Seeker's Light (The Tazalian Series)

by N. I. Snow

  Lutianist's murky gaze met his darkened green eyes. Jonah shivered; that look seemed to pierce his soul. The ancient Tazalian bowed his head and spoke softly in Tazalian to Emma, “Tor chef cho mält jeft ek hatinel. Pa'cho te bent.”

  Emma let go of the Elder and nodded. The old reptile shuffled his way slowly through the doorway beside Jonah. The young man barely looked at the decrepit Tazalian’s departure. In front of him, Emma ran a hand through her long, black hair before folding her arms across her chest. She pursed her thin mouth tightly as an intense look played in her eyes. Jonah could only wonder what she was thinking about.

  Suddenly, without a word, she threw herself at Jonah. Hugging him tightly, her voice strained as she held back tears, “You don't know how glad I am to see you. When Zaharak took me off planet, I was sure that I was never going to see you again.”

  Jonah held his sister tightly, his eyes watering, “Believe me I thought the same as I watched his ship leave Earth, but it's over now. We can go home and maybe look for Dad and Mom. Considering everything we've been through, there's a chance that they may be alive as well.”

  Emma nodded. “And Shalinda.”

  Jonah shook his head. “No, not her.”

  Emma let go of Jonah and backed away. She looked into Jonah's solemn green eyes, “What happened? You two were going to get married.”

  Jonah, ran a hand through his matted, red hair, “I thought we were as well; but when she was more concerned with saving herself than helping me rescue you, I lost it. I don’t want to marry someone who only cares about themselves,” a weak smile appeared, “and besides could you imagine her trying to sneak into that Tazalian city? We wouldn't have even made it into the tunnels.”

  Emma chuckled. “Oh, I could just imagine her telling you and Kahluna to slow down or complaining that she broke a nail.”

  Jonah laughed a little as well before frowning at recalling Kahluna. Emma gave her brother a sympathetic look. “I'm sorry, Jonah. I can tell you and Kahluna were close.”

  Jonah bowed his head. “You could say that. She was the only person who would help me rescue you. We ate together; we told stories to each other. She taught me how to sneak through the ship without making a sound. But I don't think we were friends. Allies, yes, but never close enough to be friends. I think she knew what would happen to her on Tazal when she returned. She kept herself secluded as much as possible to make it easier for me should she die.” He looked up at Emma with a distant look in his eyes. “I will miss her, though.”

  He looked back up and smiled weakly at his younger sibling. “But we succeeded in rescuing you. Now we can go home and forget about all of this.”

  Emma shook her head. “We can't go home. Not until we find the Light and Salianos is stopped. He isn't about to let me escape his clutches completely, not while I know where to find it.”

  Jonah's face reddened and his jaw tightened. Emma could tell by the dark look in his eyes that he was thinking about the cruel, violet-eyed High Elder. His voice was sharp as he spoke. “Then we'll kill him and the others. We can lead them into a trap and wipe them out.”

  Emma placed her hands on her hips and gave him a stern look, “And how do you except two humans and a rapidly aging Tazalian Elder to do that?”

  Jonah frowned. “I don't know,” he turned towards the doorway, “but I bet your old friend knows how.”

  “Jonah!” Emma cried after her older brother as he walked silently out the doorway.

  Emma followed her brother through the narrow hallway leading to the central hull. She could hardly believe how easily he could keep his footsteps silent as he moved quickly through the pathway. He even held his body differently. Before he used to walk about carefree and happy. Now each step was confident and his face heavy with the events of the past few months. He looked much older than the twenty-year-old young man she had known.

  The two siblings stepped out into the dimly lit parlor where Lutianist sat on a cushioned chair next to a low-glowing holomap. The Elder's grizzled snout was bowed against his chest, his soft breath ruffling the cloak wrapped around his body. His milky, golden eyes were closed. Jonah gave Emma a perplexed look and Emma smiled. He watched as she walked over and knelt beside the sleeping Tazalian. She spoke softly in the alien language and Lutianist stirred.

