The Black Knight Box Set

by Christian J Gilliland

  Crinnan had not been flooded with NaNe as Cade had hoped. That left him in a vulnerable state. Without the NaNe, he would be unable to heal properly, and would not be protected against sickness. If he died, in the worst case scenario his conscience would not be uploaded to the Hells and he would be lost forever.

  "Why do I care?" Cade grunted as he limped into the darkness, "He would never do this for me…" He thought it over and shook his head. He was being selfish; Crinnan didn't even know Cade existed. He did not know that Kiersen Jamiso was alive under the moniker of President Cade Larynks. He had no idea that his eldest brother, having been hidden in the shadows all those years without so much as a hello, had been watching out for him.

  "My damned siblings…" Cade was breathing heavily and sweating wildly from the pain. "Why do they do this? Do they not know I have a corporation to run? That I have an empire of my own to build?" He sighed, "Of course they do not know."

  "Sayraa… or Bishop General Sarasin; so busy running her own empire. Rubaan overwhelmed with the day to day of family life… Cris, trying so hard to be like Crinnan… and Crinnan, the number one fugitive of the Govian Empire. Why do I, after all these years, choose to hide in the shadows and protect you all?"

  "Cade, are you okay?" Doctor Smirnov's voice suddenly called through the communicator, "What has happened?"

  "I can barely handle this pain," Cade whined, "I was blasted out a second story window… by an Ancient."

  "An Ancient?" Smirnov repeated, "And you still stand?"

  "Just barely," Cade growled, "I need help… I think I have broken a few ribs I took a NaNe blast to the chest. There may be a concussion in there too. I'm… I'm not sure."

  "You are fortunate you have anything left," Smirnov chided, "Do you still have that salve I sent with you?"

  "I do… the sap from the Lithaani Sentinel?"

  "Yes," Smirnov replied. "Apply it to your chest and ribs. Although I haven't fully tested it on major wounds. I believe it should provide some pain relief and possibly expedite the healing process since you are a NaNe user."

  Cade grit his teeth and groaned at the amount of pain he was feeling. He fell down to his knees and lowered his head. He reached down and grabbed the vial of sap from the Lithaani Sentinel and popped it open.

  "What do I do with it?" He asked, "Do I eat it?"

  "That is fine," Smirnov replied, "Though I did send you with those painkillers."

  "I do not have time for drowsiness," Cade said as he scooped some of the sap out with two fingers. He popped them in his mouth and groaned at the flavor.

  "How much?" He asked.

  "It will not take too much, maybe a teaspoon." Smirnov replied, "You will need to wait for ten minutes or so for it to work."

  "Fine," Cade spat, not out of anger but out of pure discomfort, "But I need to flood my brother before…" he immediately realized his mistake and went silent.

  "Your brother?" Ebren's voice boomed over the communicator, "The Demon is your brother?!"

  Cade muted his communicator and cursed, "Fucking idiot," he scolded himself, "How could you be so fucking stupid…" He took a breath and unmuted his communicator.

  "…yes," Cade said to Ebren, "And remember your place Ebren. I do not answer to you."

  "You have us venturing into one of the most dangerous places on the planet for personal reasons?!" Ebren shouted, "This will be included in my report! You are assisting a fugitive of the Govian Empire. You should be tried and…"

  "Nida," Cade spoke into the communicator, "Do you hear me?"

  "Yeah, I do," Nida replied. Cade could still hear Ebren shouting in the background.

  "I need him silenced," Cade ordered, "I guess everything is on the table now so fuck it. I love you, and I am sorry for my behavior earlier. I need you to forgive me… and take Ebren and put him outside."

  "You would not dare!" Ebren declared. "Get your slimy hands off of me, peasant! The other two presidents will hear of this treachery!" Cade heard the sound of the door to his ship open. Ebren roared with anger, and then he heard the door close.

  "We will bring him back aboard once I return," Cade ordered, "Until then…" he heard something abruptly rustle in the foliage around him. "…standby." He flipped his communicator shut and placed his hand on his sword.

