Talon the Slayer

by A A Warren

  He gestured to one of his guards. With frightening speed the armored man raised his rifle, and fired a burst at the holo projector. The floating machine exploded, raining a shower of sopranos around them. The general’s hologram blinked out of existence.

  They continued pacing through the ruins. Up ahead, a towering scorpion tank stomped through the rubble. A pair of retrofitted cargo claws replaced its front canons. The powerful hydraulic appendages allowed the armored vehicle to lift chunks of fallen rubble and carry them out of the dome.

  A cluster of centurions stood beyond the rubble, next to a row of corpses laid out on the ground. The bodies stretched off into the distance, disappearing in the dust-filled air. One of the officers noticed Sartarus striding towards them. He spun around and snapped to attention. “Sir, we have secured the premises, as ordered.”

  “You said you found the body?”

  “Yes sir, in a chamber below the main bath house. Buried beneath the rubble. We ran a blood scan, and confirmed a match.”

  “And the artifacts?” Sartarus hissed, as the officer led them down the long line of burned and bloody flesh.

  “No sign of them, sir.”

  Sartarus sighed. “Ah. Pity.”

  The robed man stopped next to one of the bodies. Ecotyl watched as he kneeled down next to the battered corpse. The dead man’s face was bruised and battered. A pair of scars, long-since healed, ran down his left cheek.

  Beneath his gold mask, Sartarus’ withered, bloody maw twisted into an approximation of a smile.

  “Karl Aroyass… You were a fool to keep secrets from me. From us. All for what? A few more chips to fill your cold, dead hand?”

  Sartarus pulled back the sleeves of his robe. Beneath his gleaming mask, he began to chant in a low, deep voice. He held out his right arm, and waved his hand over the dead, frozen face of Aroyas.

  Ecotyl squinted as he looked down at the robed man. Something was writhing, moving through the flesh of his right arm. It was larger than the flesh weavers he had seen before… it rippled beneath the muscles and skin like a wave, surging towards his bony, outstretched fingers.

  With a wet pop, a pair of glistening tentacles burst from the first two fingers of his hand. Bulging, slime-covered orbs tipped the serpentine stalks of flesh. Ecotyl took a step back, as the orbs slid open, revealing a pair of blinking eyeballs. The commander glanced left and right… His holy guards merely stared forward, as if oblivious to the horror before them.

  “Now, Aroyas… there will be no more secrets. Now you will share all that you know.”

  The tentacles darted forward, like vipers lashing at their prey. They plunged into the lifeless, unseeing eyes of the dead man on the ground. Blood sprayed from the corpse’s eye sockets, as the tentacles burrowed deep into his skull.

  Sartarus twitched and shook. He continued mumbling his strange chant, as glowing sigils shimmered to life above his left hand. Images shimmered in the air above the spinning symbols…

  Ecotyl saw a woman with lavender skin kneeling over something… artifacts, metal tablets. Red light burst from a muscular man’s eye. More symbols… planets and stars hovered in the air around them.

  With a gasp, Sartarus snapped his left hand into a fist. The glowing symbols disappeared, and the tendrils shot back into his arm. Two crimson holes were left staring up from the dead man’s eye sockets.

  Sartarus reeled for a moment, then stood. He wheezed for breath.

  “As I said, Ecotyl… it takes a toll.”

  “Those images… was that an illusion?” the startled commander asked.

  “No, Commander, not illusions. Memories. The last things Aroyas saw before the falling rocks crushed the life from him."

  “But what did he see? What did it mean?”

  Sartarus glanced up at him, his sapphire eyes brilliant in the dark hollows of his mask.

  “He saw the path, Commander. The path to eternity. But he was too corrupted to realize it. Corrupted by this world of flesh."

  Sartarus spun around, and strode back the way he came. His guards followed, marching behind him. “We have what we need. I know where our prey is going next. We must leave this system at once.”

  “But sir, what about the artifacts you were looking for? We haven’t finished excavating the rubble here.”