  Slowly the murky eyes opened and the Elder raised his snout to look at Jonah and spoke to the him in Earthnan, “You are right, Jonah Sholtal. Salianos and my fellow Elders must be brought to an end. It is time our corrupt reign comes to a close. However, we are only three. Two young children and an old fool. Salianos has more than Seekers at his disposal. Even as we speak he is contacting mercenaries on planets near our jump point. We are greatly outnumbered.”

  Jonah frowned, “How does Salianos know our coordinates?”

  The Elder sighed, “My old friend Abilasso had planted a tracking device to the ship. There was no time to deactivate it before our coordinates were recorded.”

  Jonah began pacing the room, rubbing a hand furiously at the back of his head, “Then what do we do?”

  Lutianist leaned forward, his milky eyes following Jonah's movements. “There are five planets in the system where we can land and refuel. Out of those five there are two that are vastly populated making it simple for us to land and blend in. Salianos will expect us to land on one of those planets.” Lutianist leaned back and folded his hands on his robed lap. “Therefore we will do what he least expects. We will not land on any of the five planets.”

  Both Emma and Jonah looked at the aging reptile with skepticism. Emma pointed out, “But you just said only five planets have refuel stations.”

  Lutianist gave her one of his sly smiles, “Indeed, but I did not say anything about jumping ship, did I?”

  “We're going to change ships?” Jonah asked, catching on to what the old Tazalian was planning.

  Lutianist smiled. “Correct. True there may be only five planets that carry the fuel needed by lotardrives but there are nine planets that have shuttles capable of traveling the distance we need them to.” Lutianist closed his eyes, “Of course, there still is a chance that Salianos or any of the mercenaries will suspect this. We will have to be on guard at all times until we can make the jump out of the system.”

  Emma bit her lip. “What about Zaharak? Why would Salianos waste time informing mercenaries and not the number one Seeker in the galaxy?”

  Lutianist went quiet. “Salianos still has too much pride to inform Zaharak, and so far Zaharak has made no move from his current position. Luck it seems has kept that nightmare from us.”

  Emma traced the scar on her left arm. “That won't help us for long if Salianos does decide to inform him.”

  Jonah walked over to his younger sibling and put a gentle hand over the scar. “If he comes after you again, I'll stop him this time. I promise.”

  Unknown to the siblings, sorrow filled the heart of the murky- eyed Elder watching over them. A sense of guilt took over his soul as he witnessed the older brother’s unyielding determination to protect his sister. There had been another child much like this one who had needed the same shield from the Elder and he had failed that cub. Lutianist's heart burned. He would not fail again, not this time.

  Seventeen

  Lying upon a luxurious bed aboard his own personal cruiser, Salianos listened with annoyance as two Elders quarreled outside his room. The High Elder wondered briefly if Yahrik and Tarline would ever stop their childish fighting. Then skeletal forms of his parents crept into his thoughts. He quickly pushed them aside; he would not let his chance of finding the Light be denied by the human cub or anything else.

  Salianos ordered the Elders and the remaining Seekers to join him in hunting down the traitorous Lutianist and the human cub, but he had reluctantly agreed to Shadonel’s and Soforin’s journeying separately from the group in a shuttle specially designed for the insane Elder's sensitive hearing. The remaining three Seekers, Yahrik, and Tarline traveled with him. Despite his reluct
ance to split with Shadonel and Soforin, the High Elder was forced to admit that splitting up would give them an edge against Lutianist. Should the decrepit reptile once more worm his way from him, Shadonel would be sure to catch him. That's if the mercenaries did not do the job first. Though he hated the idea of using the mercenaries, he despised even more the notion of contacting Zaharak for aid. The fiend would not receive any additional reward from him!

  The High Elder looked out of the corner of one eye as the door to his room opened. In strode a nonchalant Tarline. The bronze Elder’s brazen voice spoke to Salianos, “We will be arriving in the Qualdof system in six days, High Elder. We should only be a few hours, a day at the most, behind Lutianist.”

