RHEN

by Charity Kelly

  RHEN

  By Charity W. Kelly

  Copyright © 2017 Charity W. Kelly

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real persons or entities is coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  APPENDIX

  Author’s Note

  Acknowledgments

  About The Author

  Chapter 1

  Independent Planet – Neutral Space

  “Is he dead?”

  Rhen stared at the Thestran Royal at his feet. He’d struck the man on his head only a few moments ago, knocking him unconscious. The Thestran’s left arm had fallen towards him, his open hand lying next to the tip of Rhen’s military boots. That was easy, he thought.

  Turning to his right, Rhen checked on his men to see how they were doing against the other Thestran Royal. It appeared they hadn’t had any trouble with him either. The man was lying face down on the white stone pavers of the square where they had fought.

  Rhen opened his mouth to give his men the order to change position. He assumed the Thestran soldiers would try to surround them to get to their Royals.

  “Is he dead?” someone repeated to Rhen’s left.

  Rhen ignored the man. Instead, he watched with surprise as the Thestrans lowered their weapons to the ground and raised their hands in surrender. Rhen had expected them to attack with renewed vigor now that their leaders were unconscious, but instead, they were surrendering.

  “I asked you a question, Surpen: is he dead? Did you kill that Thestran Prince?”

  The hostile tone of voice brought Rhen about. The pampered Prince of the planet he’d been fighting to protect stood a few feet behind him, his hands on his hips. Rhen wanted to strike the man. He found his coiffed hair and expensive clothing irritating.

  The Prince tapped his foot, waiting for Rhen to respond to his question.

  “No,” Rhen replied. “He’s just unconscious.”

  Rhen watched as the Prince sighed with apparent relief then lifted his eyes to the sky. “Is something wrong?” Rhen asked.

  The Prince ignored Rhen as he turned to check the skies behind him.

  “Are you looking for something in particular?” Rhen asked, his right-hand tightening on his sword.

  “I thought he’d come,” the Prince mumbled to himself.

  Rhen heard his comment but before he could respond, his Lieutenant arrived to report on the situation. “Commander, the planet’s King has asked us to return to Surpen. He has paid our fees and declared our mission complete.”

  Narrowing his eyes, Rhen turned back to the Prince. “You don’t want us to eliminate the Thestran threat?”

  “Gods, no. Why would you think that?”

  “You hired us to protect your planet from the Thestrans. To properly complete our mission, we should kill the soldiers that were sent to colonize your planet.”

  “Don’t do that,” the Prince snapped. He waved his hand at Rhen’s Lieutenant. “You heard your man. My father says your mission is now complete. You can go.”

  Rhen clenched his jaw. It was obvious that he and his men had been used. He had half a mind to skewer the pompous, disapproving Prince in front of him. He wondered how upset his own father, the Surpen King, would be if he killed the ruling family on this planet. After all, he had sent him to protect the planet in the hopes of gaining exclusive trading rights. They’d obtain those rights if Rhen conquered the planet by killing off its monarchs.

  Rhen twisted his wrist, raising his sword in the direction of the Prince.

  The man stepped back involuntarily, his hands rising to chest level to ward off Rhen’s next move.

  “Shall I tell the men to return to the spacejets?” Rhen’s Lieutenant asked, bringing Rhen back to reality. Rhen turned towards the Thestran soldiers. His men had gathered them together, forcing them to kneel with their hands on their heads. The two Thestran Princes had been dragged over to the group and were lying in front of them, still unconscious.

  Rhen knew his father wanted to fight the Thestrans, but he wasn’t ready to declare war just yet. If Rhen were to kill these soldiers, the Thestrans would retaliate, which meant that not only would his Dad be furious with him, but also that he would be putting Surpen in jeopardy – and that was something he refused to do.

  “Payment was made?” Rhen asked, his sword arm lowering to his side. His Lieutenant nodded. “Let’s go.”

