

  Wolf took their heads as they moved pass the downed males. Jarrod moving slowly into the room watched the brothers and realized compared to the Elites, the soldiers moved in slow motion. Although the soldiers seem to rally faster than he had expected.

  He took a quick look to where a ring of soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder, surrounding a ring of Masters. Returning his eyes to the fast paced action of the fighting, he made his way along the wall toward the ring of soldiers.

  Jarrod saw a sheen of purple roll over the Elites eyes, as Kardan and Wolf released the constraints on their Ries. He was positive their feet barely touched the floor as the brothers rotated around the room in a well-choreographed ballet of death. It seemed as if everything slowed as the lives of the soldiers who came against the brothers slipped away under their swords.

  The Elites parried blows, blocked striking swords and knives used against them. They delivered death from one end of the large room to the other and back again. As Jarrod had predicted, no blasters were in evidence. The Elders banned their use in fear a stray shot would kill or immobilize a Master, placing themselves at risk.

  Jarrod arrived next to the ring of soldiers who stood like bots, hands touching, eyes closed. He was sure they had been told they were there to protect the Masters and Elders. Sadly that was not true, they were there so the Elders could draw the life force from their needars to feed their attacks.

  He could see the Elders clearly now, inside the ring of twelve Masters. They stood facing each other, hands joined palm to palm. Eyes closed deep into the attack against Peyton and the Embassy. Sweat poured from the Soldiers and Masters surrounding them, it was taking everything the Elders had to keep the attack focused.