  “Good,” Salianos spoke softly, “that means we will not have to rely on those cursed mercenaries for long.” Salianos sat up slightly, resting the weight of his body on one elbow. He looked over at Tarline, his violet eyes dark. “Be sure those scum understand that neither Lutianist or the girl is to be killed.”

  Tarline bowed his head, “I will.”

  Salianos watched as the scarred Elder turned and disappeared through the doorway. With the death of Kahluna there would be no one to stop him from capturing the two runaways. He would force them to tell him where the Gaia was located; from then the galaxy was as good as his. Even the rebellious Zaharak would fear and respect him.

  Vision blurry and mind reeling, Lieutenant Connell tried to lift his head as he felt his legs drag along a smooth metal surface. Pairs of strong, clawed hands grasped both his shoulders. He did not need to be fully conscious to know what had happened. Vemque had betrayed him. He wasn't surprised; there had been no trust between Tazalian and human. After all they were enemies. Vemque had aided him in destroying Dohma only because the young Tazalian had no other choice.

  Connell stole a glance at the dark-blue Tazalian before turning his gaze to an open doorway ahead of them. They were entering into what appeared to be the bridge of the warship. The rounded room was occupied by a group of thin-bodied Tazalians working at various control panels angled around a flat deck facing a large viewport. Connell focused his attention on a golden-scaled Tazalian whose green-spiked back was facing the group. Only when the two Tazalians dragging Connell stopped midway on the deck did the golden reptile turn his chiseled snout towards them with an arrogant look in his bronze eyes. Connell noted the different medals pinned to the right breast of the Tazalian's gray vest. Whoever he was, this Tazalian was a high ranking official. Vemque knew exactly what he was doing when he had chosen this particular warship.

  As Vemque's deep voice began to fill the room Connell could only hope that the dark-blue Tazalian had at least been truthful in teaching him the Tazalian language over the past few months. The Tazalian officer eyed Connell briefly before gazing at Vemque. “What's this, a new prisoner? I hope you know soldier that every cell on this ship has been filled. Give me one good reason not to blast you out of an ion cannon. Name and rank, cub.”

  Vemque gave the dark-haired Tazalian an odd salute with his free hand. “Private Vemque, sir, and I have with me the human lieutenant William Connell.”

  At the mention of Connell's name the golden Tazalian's eyes widened with humor and he began laughing none too pleasantly. “This is the human, Lieutenant Connell? The same human who escaped both the High Elder and the Shadow Death? Yet a simple private has captured him? Impossible!” The Tazalian quit laughing and his bronze eyes darkened. “You are Vemque, yes? The same Vemque who disappeared five months ago and removed your tracking device? You dare bring me some scruffy human and tell me that he is the Lieutenant Connell. If you believed that you could fool me into allowing you to live and rejoin the ranks of the Tazalian army with this little hoax, you are terribly mistaken.”

  “Commander Comäk!” called a tan-scaled Tazalian sitting at a panel next to the angry reptile. “The private is telling the truth. I have pulled up all known records of the human lieutenant, and the images show that this human is indeed William Connell.”

  At this news, Comäk's mood instantly returned to its former humor. “I don't believe it. This simple private has caught the elusive Connell. How?”

  “I would like to tell you Commander.” Connell nearly twitched with surprise at the dark tone Vemque's voice began to take on. He had expected to be forced to listen to an arrogant, lie-filled story about the events of the past few months, but instead the young Tazalian did the unexpected. “However I know exactly what you would still do to me. I did not come here to hand over Connell to you; I came to take this ship and to kill you.”

  Though he had not been born a Seeker, Connell was sure that Vemque could have been a perfect candidate to become one. His speed alone could have rivaled that of Kahluna. In the time it took for Connell to recover from his shock, the dark-blue private disarmed and killed the Tazalian who had helped him drag Connell in. However he was not fast enough to down a second opponent. As Vemque trained the rifle he had taken from the now dead Tazalian, Comäk pulled a small pistol-like weapon from beneath his gray vest and pointed it not at the private but towards Connell.