  He waved a dismissive hand in the air as he marched away from the commander. “Don’t bother. We’ll bombard this wretched cesspool from space. Anyone who may have come into contact with Karl Aroyas must die.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Talon stood before the sloped window of the crew deck. The octagon-shaped room was the largest on the ship, which wasn’t saying much. There was just enough room for a table in the center, and some smaller game consoles and holo screens mounted along the walls. It was the only place he had found on the ship that was large enough to practice his sword and axe forms.

  And then there was the view.

  Talon had never seen the space inside a star-path before. Rufa and his other owners had always transported him in life-pods, to insure he would be at peak performance in the arena. This was the first time he had witnessed the dimensional tunnel, the path that burrowed between the quantum strands of reality. He stood and watched, as vivid streaks of light flew past the window like the distorted brush strokes of a painter coloring the heavens. Within the star-path, space became a blur of red, green, blue… he tried to count the colors flying past, but he soon lost track. Some didn’t have names he could speak. In here, planets were dark shadows, hollows in the fabric of space-time. A void of clouds and mist surrounded the ship… Taking it all in, the colors, the vast enigma of it all… it was overwhelming.

  After the events on Bakala, he felt lost, confused. It was not a sensation he was familiar with. As a gladiator, he always knew the task before him. He faced his opponents head on, weapon in hand.

  But now… the dreams he shared with Salena, the flood of strange sights and sounds in the bath house… He sensed they were visions, glimpses of a past he had no memory of. His blood still boiled with anger and rage towards Aroyas, Rufa, and all those who had enslaved him. But through them, Salena had found him. Her path led him here, face to face with a destiny he wasn't sure he even wanted. Standing before the brilliant void outside, he knew this was the closest he had come in years to true freedom. But the dream-like blur beyond the window seemed to mirror the restless thoughts careening through his mind.

  A gruff voice from the past cut through the haze of confusion. The words of Orex Griff, his old battle instructor, drowned out the chaotic jumble of thoughts.

  Questions of philosophy are fine at a festival or feast. But in the arena, only one question matters. Will you fight? Or will you die?

  Talon smiled. “Still fighting, old friend,” he muttered to himself. “Still fighting.”

  He hefted his axe. The blade was deactivated, but he didn’t need it to practice his swings. He spun the metal shaft in his hands, sweeping it left and right as he advanced towards the windows. He spun around, and repeated the exercises, this time moving toward the opposite window. After several more passes, a sheen of sweat covered his skin. His muscle memory took over, and the practiced swings and strikes cut through the air with no conscious thought on his part. The practice quieted his restless mind. This was a dance of death. He knew each step by heart.

  “Nice form,” a woman’s voice called out.

  Talon spun around and raised the axe in a defensive posture. A shadowy figure leaned against the frame of the open doorway.

  She took a step forward. The colorful lights outside danced across her fiery hair and golden headband.

  Avra…

  Talon lowered the axe. “I did not hear the door open.”

  She glanced out the windows. “You seemed lost in thought. I know the feeling. When I’m feeling overwhelmed, I like to practice my Fera K’Ral.” She gave him a sly smile. “Or get drunk and start a bar fight. That helps too.”

  Talon chuckled. “I w
as thinking much the same thing.” He glanced at her as she stood next to him at the window. “You’ve recovered well.”

  She cocked her head. “Says you… look at this!” She pulled the zipper of her jumpsuit down to her chest, and turned her back towards Talon. With a shrug of her shoulders she lowered the garment, revealing a mass of purple bruises across her back.

  “One more hit like that, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” she said over her shoulder. She pulled her suit back up and faced him. “Salena told me you took out that centurion on the stairs. Before he shot me again.”

  Talon shrugged. “It was nothing. We are warriors, in battle together. I covered your back, just as you covered mine.”

  She nodded. “It’s nice. To have someone covering your back, I mean. After what happened with the Sorari… it’s been a while since I felt that.”

  Talon frowned. “On Bakala, Jula called you ignofacci… What does that mean?”

  Avra bit her lip, and gazed out the window at the explosion of light and color. “It means exiled. Cast out, by the holy mother of the Sorari order.”

