Warriors at the Gates- Trojan Wars

by Rick Royster

  Sateria.

  He could feel Cayden's fear, and he was worried about protecting her. If he fell, what would he do to her?

  Saigo seized the instant distraction, using his dark magic and shooting a red flare of energy out of his hand into Cayden's mid-section, momentarily stunning him.

  After a clash of swords, Saigo spun away and bounded toward Sateria who seemed to be waiting for him. She drew her gun and fired in one motion.

  Saigo raised his blade and deflected the blow while Cayden simultaneously emitted a blue energy flare that stopped Saigo's energy.

  Another blast danced from Saigo's hand, firing like a bullet and hitting Sateria in the stomach. She doubled over in pain.

  Saigo then raised his blade, set to take Sateria's head from her shoulders.

  Cayden sprinted forward and, with his katana, intercepted the downward stroke.

  They stared into each other's eyes.

  Love, hate, fear and anger. Time stopped. Everything fell away, and all that was left was Saigo and his rage, and Cayden and his calm. For a brief moment, Saigo saw his friend. But still, his friend had to die.

  Sateria aimed her wrist-rocket, tried to find an opening. She blinked her eyes furiously. Cayden seemed to be teleporting, his katana, the aqua flame, moving so fast that at times it appeared to be five stationary blades at once.

  The red haze he fought could only be Saigo. He was like a spinning whirlwind. She almost thought he wasn't solid matter, just a phantom of crimson dust that blew here and there.

  Her ears shrieked from the clashing of metals, causing mini explosions of fire so intense it threatened to rip the very fabric of time and space.

  She no longer tried to see them. She just did her best to follow the shifting colors so she'd know who was who.

  Sateria was no Desani, but she could feel their power, the tension, the hatred that gripped their hearts. It was as if an ancient evil force came to life. Their anger filled the air, hit her in the chest as real as any physical force.

  Cayden confided in her years ago that he didn't want to be the one to kill Saigo. If it came to it, he wasn't sure that he could do it. Something obviously changed. Every swing of his weapon had the most hostile intent. He was playing for keeps.

  Then she had caught the smell of Saigo's magic even before she heard the loud crackle of electricity as it rolled across his gloves.

  It was like he sensed her drawing her weapons, preparing to fire.

  Saigo was already upon her, moving at terminal velocity; using the energy blast from his hands as cover, he headed straight for her.

  His eyes blazed with the kind of cold fury that sent a tremor of terror through Sateria's thighs. Her heart rattled against her breastplate and anxiety burned through her.

  I am going to die, Sateria thought, seeing an element in Saigo's face which perhaps had no place in the world. It might have been - if she believed in such a foolish thing - Lucifer himself who came to snatch her.

  She saw the terrible glint of light dancing off the glove of his left hand which was raised, beginning its thrust forward toward her chest where a fire from fear burned already.

  Then in less time than it seemed to her, a blink of an eye, the dark Desani was knocked sideways across the rooftop toward the edge.

  Cayden, right shoulder lowered, ran lightly after the spinning body, his blazing katana held high above his head in a two-handed grip. Saigo tumbled in a cartwheel, then came up on his feet facing Cayden. He held his katana with his left hand and motioned at Cayden to come to him with his right.

  Cayden felt Sateria's hesitation; she wasn't on the gunship, but Winter - who followed his instructions to keep running - was.

  Cayden had one eye on the shuttle and the other on Saigo. This was a mistake. In the split second it took for him to be distracted, it was all that was needed. Saigo feigned up, spun around and made a reverse thrust stab. The sword pierced the side of Cayden's abdomen.

  Sateria screamed in horror.

  Cayden jerked free of the blade and staggered away, parried another blow from Saigo and pulled his gun, firing three shots at Saigo, who moved like a red haze as he dodged the lasers and rolled out of the way.

  "C'mon," Matrix screamed from the hull of the gunship.

  Cayden was already lumbering toward the gunship, which had already started climbing airborne by the time Saigo got to his feet.

  Cayden coughed up blood.

  Sateria ran to meet him and grabbed him, dragged him to the ship. They both climbed into the open doorway. The gunship rose higher, turned away from Saigo. The Dragon resurfaced and fired several lasers in the gunship's direction. One hit, the explosion rocking the ship and sending both Winter and Sateria overboard. They both hung onto the foot ladder for dear life.

  Cayden turned over on his stomach, looking down as both women had their hand extended to him.

  The Dragon fired again, and as a missile left its gunport, it simultaneously burst into flames.

  On the adjacent building, Tressa sat crouched with a missile launcher on her shoulder.

  Saigo turned and looked at her, anger splitting his beautiful face.

