by Bailey Dark
I rubbed my chin, still grinning. The other Farian Spec Ops soldiers all waved little salutes, but remained at the ready, in steady position to guard us.
“You must know I escaped prison with Blatson’s pledged bride-to-be, Lady Zaya.” She nodded, holding my gaze evenly. “Well, Ilisa, I know it seems far too unlikely to be true, but… She’s my Destin.” The listening soldiers exchanged glances. I held up my hands to them all. “I know, I know. It doesn’t make any sense. But, it’s true. I swear it.”
“Where is she now?”
“Hidden in a toolshed, about half-a-mile back along this crest. She can communicate with me telepathically. I don’t know if she can reach anyone else, yet, but the connection is amazing, Bravo. Truly. I’ve never felt anything like it.” Ilisa was frowning at me, clearly having trouble believing a Vailstoran would just become a telepath. “It does mean, that plans have changed… I can’t give her back to Blatson. I can’t. She’s my Destin, Ilisa.”
Ilisa’s eyes flicked down to my clenched fists. I consciously unflexed them, not meaning to show any threat to one of my best friends from Bristola who I was, admittedly, thrilled to see. It would make the battle against Blatson go so much more easily…
“What is your plan, then, Commander?”
“It is unlikely I could salvage the trade deal with Blatson. Even if I gave Zaya back to him, then somehow engineered her escape from him again… I just think the man will be too furious about the guard contingent we killed a few days ago and me taking his bride at all. Besides, from what I understand in the dossier, we will likely be better situated if Truloy is who we deal with, anyway.”
Ilisa tapped her lips, looking at me steadily. She nodded. “We have already been given the clear to depose Blatson. Even if we weren’t able to find you, if you were already killed or captured, or if we hadn’t caught you before you went ahead with your own plan.”
My eyes lit up. That was fantastic! Now, I didn’t feel like I was betraying any part of the Farian leadership! An intense weight was lifted from my chest. I hadn’t even realized how worried I was about making that unilateral decision, knowing it was mainly for my own gain, and not only for Farian’s. Now, the choice was taken from me.
“I have already spoken with General Truloy. She is on board to take over leadership of the planet. She does have a few specific demands, which King Kajo was reluctant to meet in the beginning, but have been agreed upon.”
“Like what?”
“The tallest order is that we give control of one of our frajili mines in the northern Bristola Oceans to one of her trusted leaders, a man named Skarde. He will come live on Farian, I don’t know for how long, but will be given some of those lands, not yet determined which, and take command of parts of Farian. This is a sign of goodwill and assured continuation of the trade of calasis for frajili.”
“I have heard of Skarde. He is a friend of Zaya’s. From what she says, he is a fearless leader, warrior, and strategist. He might be useful to Farian. They do, however, call him the Berserker.”
“Hmm…” Ilisa put her hands on her hips, as if she doubted any non-telepath or non-Curan could be useful to the Empire. “We are to go to a city called Astrida after taking care of Blatson, in order to finalize the deal.”
I clapped my hands together and smiled. “Then, let’s get rolling! This sounds perfect!”
“Perfect, sir?”
“Yes, don’t you see? All we have to do is go down there and kill Blatson, then offer his soldiers a chance to follow Truloy, or end up in prison or killed. We can run this military coup, even without the other branch of military here.”
“Truloy and some of her soldiers are marching to this compound as we speak. Should be here in a few hours.”
I watched my breath float in smoky swirls into the cool air. “I don’t want to wait. Let’s set the stage for them. Besides… This is now something personal between me and Blatson…”
“That’s what I’m afraid of, Commander… Don’t let your personal feelings cloud the strategy.”
“Shoot, Bravo. You can control the whole strategy, if you want. All I want is to duel Blatson.” I smiled at her and motioned to everyone that we were getting ready to move down on the compound. All I want is a chance to kill him…
“All right, then I say you enter alone, through the front gates, first. We will take out the guards and come in after. We have intercepted some of the guard’s thoughts and they are instructed to bring you to Blatson alive. Especially since they will want to find Zaya. Blatson doesn’t know we are here, so we will come in to support you once they are distracted by your arrival.”