  They walked around the capital building to the spaceport at the back. Rhen’s eyes scanned the tops of the buildings around him, checking the locations where he’d left troops. It appeared his Lieutenant had gotten the word out to the rest of his forces that they were leaving. Someone bumped into Rhen’s shoulder.

  Rhen turned his head to find his Lieutenant staring at him. “What?”

  Jet threw his hands out as he exclaimed, “What a bunch of incompetents. I mean, can you believe it? That skirmish was a joke. Did you see the ridiculous way the Thestrans were using their powers? They didn’t even hit you once.”

  Rhen shook his head. He too had been surprised during the battle. Thestran’s Queen Mother was known to have more powers than any other individual. Rhen had heard that she could fly, move objects, breathe underwater, shapeshift…the list went on and on. Like most people, he had assumed that the Queen Mother’s children had inherited her wealth of powers. Yet he and his men had bested the Thestran Royals with ease. Did this mean that the Thestrans weren’t as powerful as everyone thought? Would Surpen be able to conquer them? He needed to talk to his father.

  As Rhen walked up the open ramp of his spacejet to return home, he noted that theirs were the only foreign spacejets in the port, which meant that the Thestrans had arrived on the planet through the capital’s portal. Rhen’s father had sent him and his men to this planet because its King had told them he had reason to believe the Thestrans were going to try to conquer his planet today. No one would attempt to conquer a planet using a portal. The King could have sealed his portal to Thestran at any time, cutting off Thestran’s forces. Rhen considered the Prince’s odd behavior after the skirmish and wondered what game the ruling family had been playing. He waited on the ramp until the last of his troops had boarded their jets then turned to walk down the steel corridor in front of him. He’d let his father figure out today’s politics.

  Rhen slid the door to his chamber open and tossed his helmet onto the top shelf. He took three steps and sat on the cot against the chamber’s back wall. The spacejet vibrated gently under Rhen’s feet as it rose in the air. They had a four-hour ride ahead of them before they landed on Surpen. Rhen was looking forward to taking a nap. His father had been pushing him hard these last few months. Something was brewi
ng, but his Dad refused to tell him what it was. Rhen had asked his friends from some of the other planets that were members of the Convention if they’d heard of any conflicts that might soon erupt into war, but they hadn’t heard of anything either.

  Someone cleared their throat. Glancing up, Rhen found Jet leaning against the doorframe to his chamber. “Jet? What are you doing here?” Rhen reached up to unbuckle the leather straps on his metal shoulder plates.

  “I keep thinking about today’s events. What was up with those Thestrans? They fought like babies. I thought they were supposed to have amazing powers. Isn’t that why everyone’s scared of them? Isn’t that how they’ve colonized so many planets: they have the powers of the Gods. But those Thestrans back there. It was like they didn’t even know how to use their own powers.”

  Rhen felt the same way. “I know. It was bizarre. I thought that since the Queen Mother had powers her children would have them too.”

  “Is it possible that those weren’t Thestran Princes? Perhaps some other Thestrans with minor powers were fighting in the Royals’ place so the they wouldn’t have to?”

  “No, I think those two men were members of the ruling family. The Thestran soldiers wouldn’t have given up if they weren’t. As soon as we bested the Royals, they surrendered to protect them.”

  Jet snorted. No self-respecting Surpen would’ve given up. The Surpen King would’ve had their hides if Jet and his men had surrendered to protect Rhen. He laughed as he remembered the moment when Rhen confronted the smaller Thestran Prince. “Did you see that Royal’s eyes before you knocked him unconscious?”

  Rhen grinned. Through the eye slits on the man’s helmet, he’d watched the Prince’s look of entitlement turn to fear, when he’d dodged the man’s power blasts and rushed him.

  “I bet he wet himself when you sidestepped around his blast,” Jet remarked. “I don’t think he’d ever seen anyone do that before.” Jet paused before asking, “How is it that you always seem to know when to jump when someone throws their powers at you?”

