The Chronicles of Soone - Warrior Rising
Page 23
to find Tiet and Wynn emerging from the magnetic rail safety wall, running hard toward them. He was glad to see them, but for a moment the tragedy of Tiet meeting his unknown older brother flashed in his mind. He turned against Kale again, who was still on the ground trying to get up.
He locked eyes with the younger man. Kale looked away momentarily. Tiet’s sword catapulted away from the fallen rebel’s body, under Kale’s mental control, and pierced Orin from behind. He lurched in shock and pain, his eyes still locked on Kale’s face. Orin heard Tiet shouting from some distance away.
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Kale looked away toward the pair running toward him. The younger man was dressed in the same Barudii cloak as Orin. Kale stood over Orin’s fallen body and pulled the blade from his back.
Kale knew the weapon very well. It was the blade of his father, Kale Soone I, the long dead king of the Barudii. He crouched down near Orin’s body. He was lying on his side bleeding profusely from his wound. “This is Father’s blade, Orin,” he whispered in the older man’s ear as he withdrew the weapon. “Where did that boy get it?” Insight crept into his mind and across his face.
He knelt close. Orin was now gasping for his breath as his life poured out. “Is that my brother, Orin?” He did not wait for an answer from the dying man.
The Horva were still raining down a heavy weapon’s fire upon the platform, threatening to destroy the Strider. Kale decided he could not afford another confrontation right now and drove the sword into the pavement next to Orin.
There it remained, imbedded up to the hilt. Kale took another stolen glance at Tiet as he approached then he turned to run for his ship before it was destroyed by the approaching war machines.
Kale managed to reach his ship as another, not far away on the platform, was struck by a powerful blast from the Horva war machines. He got to the cockpit and retracted the ramp as the engines powered up for lift off. Kale could see his brother finding Orin’s body. He wondered if Tiet even knew that he had an older brother. That possibility only bolstered the resentment and fury he had carried for so long against Orin and his father.
The child had been so very young when the betrayal had occurred, but Kale remembered him. He had supposed all of the family, including little Tiet, had perished in the great battle that wiped out the Barudii as a people. It was obvious now that at least a few had survived.
Kale had seen his father’s body upon the battlefield after it was over and remembered seeing his crown, but the king’s blade had been missing. Now he knew why. Kale pushed the memories back in his mind and brought the engines to power. The old Barudii Strider lifted off of the platform and tore upward through the sky toward open space.
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Orin was very close to death when Tiet came upon him. He knelt in his mentor’s blood trying to help him, but it was nearly over. Orin tried to speak as he coughed up more blood. “Who was that person? Who did this?” Tiet pleaded.
Orin’s voice was weak. He could only manage one word before his life ended. “Kale.”
Orin Vale was gone. And the pain of losing him on top of Dorian’s death was only delayed momentarily by the bewildering last word he had given in answer to his question.
Wynn was beside Tiet as Orin died. His reaction to the name was one of realization rather than bewilderment. But there wasn’t time now for any hesitation. The Horva army was coming.
“Tiet, we must go!” Wynn urged him.
Tiet seemed not to even hear the man. Wynn pulled him to his feet against his will, pulling him away from their fallen comrade. Tiet went along knowing he must, pausing only to free his father’s blade from the ground. Wynn urged him on as they ran toward the cloning facility. He wanted to be sure that the equipment Grod wanted was destroyed.
As they approached the building, it became clear that the facility was in total ruin. Many fires were still blazing within and there was no way to get inside to investigate further. It certainly appeared that the bomb had done the job adequately.
The Horva continued to advance, laying down heavy fire as they approached the cloning facility. The Vorn soldiers who were still trying to stop them were steadily losing the battle. Tiet and Wynn ran all the way back to the magnetic rail and took cover behind the safety wall as the Horva continued to devastate the Vorn army. They were now within four hundred yards of the rail system. Many of their ground forces split away toward the cloning facility trying to attempt a rescue of any of their forces who might have survived the devastating explosion.