  Cayden, with only one free hand available, had a choice to make and grabbed Winter's hand first. At that precise moment, the gunship was rocked by another explosion, this time jarring Sateria loose.

  "Sateria. No!" Cayden screamed.

  He watched as she fell out of his reach back toward the rooftop. The gunship was now spinning out of control away from the building.

  Cayden pulled Winter onboard the spinning, dying bird.

  "Matrix, turn us around. We must go back," Cayden said.

  Matrix’ eyes budged. Looking at the malfunctioning gunship flying controls, he was hard pressed to find something that wasn't flashing red or blaring.

  He turned and looked at Cayden. "We're going down, Commander," Matrix said.

  The gunship spun and cartwheeled itself through the air and crashed to the ground, while Cayden held Winter in one hand and the safety column in the other. The chopper crashed with a heavy thud, crushing two sky-cars and slamming through a restaurant window.

  Cayden shook off the searing pain in his side and the cobwebs in his head. He lifted Winter to her feet and Matrix staggered out of the gunship first, with Cayden and Winter close behind him.

  They ran away from the scene.

  Matrix turned back and watched as the gunship exploded into a mushroom of fire, destroying the restaurant.

  A large truck pulled up next to them, a garbage truck.

  Cayden looked up at the large gray building, then glanced side to side, preparing to make his way through traffic.

  "Cayden, wait..." Matrix called. "If you go now, you'll be killed; you're in no condition to take on an entire army, and we don't even know if she is still alive."

  Cayden glanced back. "I'm not asking you to come. I can't leave her, not again."

  Matrix took a step toward him, hearing the hum of engines floating by. "You must, my dear friend. We can't get out of here without you."

  "Just make sure you destroy the Cube and get to Tressa's daughter first. You guys are not my problem, but she is."

  Winter closed her eyes, obviously disappointed by Cayden's words.

  "As long as you're alive, he may not kill her. He's going to keep her as bait," Tressa said.

  "I promise you, if she's alive, we'll find her," Matrix said.

  Cayden shook his head and turned to cross the street.

  "If you try and confront him now, you're condemning both of you to death," Matrix said.

  "Need a lift?" Hoss said, sticking his head out of the window of the floating dump truck.

  Matrix let loose a stream of smoke bombs, making visibility from above impossible.

  Cayden, Matrix and Winter piled in. Tressa was in the back seat with the sanitation droid, and he wasn't happy.

  The crew gave concerned glances, but no one had adequate comforting words so there remained a hard silenc
e.

  Hoss drove off into the morning traffic and hundreds of Global Union personnel passed them on their way to the scene.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.

  ― Aristotle

  A massive airbase sat above the clouds, the gray metal shimmering in the morning light. Two dozen fighter jets rested atop its center; a hundred yards away across its vast surface lay dozens of facilities, shops and restaurants.

  General Chertoff walked across the tarmac, followed by several armed Coalition soldiers.

  They approached the apartment level and heard what they thought was a bouncing ball. The General buzzed the door.

  The metal doors slid open, and the General walked in. A steady thumping sound ensued as Cayden sat in a chair tossing a tennis ball against the wall. His apartment was a mess. A dozen empty bottles of Canadian whiskey and Kentucky bourbon littered the floor, bed and couch were trashed, clothes and books were scattered everywhere. Cayden looked like he hadn't shaved in the two weeks since retrieving the halo-cube.

  "Your shower isn't working, Commander?" General Chertoff said, looking around the room. He squinted his eyes and put a finger under his nose. "No clean uniforms either?"

  Cayden laughed and began to bounce the tennis ball off the ceiling. "You're funny." Cayden smiled, still didn't look in the General's direction.

  General Chertoff walked over to him, leaned in close. "You need to pull yourself together."

  Cayden looked at him, yawned.

  The General's eyes blinked. He fanned his nose and stood up.

  "I see your toothbrush must have gotten lost as well." General Chertoff said.

  Cayden observed the General, then looked down to the floor in a search. He found it, a half-drunk bottle of bourbon. "What is it, General? As you can see, I'm kinda busy." Cayden took a swig of liquor.

  "Former agent Tressa Ladovitch has been trying to raise you via haloportation for a few hours now. She was so desperate that she contacted me. She must be contacting you to turn herself in for high treason?" The General’s eyes swept from Cayden to the mess in his room. "She is said to be in possession of information you might find to be highly valuable."

  Inside the command room, a long square table surrounded by anti-gravity chairs dotted with a dozen computer stations sat centermost. A vidscreen, powered down, took up one wall. Laser-proof windows made up the bulkhead, allowing a view of the clouds outside.

  General Chertoff pressed a button and a holograph of Tressa and Billy appeared.