  "Who's there?" he called into the darkness. He was far enough away from the village at that point that the torchlight gave him no visibility. He tried to squint and adjust his eyes to his surroundings, but was only able to make out the form of the figure in front of him.

  "Who are you?" Cade demanded as he tried to figure out what he was looking at, "What do you want?"

  The figure before him stood taller than he, with broad shoulders and long arms that came to a point at the bottom. In the darkness, it looked like it had swords where its arms should have been.

  "Get out of here…" Cade felt a wave of terror spread over him, "Whoever you are, I am on important business and do not need…" The figure hissed at Cade, and he readied his weapon.

  "I don't have time for this shit!" Cade barked, "I'll cut your hissing ass to pieces if I have to."

  He felt his adrenaline return, and his pain began to subside. He looked toward his hissing foe and waited.

  "What are you?" Cade asked as the sword-armed beast panted heavily in front of him, "What do you want with me?"

  Without a word, the monster suddenly lurched forward. Cade quickly sidestepped the attack, and the beast planted his two sword arms into the trunk of the tree Cade had previously rested on. Bark and splinters flew in all directions. The monster struggled ferociously to pull its blades away from the wood, hissing wildly as it did so but ultimately found itself unable to remove itself from the tree.

  "What kind of stupid fucking thing are you?" Cade found himself asking. He was intrigued by the beast and wanted to get a closer look, but he knew he didn't have enough fight in him to protect himself if it were to break free. He watched silently in the darkness as the monster violently fought to free its arms. Fortunately for Cade, its efforts were in vain.

  "You were not born like this…" Cade observed as he examined the monster with a penlight he had pulled from a pouch on his belt, "You are no Toraan, no Ancient… you were created?" The beast ripped one of its blades from the tree and Cade quickly swung his own, cutting through the monster's neck and relieving it of its head.

  "And now you are dead," Cade sighed as he examined the bleeding corpse. He looked at the scars on the beast's arm. They were surgical. The hands had been professionally removed, and the healing around the blades made it look almost natural. Cade opened his communicator.

  "Brake, I am sending you a picture. Run it through our bestiary. This is something I have never seen before." Cade turned his communicator around and snapped a photo of the headless monster, "You should be receiving it any moment."

  "Dura'Ana's grace…" Brake whispered in a surprised tone, "What is that thing?"

  "I was hoping you could tell me," Cade answered, "It was alive… weaponized. Looks like it was made by someone, like it was once a person."

  "Scanning now... Sir, if I may?"

  "Go ahead," Cade said in response.

  "That is some weird shit."

  Cade nodded and knelt down. The pain in his chest was immense, but he knew it was not life-threatening. He rested up against the tree that the beast was hanging from and took a few deep breaths.

  "I did not get an opportunity to flood the Demon," Cade informed Brake.

  "But you did purge him?" Brake asked.

  "I did; I have his old NaNe here with me now."

  "When you get to a computer we can better analyze his data," Brake said, "I can discover who he is and what he did."

  Cade was silent. He already knew who the Demon was. He had kept a watchful eye over him for many years. He watched Crinnan's career, tracked his progress… of course he was interested in his brother, but his desire to know he was okay was fueled by the unshakable love he held for his fam
ily.

  Crinnan had been missing for nearly ninety days. The official report was that he was dead. Cade could remember the pain it gave him to hear the news. He thought of all the things he could have done to prevent Crinnan's death. He ran through every scenario in his head.

  Of course Cade could not blame himself for his brother's death; he would not allow himself to fall down that hole. He still, however, felt pain knowing he had never made himself known while Crinnan was still alive. He wished he could have at least told Crinnan that his eldest brother was still there.

  When Crinnan came back… when his NaNe signature once again showed signs of life, Cade could not believe his eyes. He had been stone cold dead for ninety days. How could his NaNe possibly have so suddenly shown that he was alive?

  The vision he experienced beneath the Lithaani Sentinel thrust Cade into action. He had to get to Crinnan before anyone else, before the headhunters or the Govian army. Even before either of the other divisions of his own Agra Triangle Corporation could get close, Cade had to save his little brother.