  “You fight well. You have honor. Why would they cast you out?”

  She grabbed the leather sleeve of her right arm and squeezed. She did not look at him as she spoke. “I know you've seen little of the galaxy… Take my word for it, it’s not always a nice place. The sisterhood takes in girls like me. Runaways, with no family, no home. They trained us to fight, gave us a place to live. A new way of life. But the competition is fierce. You saw Jula? How she moved, the things she could do?”

  Talon nodded. “She was a skilled warrior.”

  “The sisterhood’s training unlocks a part of your mind, gives you total control of your body. A fully-trained battle sister can flood her nerves with adrenaline to increase her reaction speed. Or stop production of acid in her muscles, push her endurance to the max. But for me… the things that happened to me before they took me in, the life I led… It broke me. I was so scared, so hurt, my mind wouldn’t open up. I stayed locked tight, like a safe they couldn’t crack. I reached the limits of my abilities, but it wasn’t good enough.”

  She looked up at him. Her emerald eyes were hard and cold. They blinked, and her lips quivered, but she showed no sign of tears. “I didn’t want to disappoint them. I was afraid… afraid they would make me leave. So I turned to other means. The dust.”

  “Fire orchid dust,” Talon muttered. “I’ve seen gladiators use it in the arena. Forced to use it, I should say. My trainer told me it makes a man fight with the strength of the nine hells. But sooner or later the devils come to claim their prize.”

  “It’s true. For a while I hid the symptoms. The sisters thought their training was getting through, breaking down my resistance. They sent me into the field, on a mission. Jula was there, along with my keirtyi-sorar.”

  Talon gave her a quizzical look.

  “My honor sister,” she said. “The woman who took me in. She was responsible for my training.” Avra shook her head. “I was so high on the dust, I can’t even remember the mission. I blazed out, couldn’t follow orders. Lost myself in the bloodlust.”

  “The devils’ claimed their prize,” Talon said in a quiet voice.

  She nodded. “All I remember is that when I came to, my hands were covered in blood. Bodies were all around me… They were slaughtered, torn apart, as if they were clawed by an animal. One of them was Lakaris… my honor sister. She lay at my feet. My blade was in her chest.”

  Avra looked up at him. “When the Sorari found out what happened, they cast me out. I would rather have died. You can’t imagine what it was like… To have to go back to that life. I grew up in the slums of a conquered world. I was a scared little girl. Helpless. Alone…”

  “You’re none of those things now,” Talon said.

  She smiled. “I’m lucky Zobo found me. Not a lot of clients would hire an exiled sister. The Sorari can make life difficult for anyone who tries. But Zobo didn’t care." She gave him a sad smile. "Maybe the old wolf was just happy I fought for cheap.”

  “I’ve seen you fight,” Talon grunted. “Zobo got one hell of a bargain. Outcast or not, you have the heart of a warrior. If the sisters will not have you, to hell with them. You’ll make your own destiny.”

  Avra reached out and slid her hand up his arm. Talon glanced down at it, then locked eyes with her. The shifting prism outside reflected across her face, making it difficult to read her expression.

  “Is that what you plan to do when you’re free?” she asked. “Salena thinks you were meant to play a role in this battle. That fate led you to us.”

  Talon brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. “Salena has shown me many things. I owe her a great debt. But I don’t believe in fate, or destiny.” He held up his axe, and glanced at the shaft. “This… This is my destiny. My blades, my skill. The blood in my veins and the fire in my heart. I make my own path. If the winds of fate turn against me, I’ll face them head on, as I would any enemy. And if I have a part to play in all this, then by Orion’s blazing bow, I swear it will be my will that guides my hand in battle.”

  Avra slid closer to him. Her arms looped around his neck, and her body pressed against his. He felt a triangle of heat, the warm kiss of her flesh touching him through her open jumpsuit. The fiery trail of light outside blazed off her hair, and there was no mistaking the hunger in her stare as her eyes met his. Her lips parted.

  “And what of this debt you owe Salena? Do you belong to her now?”