  Tressa was standing, her hair disheveled, eyes bloodshot and bags under her eyes. "We found her. Well...he found her," She peeked over at Hoss. "She is under 23-hour interrogation. But it appears tomorrow she is scheduled for termination."

  Hoss was standing next to her, full gear, war paint marking his face.

  "Where is she? Cayden asked.

  "Region Two," Hoss said.

  "You better grab a coat," General Chertoff said, cutting a look back at Cayden.

  Cayden stepped forward. "Send me your coordinates, I'll leave at once."

  Cayden pressed a button and they disappeared.

  "You don't have command approval and this mission is not sanctioned by the Coalition," General Chertoff said, but Cayden's back was already to him. "You and Lieutenant Ladovitch should be facing treason charges, especially her."

  "If not for her, we'd have brought the Cube back here and the Global Union would have destroyed us without firing a shot," Cayden said.

  "She still needs to pay for what she did," General Chertoff countered.

  Cayden turned and walked over to General Chertoff. "I made a promise that I intend to keep. You have a weapon, and I suggest you use it if you want to stop me."

  General Chertoff cleared his throat, then took a step back. Cayden turned and left. General Chertoff allowed himself a smile.

  Tressa almost couldn't believe she was on her way to serving with Cayden again, but that was exactly what she was going to do. Cayden promised to help find her daughter on the condition that she found out where they were keeping Sateria. She thought she was spooked by Cayden before, his battle on the roof top had left an indelible impression on her mind. But the past few days, her dominant thoughts weren't centered on her daughter; they were on Saigo.

  Cayden fought like a force of nature, and she watched him do things seemingly impossible. And yet the Imperial High Command General seemed to be just like Cayden and... more. It was as if his power was elemental, like a modern-day Merlin, his very presence somehow influencing and distorting the environment around them. Even from a distance she was consumed by the fear that she was in the great throes of death - that if Saigo so willed it, he could have just snuffed out her life at his whim. There was a callous cruelty to the way he fought, a coldness that didn't value human life. Her brain tried to process analogies for something similarly dreadful or evil. Nothing came to mind.

  Cayden's essence was like calm sky-blue waters, still and settled while Saigo was sparks of kinetic energy, that of a raging inferno.

  Worst of all, she knew that Saigo was aware she was there. She couldn't shake that feeling. And not just that he knew he was being watched or was in danger, but he somehow knew her, who she was, what she'd done. In the midst of battling Cayden, he still had the ability to focus on her. Saigo introduced her to a level of fear she'd never known. She'd never been afraid of a fight but the Imperial High Command General was a different kind of terror. He wasn't coming only to take her life, but he seemed fully capable of taking her soul. She shivered inwardly at the thought and memory of him.

  Shame and guilt washed over her for what she did to Gears - and she thought how selfish she was because in that moment she was terrified of dying, her mind could create scenarios of a being like Saigo waiting for her on the other side of the river Styx.

  She had no desire to see the Imperial High Command General ever again.

  In the med-vac a few minutes later, Cayden stood behind a large glass and watched a resting Rhys. He was on an advance anti-gravity bed with various computer gadgets hooked up to him.

  He seemed peaceful, asleep. His condition hadn't changed for the better like Matrix had predicted, it had actually gotten worse. General Chertoff and another man, who looked like the reincarnation of the thunder god himself, stood beside him. His name was General Dak and he too was a Desani.

  Winter approached from behind, suited in full battle armor.

  Cayden's eyes turned to follow her. "Hey. What are you doing? Where are you going?" Cayden said.

  "To help rescue your friend," Winter said.

  "No, you're not. This is on me, I won't have you risk your life for this," Cayden said.

  Winter stepped toward him, got close. "I saw her. I saw the way she looked at you. She's beautiful."

  Dak and General Chertoff put their heads down, rubbed their ears as if they couldn't hear her. "If you think I'm going to let you fly across the world on some hero saves the princess mission by yourself, you're out of your mind."

  Dak and General Chertoff smiled, putting their hands up to Cayden and turned and stared at Rhys.

  "Now I can get on your jet, or I will get on your jet. The choice is yours," Winter said.

  Cayden looked down then over at Dak, then he looked down again. He blew out a huge sigh.

  "As Desani and members of the Coalition, we cannot condone this course of action," Dak said. He turned and looked at General Chertoff.

  "But as your friend, Godspeed Cayden. I know you to be an honorable man, and you must follow your heart."

  A few minutes later, they were aboard the stealth shuttle Excalibur.

  Winter handed over the coordinates and seconds later, the main drive ignited, and the jet eased itself from the gantry. The vessel slowly rose, then gained speed and turned 180 and disappeared into the clouds.

  >   Rick Royster, Warriors at the Gates- Trojan Wars