  "Nothing," Brake reported over the communicator, "We have never seen anything like this before. We would benefit from a tissue sample."

  "No problem," Cade pulled a knife from his belt. He knelt and filleted a small slice of flesh from the monster and stored it in a plastic bag he had on him, "I have a sample for when I return home."

  "This… this is something I have never seen before Mister President," Brake continued. His voice sounded uncharacteristically concerned, "It looks like… blood magic or necromancy; definitely something dark…"

  "We have traveled all of our side of the world Brake," Cade rested his head against the tree behind him and moaned, "Unless the prisoners or natives of Westlaan have discovered some kind of dark arts, then I think we can count sorcery out."

  "There is ample evidence suggesting that sorcery, including necromancy, existed in the Age of Blood…" Brake argued, "Whatever power may have fueled that may not…"

  "Brake, enough," Cade grunted as he pushed himself up off the ground, the sap from the Lithaani Sentinel had begun to do its job. He was feeling less and less pain.

  "Yes, sir. I will explore more… grounded possibilities until you are able to digitize the sample. Until then."

  "Until then." Cade flipped his communicator shut.

  He reclaimed his sword from the ground. Slowly, thoughtfully, he wiped the blood off of it and slid it into its scabbard. After that, he grabbed his Ancient rifle and slung it over his shoulder.

  He pulled his tablet computer from the satchel at his side, and as he balanced it on his knee, he plugged the vial containing Crinnan's NaNe into a port on the side, "Just needs to decrypt…" he commented, as he watched the data copy over, "Brake does not need to know quite yet…"

  His thoughts raced as the data transferred, his mind wandered to Nida, "She was right," he cringed at a sudden sting in his side, "To be worried about me I should never have yelled at her…" He pulled out his communicator and held it to his ear.

  "Cade," he heard Nida say, "Is everything okay?"

  "Everything is fine," he assured her, "I am sending you the Demon's data. I need you to find something for me."

  "What about Brake?" She asked, "Wouldn't he be…"

  "I trust you more Nida," Cade interjected, "Can you do this?"

  "No problem," she sounded happier, less at odds with him at least. He liked that. He waited a moment for the decryption process to finish and then he sent the data to her.

  "You should be getting it any minute now. Let me know when you have received it." There was a brief moment of silence. But then she spoke again.

  "I have it," she announced, "Okay… what did you need me to find?"

  "Scan his contacts, find the most recent communicator number for Century Squad," he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, "How long do you think that will take?"

  "Hopefully not very," Nida replied, "Sit tight."

  Cade heard bushes rustling somewhere ahead of him. He cursed and laid down, stuffing his computer back into his satchel. The last thing he wanted was to have to deal with another one of those monster things.

  "I have it; are you ready?"

  "Hang on," Cade whispered and shouldered his rifle. The ground was cold on his exposed skin, but fortunately for him, the major pain had mostly left him. He activated the night vision on his scope and looked through.

  "Shit…" he murmured under his breath, "We are too late." Cade saw a large squad of Govian soldiers making their way through the woods toward the village he had just come from.

  "Okay hurry, give me the number."

  "H436-60098" she relayed.

  "I will contact you soon," he closed both his communicator and his eyes. With a deep breath, he stood himself up. He opened the device again and punched in the number for Century Squad.

  The internal speaker indicated that it was connecting. He hoped that somebody would answer.

  "Dauid's decadent desserts. How can I help you?" a pleasant sounding female voice announced.

  "Shut up for a minute," Cade commanded, "Crinnan Jamiso is alive. I need to talk with Captain Bran now."

  "Sir we sell pastries and cakes," The female voice explained, "Would you like to set up an order for…" There was a pause, and then he heard someone else's voice over the speaker — a much louder, deeper and more direct voice.

  "Who is this?" the person demanded, almost yelling.

  "This is President Cade Larnyks. I know exactly where Crinnan Jamiso is. And you, Captain Bran, need to listen to me."

