The ship rumbled along the path of the village. Mothers took to hiding inside with their children, petrified that the Zohr had returned so soon. Jonas looked to his protectors. "Come on!" he said with excitement, waving them on after his chase down the street.
Cortex watched the ship in the sky. "I hope they're friendly!" he said, being the last of the protectors to start running along with the crowd.
On the outskirts of the village, the lower lights of the ship guided the sturdy legs of the undercarriage to a soft landing on the snow. Jonas and everyone following came to a standstill, dwarfed by the size of the sphere. They could now see clearly that the ship wasn't covered in spikes at all, but was one large docking surface with thousands of fighters pointing their noses out through the hull.
The ship made very little noise except for a dim humming sound, like the musical chant of an insect's wings. A ramp with a lit runway extended from a lower section of the ship and ground to a halt in the snow. The Guard remained cautious, taking up positions to fire, aiming their mortar sleeves and their few guns at the door above the runway. Bravado enough, considering a ship this size could transport an entire army and they were now only a few hundred strong. The door slid open above the ramp and marching out came two lines of unarmed soldiers. Their helmet-less heads were tanned and flat, their green uniforms tight to their muscular chests.
Cortex leant in to Jonas. "Airq," he said, with a nudge and a nod.
"They're friendly enough," Menace added.
"But what are they doing here?" Jonas said. He remembered back to Twain's father mentioning the airq and something about a shipment of oxygen to their planet. Other than that he knew nothing about them.
The unarmed airqians stopped on the downward platform of the ramp and turned to face each other, forming two rows leading down from the ship to the snow. A man appeared in the light of the doorway, dressed in the same tight green uniform as the other airqians. His smooth, pale complexion made it clear to see that he was not of airqian descent, his bald head and hairless brows looked unusual, but his demeanor was familiar to the welcoming party in front of him. With his head held straight, he sauntered down the ramp. Something caught the bald man's eye.
"Jonas!" the voice of King Uly called out, causing the Guard to lower their weapons and stand to attention.
Jonas rushed forward a few paces. Wonder and hope made his wounded heart heal at the sound of his father's voice. "Father!" he shouted in disbelief. "You’re alive!?"
His pulse raced as he ran to his father. Uly rushed to the bottom of the ramp with open arms and Jonas threw himself around his father, pushing his face into the bottom of his chest. Uly cupped his sons head with a strong hand, holding him into his body. It was a moment that neither of them thought they would ever share again.
Uly held his son away from him and looked into his eyes. "Tell me Jonas, the Elementis?"
"I'm sorry, Father," said Jonas, with regret flushing the smile from his face, "We couldn't stop him. And Shardwey, he…"
"The fault is mine, Jonas," Uly said, "Your grandfather and I should have taken more care."
Jonas couldn't help but feel like there was more he could have done no matter what his father said to put him at ease. While he'd been locked in the grip of the Elementis, perhaps he could have destroyed the Zohr. It was his first experience of the power, and his thoughts were only of reversing the sorcery of Oreaus. But if only he had thought of turning Oreaus into some harmless gas the second before he removed the stone, then would it all be over now? He may have lost his own life at the same time but he may also never have that chance again without Witakker's formula. By now the Zohr could be nearing Aquilla and if they were not already, Twain, Hawk, Lora and half a million captured cythereans would soon be dead or joining the dydrid.
Uly saw the troubles that went through his sons mind, he smiled at him. "It's good to see you alive, son."
In the moment of Jonas returning the smile his mind unconsciously pushed aside every pained thought from the present and he was just a boy sharing a simple smile with his father. "You too, Father," he said, before all the realities of their existence pushed back into his mind.
Uly took a few paces back up the ramp and turned to speak to the crowd below. They fell to silence and listened. "In exchange for the seven trade moons once we win this war, the airq have provided us with an army and their most powerful ship, the Tylis." Uly looked into the eyes of his Guard, some full of hope, some full of fear. He wanted them full of strength. "Let us return home. Defend. Stand tall. They will fall, the Guard will never surrender."