I smiled and nodded. “Sounds good.” I gave her a salute and skipped away down the hill.
The guards took far too long, in my opinion, to notice me approaching, but when they did, they threw their bows up to their shoulders and demanded I stop approaching. I did not.
“I’m the Curan whom General Blatson is expecting,” I said, as four arrows pointed straight at my throat. I continued walking toward them. One lunged forward, his arrow coming dangerously close to scraping me. I pulsed him back with a whiff of telekinesis. He flew backward and crashed against the wall, slumping down with wide eyes. “I will see Blatson now. Let me in.”
The guard stood up and opened the gate, but two of the guards followed me in, still holding arrows trained at my back.
There were at least twenty soldiers immediately visible as I walked into the camp, all of whom stopped to watch me parade through their ranks.
“Charzbos…” Out of all the whispered words as the soldiers watched me walk, barbarian was the most clearly spoken.
There was a large building at the center of the compound, two guards outside its doors, bold red banners with an equinwing rearing up on its back legs in gold, hanging from the side. I stopped in front of this building.
“I’m assuming Blatson is in here?” The guards nodded, the two at the door pointing their swords at me, startled to see their comrades essentially being led by a prisoner straight to their General.
“We will take your weapons now.”
I shrugged and twirled my fingers in the air a few times. All the sheaths came untied and unclipped, floating into the air in front of the guards. Their eyes were wide as they plucked them from the air.
“Charzbos…”
“Charzbos…”
I waved away the word. “If I’m such a barbarian, don’t you think you should do what I say? And don’t--” I held up my hand as one of the guards started to lay his hand on my arm, “don’t you dare touch me.”
The guard snapped his hand back, but kept his sword leveled toward my chest. The wide doors opened and I walked in, escorted by my armed guards. I was feeling good, sauntering as I walked, my eyes coolly taking in the numbers of soldiers in the hall, the weapons around me, how easy they would be to procure. These guys had no idea what was coming their way…
The hall was narrow, banners hanging from the ceiling, with a few pillared alcoves making it wider, allowing for some cover, once the fight began. There was a door not far from the command table at the very end. Another entrance, which I hoped Ilisa would find. There was a tall balcony above the command table that had three soldiers who trained their bows at me immediately.
General Blatson was standing behind the command table, looking down at spread out maps and drawings. As I approached, he turned. His dress coat was slung over a high-backed chair nearby, its many ribbons, chevrons, and plaque boards making it look like a heavy piece of clothing to wear around on a daily basis. So much pomp and circumstance. With the jacket off, his rippling muscles were clear beneath a thin tan shirt, straining the sleeves, suspenders bending over his cut pectoral muscles. His beard and trim were large, but well groomed. His eyes were razor sharp. He was meeting my expectations. Not many bumbling idiots became leaders of entire worlds, not without other people backing them, and Blatson had fought hard for his role.
From the dossier I had perused on th
e trip over to Vailstor, the main reason Farian was leaning toward Truloy over Blatson, except for ease of Blatson already being established, was that she seemed less ruthless. Less keen to slice apart her people’s throats in order to get ahead. She had no desire for a monarchy, but was willing to bolster the meager parliament that existed on Vailstor and bring it into this century as a democracy. Farian would prefer to do trade with those types of colonies, as they were more sustainable into the future. Now, we could be the ones to help give Blatson the shove off the precipice. My knives would make sure he never hit the ground…
“Good evening, Curan,” the General said. He tossed a pencil down, rubbed his hands together, and leaned his elbows back on the high table behind him, lounging, analyzing me, seemingly cool and collected. However, when I sent a little look into his mind, his fury with me was overwhelming. It was a good call to go with Truloy: there was no way this man would ever forgive me or deal with Farian. “I’m General Blatson. Welcome to our military base. Can I get you anything to drink? You must have had a long hike to get here.”