  "President Cade?" Bran repeated. There was a pause, and then he spoke again, "Pretty bold move of you, how did you get this number?"

  "I scanned Crinnan's NaNe, searched his contacts for it," Cade replied impatiently, "Nothing you would understand."

  "Well whatever then," Bran relented, "I really hate you Agra boys and your damn complicated bullshit. What do you want Cade?"

  "Crinnan is in a place called Pado Village," Cade quickly informed him, "It is about twenty miles directly east of the Izla'Axi Caverns."

  "Everyone seems to be talking about that damned ghost," Bran spat, "The Demon, they are calling him… I spoke at his fucking funeral just yesterday, and now everyone's talking about him like he's alive or some shit. What has he gotten himself into?"

  "He is alive," Cade repeated, "That is all I know. I just spoke to him. He is heading back to the caverns as we speak. But the Govians and apparently something else are trailing him. Oh, and his NaNe has been purged."

  "The caverns?" Bran repeated with a confused tone, "I don't know shit about NaNe. How do I know you're not setting us up?"

  "You don't… But you are one of few who know who I am Bran," Cade reminded him. "I would not betray that. You are my father's friend, and your interests are mine. All you can do is trust me on this."

  "Your people have made that pretty damn difficult, boy." Bran replied, "Your corporation's reputation ain't exactly sterling. If you're double-crossing me…"

  "I understand," Cade replied, "I need to discuss something with Emerald."

  "Emerald?" Bran repeated.

  "Yes, my Aunt Emerald. Put her on. It is very important." There was a brief pause, but then a female spoke.

  "Cade," Emerald's sweet voice spoke over the line, "My child, how are you?"

  "No time for that," Cade snapped, "Crinnan's been purged."

  "Purged?" Emerald repeated, "Wait, you found him? How did he end up purged?"

  "I did it, to keep his enemies from tracking him. The Govian army is after him. I thought it was the best decision…"

  "You were right," Emerald reassured, "But you did not flood him?"

  "No, I could not. I did not have enough time. I was blown out a window by an Elf… I believe it was Sajinious Lynx..." Emerald fell silent for a moment.

  "Child, you need to make certain that no harm comes to Crinnan, do you understand?" Emerald said with urgency. "He is very important. If he dies, the
n it will be his blood on your hands. You do not want that do you?"

  "No, I will protect him until he is delivered to you. He is my brother after all."

  "Good boy. And do your best to keep away from Sajinious. If you can, keep Crinnan from him as well." Emerald ordered with a grim-sounding voice, "Will I see you soon?"

  "I doubt it," Cade replied. "I hope to be gone before any of Century finds me."

  "Then know nephew that I love you and I am very proud of you… your mother would be too if you would reveal yourself to her."

  "I love you too," Cade replied, "Explain the situation to Bran for me… Goodbye." He closed the communicator and slid it in his pocket. He felt his eyes well up. He had not talked to his aunt for years, and the talk left him feeling a bit nostalgic. He cleared his throat and shook his head hard.

  "No time for that," he said to himself, "I need to get moving!"

  Chapter Seventeen

  Crinnan IX

  22nd of Ramlia – 346AG

  21:00 – Pado Village – Belhaasi Weald

  Crinnan stepped out of the shower and grabbed one of the towels that hung above the toilet. The towel itself was coarse and thin, it felt like drying off with a shirt, but he did not complain. The shower had been invigorating. It gave him time to think. It helped with his sore body a little bit, but not too much. Mostly, he just thought.

  Being alone with your thoughts with nothing else to disturb you can be a scary thing sometimes. Sometimes you realize things, like how very alone and scared you are. You learn that nothing seems to be working, and it can be hard to imagine any kind of future. You wonder where you will be the next day, whether you will be alive, dead or whether you will have done something to find your own gun in your mouth. One never knows where their thoughts will lead them in the silence of their own company.

  The towels could dry the water off of him, but not the sticky residue of fear. He was lost, and he knew it. He knew he was not only physically lost, but psychologically as well. Even when he found home, when he got back to his squad, he knew he would still feel lost and vulnerable.