The men cheered, their plight renewed by the words of their king. They wanted to fight. They wanted the chance to stand up to the force that threatened their existence, that had killed their families and taken their homes. The pain which each one of the Cytherean Guard held inside of them made each man hungry to kill his enemy. The hatred that war breeds had taken their hearts to their darkest place.
Snow fell once again through the skies of Destus. Amongst a crowd of hugs, and handshakes Jonas was readying to leave and saying his goodbyes when he was told by Kile about their mischievous visit to the Nangus for a small slice of revenge. A smile as wide and bright as a rainbow beamed across his youthful face as he looked up to Jonas telling him that they were certain they would have slowed the ship up with the amount of wiring they'd cut away. Jonas felt nothing but admiration for the courage which Kile's men had shown. It meant more to Jonas than he could ever express to Kile so he didn't even try, he just thanked him and shook his hand. It meant the Tylis had every chance of gaining space on the Nangus before they reached Aquilla, it meant the Tylis and its fighters might just be able to do something about this war before it was too late.
Kile had noticed that Jonas carried the princess's sword with him everywhere he went. As if he hadn't already done enough, Kile handed Jonas a gift of a leather scabbard. "It's made with a special fabric," Kile said. "One that will not allow such a sharp sword to cut through the skin under its own weight."
Jonas took the sheath, admiring the lining. He put his arm through the strap, securing it around his shoulder and sliding Willow's sword into place. Sure enough, the leather didn't cut, as Jonas was half-expecting it would, knowing the make-up of the sword. He thanked Kile and told him he would wear it until he could return the sword to the princess. He had only a helix-blaster to leave in exchange for Kile's gift. Perhaps it would encourage some development of technology amongst their people, Jonas thought. With second thoughts he had hoped it would not. The geisendorfers were more than content with their basic way of life, just as the cythereans once had been. Nonetheless, a little extra protection was often needed from time to time. Jonas handed his blaster over and wished Kile well. The villagers waved as Jonas boarded the sphere. It was people like this that deserved to be saved, Jonas told himself as he boarded the ship. It was people like this that gave him the heart to chase on after Zohr Oreaus. He left Destus feeling many emotions about Calyx, Willow, the war, controlling the stone, facing the Zohr again, the survival of his father, Twain and his people at home, and it all came down to one thing—could he save everyone? He didn't know the answer, but he knew that he would give everything to do so.
*
The Tylis streamed towards the outer edge of the Mhydra star system and Jonas and Uly stood alone in a room watching the past fade as they moved through space with the power of the blackfire energide that powered the ship. As with his promise to Kile, Jonas wore Willow's sword tucked into the leather sheath upon his back, and Uly listened to his son telling the story of how he had somehow connected with the thought wave of the Zohr and reversed the chromium that covered his body.
"You now have the power to control the Zohr’s mind," Uly said, looking out to space.
"Only with Witakker’s formula," Jonas reminded him.
"How much is left?" Uly asked.
"Every drop is gone," said Jonas, as he watched his father's eyes closing in the refl
ection of the glass.
"Our hope was always that you would not need any influence to do what you can," said Uly, as if Jonas didn't have enough pressure on his mind. "Your mind is the only way to stop Oreaus. Perhaps if you and your brother can learn together…"
"Father," Jonas said, interrupting. "Calyx betrayed us. He was the one who led the Zohr to Destus."
Uly lowered his head. "No!" he said, closing his eyes once more, taking a moment to hide the shame of the words.
Uly looked to Jonas. "Your brother wants freedom. He wants power. He will not find either of those with his new master."
"Can we win this war, Father?"
Uly paused for a moment with a pensive look in his strained eyes, "This ship is constructed of a hundred thousand koble fighters. We have every chance," he promised Jonas.
"The Zohr has the Elementis," Jonas said, looking across to his father knowing that even a million fighters were useless against a man with that power.