  Comäk's chiseled snout curved into a sneer, “Doesn't matter what prisoners you bring me. Once a traitor, always a traitor. Now lower your weapon or the human dies.”

  Vemque kept his weapon on the Commander, “Kill him and you die.”

  Comäk sneered. “Very well if it is a standoff you want, let us see how long we can hold off before one of these little cubs sounds the alarms and both you and your human pet are overpowered by two score of well-trained soldiers.”

  “They won't be sounding an alarm!” shouted the tan Tazalian slowly standing up at his console. “These cubs won't be alerting anyone.”

  Comäk let out a feral growl and glared through the corner of one eye at the smaller Tazalian while keep an eye on Connell, “What is the meaning of this? Remember your place, Lamor.”

  Lamor matched the Commander's cruel glare, “I know my place just as the others in this room know theirs.” All around, the group of thin Tazalians rose from their seats. “I am Lamor, leader of the Tazalian resistance against the rule of Salianos. For too long we have watched, unable to act, as other races have been cruelly enslaved or extinguished.. Now we finally have a chance of repelling Salianos's forces from this planet.”

  “Do you honestly believe that this plan of yours will succeed. As soon as the High Elder learns of this, you and your followers will be fair game for the Seekers,” Comäk snarled.

  “You are the fool for believing that the Elders still care about this war of theirs. It has been three months since their last transmission. They are too distracted to be bothered by the likes of you.”

  Comäk snarled and turned his weapon towards the traitorous Tazalian. He realized his mistake too late. The room echoed with the shot of Vemque's plasma rifle. Comäk's bronze eyes glazed over and rolled back into his head as the plasma bolt tore through his thick neck. Then his body collapsed lifelessly to the deck. Connell watched the events in a daze as though the entire thing were a play staged for him. Even as Vemque helped him to his feet he could not believe what he had witnessed.

  The dark-blue Tazalian watched as Connell's mouth opened and closed like a fish. Vemque shook his head and spoke in Earthnan to the shocked man, “I guess I need to explain.”

  “You sure do!” Connell finally blurted out, “Just what is going on here?”

  Vemque nodded to each of the standing Tazalians. “They are the Tazalian resistance. As you have already heard they are working against Salianos and the Elders.”

  Connell shook his head. “Yeah I got that part, but how did you know who they were? Are you one of them?”

  Vemque shook his head. “No. At least not yet. It was only three months ago that I discovered them purely by accident. I was trying to find data on Dohma's defenses when I attracted their attention. Of course when I told them I wanted to destroy Dohma, I thought they were going to alert the fleet. You can imagine my surprise when
they actually sent me the automaton’s plans. They believed that I was working on my own against the Elders. When I told them I planned on taking over a warship, they sent me details on this very one. They told me how many human prisoners were aboard, how many Tazalian soldiers, and about Comäk himself being aboard.”

  Vemque nodded solemnly towards Comäk's crumpled form. “I had originally planned to betray both you and them to Comäk, but over the months my plans changed. I realized that I no longer wanted to aid in the Tazalian invasion.” Vemque's gaze softened as he looked over at the rebels. “When you kept telling me how the young girl had been taken off planet by Zaharak and how you helped Kahluna and that boy escape to rescue her, I would feel guilty about what I was planning to do to you. Then you saved my life by taking out one of your men and that sealed the deal. From that moment on, I knew which side I really wanted to be on.”

  Connell's mind still whirled. “But what about all that revenge talk over your tail.”

  Vemque smiled. “I suppose knocking you unconscious and then having you believe that I was an enemy was punishment enough.” he gave Connell a sly wink. “You told me once before that it was not your fault that I was swinging it around without paying attention to my surroundings.”

  Connell shook his head in amazement. “I don't know what to say.”

  “Are you not wondering how we are going to take over a Tazalian warship with over two score of soldiers aboard?” Vemque gave him another wink.