The safety wall crumbled around Tiet and Orin as pulse laser fire tore into it. There seemed to be nowhere to go. Tiet ran to the nearest of the giant magnetic rings and used his blade to make multiple cuts to the support where it rose above the safety wall.
Wynn figured out what he was doing and ran to the other side to execute the same maneuver. As the supports gave way, both men combined their mental power to support the ring and then quickly sent it up into the air in a great arc toward the soldiers encroaching upon their position.
Seeing the approaching section of the ring, most of the ground forces stopped firing and attempted to scatter. The huge metal ring came crashing down into their frontline and smashed many of the warriors as it tumbled through their ranks. Some of the war machines, caught in the path of the ring, were damaged. But the Horva still continued to advance.
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Ranul continued his scans of the planet surface, trying to lock in on the disturbance which the computer had picked up. The sensors concentrated on one city in particular. The database identified the city as Baeth Periege An intense battle was taking place within the city.
“Helmsman, get us to these coordinates immediately,” he ordered as he transferred the data.
Estall signaled for two of the other cruisers to follow them to the surface while the rest remained in orbit. The large Vorn warships began their descent through the atmosphere with shields at maximum for reentry. The sheering forces of the atmosphere beat upon the vessels, but did not harm them.
As the three battle cruisers came closer to Baeth Periege, Ranul was able to pull up a more detailed visual. Several Vorn ships were leaving the city and heading away for open space as the battle raged on.
Ranul tried to locate the beacon from the Saberhawk, but was unable to locate it anywhere in the vicinity. He did however notice an old Barudii ship climbing through the atmosphere, but it was a smaller Strider class vessel. Ranul dismissed it. They had to get to Baeth Periege as soon as possible. Hopefully his friends could be found safe.
CONQUEST
Wynn and Tiet stayed pinned down in the magnetic rail trench. The Horva had regrouped and were laying down more pulse fire against their position. Large blasts from the war machines were closing in on them. They looked at one another, trying to figure out what to do next. “The tunnel!” shouted Wynn over the explosions going off around them.
Tiet got up and followed the elder man toward the magnetic rail tunnel they had emerged from earlier. The explosions continued all around them as the Horva persistently moved in on their position.
The tunnel was nearly eight hundred yards away from them and the enemy was tearing into the rail trench with everything they had. Pulse laser fire shredded the safety wall all around them as they ran. They shielded themselves mentally, as best they could, as large chunks of concrete and metal flew at them from nearby explosions.
Massive energy ejections shot overhead, coming from a different direction. The laser beams strafed through the front line of Horva battle tanks. Wynn and Tiet stopped a moment to see what was happening. They saw several Vorn battle cruisers coming in over the city from the southeast. The cruisers quickly began to turn the tide on the Horva army with superior firepower.
The Horva tried to return fire, but it was useless against the shields on the cruisers. After several heavy volleys of laser fire, the Horva began to retreat away from the approaching warships. Many of their soldiers scattered int
o the wasteland beyond the city perimeter while the greater majority either retreated into the tunnel of the magnetic rail or stood their ground and died.
Wynn and Tiet watched as their own escape route was being used by the Horva fleeing the cruisers. They didn’t dare run from their position for fear the Vorn cruisers might pick them off as well. From the shuttle bay of the lead ship, they noticed a large troop carrier coming down very near to their position. Not having anywhere else to go, they remained where they were as it landed. To their surprise, when the back of the transport lowered and people issued out, it wasn’t the Vorn military but Aolene warriors.
The soldiers filed out of the transport, setting up a perimeter around their vessel. Behind them, Ranul emerged. Tiet jumped out of the trench when he recognized him with Wynn following.
“Tiet! Where are the others?” asked Ranul over the sound of the cruiser’s cannons, still firing on the retreating Horva.
Tiet’s face gave away the news before his voice did. “Dead.”
Ranul was shocked by the news, but he hesitated only a moment. A battle was still raging around them. They entered the transport and found seats near the cockpit. The Aolene warriors filed back into the transport, taking their positions inside. The ramp lifted as the pilot brought the ship off the ground, ascending back