Uly intensified his gaze. "We must confront him before he reaches Aquilla. The stone is useless in the vacuum of space. Without matter, the Elementis is as harmful as the stone first appears. For once the fight will be fair."
Something clicked in Jonas's mind. It was so clear to him following what his father had just said, "for once the fight will be fair." Uly saw the look on his face.
"What is it, Jonas?" he asked.
"You never have had the ability to control the Elementis, have you?"
The answer was a painful one for UIy, he looked back out to space. "Generation after generation, our ability to access our eslanic minds has become weaker. At times we were not able to produce enough mind power to control the Elementis and it became too dangerous to do so. My father, Witakker and I made the decision to hide the stone and tell no one in case the Zohr ever came to know."
Even though Uly was not looking at him, Jonas was looking at his father. "And then you came up with a plan to make a child who was capable of matching the Zohr’s mind!" he said, wanting further explanation.
"A mixed union was the only way! A child with the power of the Zohr's mind and the bloodline of the kings," Uly said.
Uly's head dropped as he thought back to the moment he had given up on Jonas the second he was born. He had never meant to fall in love with Venuk, if he had not perhaps things would have been easier. Things would without doubt have been easier. Calyx would never have defected, Jonas would not have spent his life up until now alone and Uly would never have known the feeling of his heart living in an eternity of darkness.
A feeling of worthlessness came over Jonas. "So I was just an experiment!?" he asked.
Uly looked deeply at his son, "No Jonas, you were brought into the world to save every kind of being in existence - you are the final hope."
Chapter XXIV
Engage
The Nangus flew through the silence of space. Its damaged navigation modules had sent the ship sailing in circles until the wiring had been fixed and the ship was now back on course for its return to Mercron.
On a lower-level, beside the Zohr's command deck, a few dozen crewmen were busy running scans at their stations, collecting data for flight path clearance and taking all necessary readings for the security of the ship.
A crewman called out and up to the throne deck. "We have an incoming craft, my Zohr."
"What is it?" he said, turning to the crewman with curiosity.
The crewman hesitated, speaking slowly. "Unknown, my Zohr."
"Show me," the Zohr demanded.
A wire-frame image of the spiked, spherical Tylis drew itself in the air in front of the Zohr from the base of a large holopad.
"What distance?" the Zohr said, staring at the ship.
"Half a star unit, my Zohr," answered the quick tongue of the crewman.
The Zohr screwed his face, raised a finger to touch his temple and closed his eyelids, searching for eyes that he had only recently seen. His eyes opened as he looked through Jonas's eyes. King Uly stood in front of him—no crown and no hair, but it was the king nonetheless.
*
Jonas felt a sharp pain in his mind. He winced and held his hands to his head to ease the pain. And as the Zohr saw through Jonas's eyes, so Jonas saw through his. He saw the command deck of a dark ship flash into his minds eye, the image of the Tylis hovering in front of him.
Uly grabbed hold of his swooning son with both hands on his shoulders' "Jonas, what is it?"
The pain departed. Uly withdrew his grip and Jonas lowered his hands and opened his eyes. "He knows we're coming!" he said.
*
The Zohr stood to issue his commands to Mutus. "The king lives, and he brings the boy. Launch Mercron now. We leave earlier than expected."
"Will we not fight them and end this?" Mutus said.
"Your insolence will stop, now!" the Zohr cursed. "No one questions me!" The look of revulsion he poured into his sons eyes reminded him that no one was safe from his fury.
He walked closer to Mutus. "I will destroy them before they have tasted the air of Aquilla for the last time. Get Mercron to me and they will be decimated."
With their eyes locked, General Mutus gave the barest nod.