“No, thank you. I am refreshed by the prospect of this encounter with you, General.” They might know the easiest way to kill a telepath was with poison while he didn’t expect it. “My name is Cartari, Commander of the Bristola Seawards Special Operations Unit on Farian. I’m pleased to meet you.”
“You’ve been through quite a lot since arriving on our planet. I must apologize for the original arrest you endured at the southern precinct. Primitive minds fear your mental skills.”
“You are more sophisticated?”
Blatson smiled. I nearly laughed, hearing the thoughts in his head. He truly believed he was not susceptible to my mental control. He believed that it was only feeble minds that could be controlled. Honestly, I didn’t know all the aspects about mental control and my attempts with Zaya and the guard had been sloppy, at best. However, I knew he would have no well-built guards in his mind. His defenses were already destroyed. His kingdom was already taken. He just was too arrogant to believe that possible.
It was tempting to control him just for that reason, but I wanted to fight him fairly…
“It will take more than your charzbos abilities to defeat me, Commander Cartari.” He took a swig of a glass from off the table. When he looked back at me, his eyes were blazing. “I believe you have an offer for me to consider?”
“Yes, I was tasked to bring you a trade deal from Farian. Our frajili for your calasis. However…”
A door to the left opened and two guards entered, holding a squirming, swearing, furious Zaya in between them. I took an involuntary step toward her. Her eyes swung to me, her mind opening.
“I’m sorry, Cartari… They were too fast for me to escape from…”
I ground my teeth together, but otherwise made sure I kept my cool, resettling where I was standing. “It’s okay, Zaya… Everything will be fine. You are my Destin. Just be calm and wait for my instructions.”
Zaya nodded and jerked her arms away from the guards, hugging herself as the guards prodded her forward toward Blatson.
“Zaya, my darling,” Blatson moved to her and curled one of the dark tendrils of her hair in his fist. He pulled on it a little too sharply, making her wince. “I’m so happy to have you back.”
She jerked her head away from him and looked at the ground. Blatson touched her arm, her shoulder, her cheek, and I was quivering with anger, fear, jealousy to such an extent that I had never felt before. My stomach was twisted, heat flowing into my temples, my eyes bursting from their sockets. My fists were clenching and unclenching and I was ready to rip him away from her. I took a step nearer, the guards reacting immediately, putting their swords up again, when Ilisa’s calming voice re-centered me, making me focus on her telepathic communication.
“Cartari… We have entered the compound. We are using mental misdirection to send soldiers to their barracks at this time.”
I stepped back to where I had been standing and sent a cooling breath through my chest. Stick to the plan… “We are in the main building, it has red banners hanging from it, at the center of the compound.”
“We will be there shortly.” Ilisa and the other Farians would be here soon and they would hold off the other Vailstorans while Blatson and I battled. And then I would kill him.
Blatson frowned at Zaya as she shuddered away from him. He turned back to me. “You were saying, Commander? You came to offer me a deal, however…”
“Yes, I was going to say, however, things have changed.”
Blatson pulled a knife from his waist and played with the blade, running it up and down his fingers, his silence was supposed to be intimidating, but I listened to his thoughts as he warred back and forth between throwing it at me, stabbing Zaya, and laughing and re-sheathing it. He had had too many plans for how to handle my arrival, and he couldn’t decide. It was going to be his failure.
All I knew was that if he made even the slightest violent decision toward Zaya, I would rip out his throat.
“Lady Zaya is my property, Commander. Did she explain this to you?”
“We don’t own other people on Farian, but I am familiar with the primitive concept of slavery.” I threw his word back at him and his blood boiled. He clenched the blade in his fist and dropped it to his side. Then his face softened and he placed the knife back in its sheath. He leaned back against the table again. I was a bit impressed as he thrust aside the anger in his mind and continued with his plan. It was amusing to me; he thought I was a mouse and he was the cat, playing with its prey. He had no idea…
“Why has this trade deal you came to offer me changed?”