  His hands gripped her waist and pulled her even tighter to him. He felt her leg slide between his thighs. His lips brushed against her neck.

  “I belong to no one. In fact, she told me you and I would be a good match. But she also told me I have much to learn about women.”

  He tossed the axe aside, and wound his fingers through her hair. Avra moaned, as her hands slid across the muscles of his back.

  “Good. Then let me offer you another lesson.” She stepped back. Her slim, pale hand slid up her abdomen and gripped the zipper of her suit. She tugged it down, and let the second skin fall away from her naked body. Then she pressed her lips to his, kissing, biting, grasping his hair in her fingers as her tongue darted in his mouth.

  She gasped, and pulled away. Her eyes sparkled in the dim light. “You saved my life, Talon. Exiled or not, I am a Sorari Battle Sister. We take what we desire. And we always pay our debts.”

  They sank to floor, as the trails of light outside grew brighter and brighter. The colors shifted to tints of red and orange, painting their writhing bodies in the hues of a dying star.

  UNCLAIMED PLANETARY BODY

  No Record in Archive

  Frontier Space

  The coordinates downloaded from the tablets led the Star Claw through a series of nebulae and asteroid belts, in the vast, dark gulf of frontier space that lay between the Tygon Dominion and its nearest rivals.

  The region was vast and unexplored. Most of the stars blinking on the ship’s displays were bloated and blood-red… crimson giants that had burned through their supply of hydrogen. As their cores collapsed, their outer surface burned hotter. They expanded millions of kilometers into space, engulfing the planets that once orbited them. Even as they neared the end of their life cycle, they would still burn for another billion years or more.

  After a few days of travel, The Star Claw pierced the atmosphere of a small, lush green world. The planet orbited a binary system of two main sequence stars, and its surface was teeming with life. As they descended through the upper atmosphere, the thick, murky clouds parted, revealing a vast green surface below. Pools of blue, lakes and rivers, broke up the vermilion canvas beneath them. Avra swooped the ship lower, and the foliage became clearer… They streaked over kilometer after kilometer of dense, green jungle. Towering palms rose above clusters of vines and other plants. A carpet of ferns and moss clung to the rocky surface like the arms of a jealous lover.

  They dipped lower, skimming jus
t above the treetops.

  “We’re coming up on the coordinates,” Avra said. “I don’t see any structures on… Wait. I have something up ahead.”

  A series of dots and lines floated on her display. She squinted at the sloped, angled steps of a gigantic pyramid. “Looks like a temple of some kind. Sensors can’t get a read on the building materials. Whatever it is, it seems to be in good shape.”

  “There’s a clearing a few clicks to the west, next to a small lagoon,” Zobo said. He tilted his chair down and spun around to get a better view out the windows. “Let’s set her down and take a closer look.”

  Talon squinted. He reached up and massaged his temple. He felt something… a sound, a feeling… something he could not describe. Whatever it was, it seemed to grow more intense as they streaked closer to the strange formations on the display. He rested his hand on the back of Salena’s navigation chair. She looked up over her shoulder at him. Her eyes shimmered, and her lips dipped in a concerned frown.

  “I feel it too,” she said in a quiet voice.

  “Its like… something calling to me. A voice in the distance," he said. “It’s pulling at me.”

  She touched his hand. Avra glanced over at her but said nothing. She bit her lip, and returned her gaze to the display.

  “This is why we came,” she breathed. “Here, you will face your past. And perhaps you will find your destiny.”

  Talon narrowed his eyes, and continued peering out the window at the jungles rushing beneath them.

  “I already know my destiny,” he grunted. “It is death. The same fate that befalls all men. Until then… we shall see.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The hike from the landing site to the structure was brutal. Twin suns beat down on them like a raging inferno, and the hazy clouds above trapped the heat near the planet’s surface. Salena wore only her jeweled harness and silk loincloth as usual. Avra traded her jumpsuit for sleek leather breeches and a tank top. Even Zobo had swapped his battle armor for a khaki vest and cargo trousers.