*
Twain's fingers clung to a jutting rock. His foot searched for a steady hold, one that wouldn't crumble and threaten to drop him to the silver water below. Sweat oozed from his palms, making his hands slippery against the dry stone. If he were not as weightless as a skinny boy then shifting across this crumbling rock face would have resulted in a futile attempt to out swim thousands of exopedes. His foot found a hold and he traversed tantalisingly close to the safety of the next unit. Each unit had a few feet of overhang where the conveyor belt stuck out at the end. And each time Twain dropped himself down on to the bouncy surface he took a quiet breath of relief on reaching solid ground. After the relief came the explanation to the captives that he was searching for his mother and moving from unit to unit to break the wiring circuits and attempting to save their skins from dydrification.
Twain eyed up his next move, and he reached his hand up, stretching out. He saw the perfect grip hold, it was just a finger-nail's width too far out of reach. He peered down for a new foot-hold. He would have to plant his foot in a rut below which he could comfortably step across to and hope that it didn't give as he pushed up to grab a hold of the mocking rock that would see him swing safely to the next unit. He wiped his sweaty right palm against his trousers and swung his leg across to the foot hold, testing it with a gentle push down before he transferred his weight. He pushed off with his left leg, let go with his left hand, and shifted his weight onto the tiny ledge. The foothold slipped away from the rock face; Twain had no grip. His stomach dropped, all of his blood rushed to his head. His right hand whipped up and wrapped around the target rock. He hung, swaying as he caught his breath.
A noise in the distance thundered up the walls of the valley. The rock face began to tremble, sending loose stone falling down onto Twain's face and body. He couldn't believe the tectonic plates had chosen this moment to have a seismic reshuffle while he was clinging for life on the edge of a cliff. He had a short jump to the conveyor belt but he had no foot-hold; he also had no choice. He held onto the rock with both hands and began to swing from side to side. As soon as he had enough momentum he pulled up with what little muscle he had and flew across, landing with a solid jump onto the conveyor belt.
The cythereans inside cowered from the quake, hardly noticing a young boy drop in on them. Twain wondered what the noise was in the distance; the ground never usually shook for this long. He ignored the falling shrapnel and looked down the valley and out across the desert towards the forest. He hadn't realised it before, but from where he was, high in the valley, he could see Mercron's claws scratching up to the sky out of the trees in the distance. His eyes were playing up. The claws looked as if they were moving. Twain gawped as he watched Mercron rise taller and taller above the trees. The entire structure was lifting out of th
e ground.
*
Hawk was closer to the city than Twain. He and the few Guard that were with him relaxed on the heat-absorbing roof of their ship when Mercron reared its ugly body. They saw the claws rumbling upwards, watching in disbelief as the city grew from the ground, towering even higher above them. The surface of the beast seemed alive, transforming from the smooth silver skin that looked good enough to slide down to being covered with thousands of what appeared to be gun stations. A few ground-shaking moments later and Mercron was airborne a giant clawed hand flying through the sky. Hawk and the soldiers couldn't take their eyes away from it.
*
Twain was joined at the edge of the drop by a few curious cythereans. They watched the heat waves of Mercron's boosters lift the city above the trees. None of them had ever considered that such a monster could fly. They looked at each other, speechless.
Twain broke the silence. "Credit where credit’s due," he said, "that is pretty cool!"
*
King Uly walked with a renewed purpose onto the command deck of the Tylis. Jonas followed behind his father. The bright, clean look of the deck gave it a well-organised feeling. The floating screens in front of the flight officers were sharp holograms, directed by swiping hands and pokes.
Uly took his place next to Qotu. "Broadcast to the ship commander," he said, more telling than asking.
Qotu looked worryingly at Uly but still began tapping the buttons on a control pad to prepare the broadcast. "What is it, Uly?" he asked.
Uly peered up at the floating outline of the screen, waiting for his own face to appear. "There's a slight change of plan," he told his new ally.
Qotu pressed one last button and Uly appeared on the screen above them and on every screen throughout the ship. He watched himself talking, keeping his speech to the point. "The enemy were delayed in returning to Aquilla. We are right behind them, prepare for attack. We will destroy the Nangus."
Elementis 1: The Heir to the Stone Page 22