“We have found another party who will better suit Farian’s desires? We also feel this change of leadership will be better for Vailstor.”
His dark eyes flashed, but he smiled in a way that bared his teeth, like fangs. “You have the audacity to make a decision for an entire planet?”
“It has not been hard to discover that most of your planet speaks out against you, already. General Truloy is a better fit for us.”
Blatson laughed, a true hearty laugh. He thumped his fist on the table. “You are fools. Truloy will never be the strong leader that I am. She will never move to unseat me.”
“She is on her way here already. We are charged to depose you before she arrives, to place her in command, and place any dissenting soldiers in prison to be dealt with by military tribunal.”
“We are outside the door,” Ilisa said to my open mind.
“Okay, wait for my signal.”
Blatson’s brow furrowed, trying to overcome his disbelief and merriment, as I stood calm, confident, hands loose at my sides, speaking words that he couldn’t believe were possible.
A murmur had gone up in the surrounding soldiers, their weapons rattling a little, and my open telepathy could hear a lot of anger, confusion, and fear.
“And you alone are tasked with this job? To bring about a military coup?”
I turned to the door behind me and gestured it open with a quick whip of telekinesis. Three of the other Farians, including Ilisa, quickly entered. One more came in the same door Zaya and the guard had used. The last two would remain outside to deal with any scuffle or remaining mental misdirection needed.
I smiled at Blatson as he stood up sharply. “Just me and a few of my charzbos comrades.”
Guards centered around the General, swords brandished outward to protect him. Zaya was just slipping away when he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into him. Her eyes looked at my wildly as she stood frozen, fear blanking her thoughts.
Damnit…
“It’s okay, Zaya… You will be okay… I will keep you safe. These are other Farians and we will do as I say. We will kill Blatson and anyone who tries to hurt you.”
“I trust you, Cartari…”
Her trust buoyed me and helped calm my agonizing mind. Now that she was so close to him, it would be harder to kill him before he caused her harm. I needed to diffuse t
his… We needed to battle.
The Farians spread apart in the broad hall, knives haloed telekinetically around their head, ready to shoot like speeding spikes into the eyes of the twenty-five attending soldiers. They also had swords in their hands. They arrayed themselves so that I could be sure my back was covered.
Thanks, Axis… Thank you so much for sending me back-up… I certainly owed my dear friend a beer or two once I was back on Farian. Back on Farian, and with my beautiful Lady Zaya… I looked into her frightened eyes and pushed a resounding feeling of soothing love and hope to her. She took an easier breath, even though her lips were trembling, and smiled, even though her eyes remained misted with fear.
I focused back on Blatson. “You can be certain, General, that Truloy is on her way and plans have been laid. However, there is one thing you can’t be certain of yet: whether or not you could beat me in a duel.”
Blatson’s eyes lit up from where he stood behind Zaya, his large frame holding her against his chest, one arm around her throat, the other gripping her waist.
“You tell me my compound, my very position on this planet is under attack, and I should stoop to duel you, a charzbos?”
“Yes. Because, I am more than just the Commander leading this contingent who is fomenting insurrection. I am the man who is connected, irrevocably, and unconditionally, to your bride-to-be, the beautiful Lady Zaya. And I will not go without her.”
“So…” Blatson’s face turned a deeper shade of red. “You wish to duel me for her honor, not necessarily for the honor of the military?”
“This is between you and me. Truloy is still a few hours away. You could have a chance to make a stand.” That was an utter lie. My Farians would strip the place of all weapons within a matter of an hour and there would be nothing for them to defend themselves with when Truloy arrived. But what was important was getting Blatson away from Zaya, before he hurt her. “Right now, lets you and me duel.”
“What about the famed telekinetic skills of Curan warriors?”
“I shall not use them. I will fight you on even ground.”