  Rhen pulled off his shoulder plates and stood up. Placing them onto the shelf below his helmet, he said, “Practice. That’s all. You’d be able to do it too, if you’d had as much training as I’ve had.”

  Jet disagreed, but he didn’t counter Rhen’s comment. He watched as Rhen pulled off his chest plate and shin guards and placed them on the shelves below his helmet.

  Jet’s body suddenly felt heavy. Yawning, he stepped back into the corridor outside Rhen’s chamber. “I think I’ll get some sleep before we land. Knowing Bosternd, he’ll have us running drills when we get back.”

  Rhen nodded. His second-in-command would definitely complain that the men hadn’t gotten enough exercise on this trip. “See you later.”

  As Jet walked off down the corridor to his chamber, Rhen pulled his door closed and returned to his cot to remove his boots. He grunted, noticing for the first time that he’d gotten blood on his boots from the battle. He liked these boots and didn’t want them streaked. Rhen considered getting up to clean them, but then he remembered that his Dad would want to see the Thestrans’ blood. Both his father and his father’s advisor hated the Thestrans with a passion.

  Without thinking, Rhen reached for the fingers on his left hand and massaged them, easing away an upsetting memory. He had once been a Thestran. The Surpen King had adopted him when he was eight. Rhen remembered the pleasure he had felt at giving up his Thestran heritage to become Surpen. He used to hate the fact that he looked Thestran, that he didn’t blend in with the Surpens and their classic grey eyes and brown hair.

  Rhen released his fingers and leaned over to unlace his boots. He didn’t mind his looks anymore. He knew he was Surpen, which was all that mattered.

  Chapter 2

  Surpen Military Headquarters

  Rhen stretched out his back, lifting his arms high in the air before dropping his hands down into his lap. It’d been three months since his battle against the Thestrans, a battle that had been nothing but a waste of time. As soon as the Thestrans had regained consciousness, the King and his annoying son had made a deal with them, pledging their planet to Thestran’s Council so that they could be included in Thestran’s trade routes.

  Rhen wondered if the Thestrans had forced the King to join them because of his actions. When he’d reviewed the day’s events with his Dad, they’d both realized that the King and his son had planned a skirmish between Thestran and Surpen in the hopes of seeing the Black Angel. It wasn’t the first time that he’d heard of countries plotting ‘accidents’ or ‘battles’ to draw out the mysterious Black Angel. Rhen snorted at the thought. He was glad that Surpens tended to ignore the Angel. He found the whole subject a bore. Why did anyone even care who the Black Angel was? The important thing was that the Angel saved people – not who was behind the disguise.

  Rhen shifted his legs on the packed dirt beneath him, stretching them out straight in front him. He tugged down on the hem of his knee-length tunic to keep it from creasing and pushed his back against the cool rock wall behind him. His mind drifted back to the skirmish he’d fought against the Thestrans. His father and his father’s advisor, Loreth, had been fascinated by the fact that Rhen and his men had defeated two Thestran Royals. They’d had him repeat the details of the battle until Rhen’s throat had become hoarse. Afterwards, they’d closed themselves off in his Dad’s study for days, plotting how they might take over Thestran and her democratic Council of planets.

  It seemed they’d finally come up with a plan, because this morning his Dad had informed him that Thestran’s Queen Mother and the Royal Thestran Father would be arriving that night for an unprecedented meal with the Surpen Royal Family. Rhen didn’t know what his Dad and Loreth had arranged for this evening’s event, but he was sure he wasn’t going to like it. He wondered what plot involved the retired Queen and King of Thestran.

  Queen Kate was the matriarch of the Thestran Royal family. She’d used her enormous number of powers to go from a homeless, orphaned commoner to ruler of the planet of Thestran. Once she’d taken over Thestran, Kate had flashed her powers about in great shows of strength to ‘convince’ other planets to join Thestran in forming a democratic Council. The Council now ruled over large territories of the Universe.

  Surpen had refused to subjugate itself to a woman-run planet. It had joined with other planets that had disapproved of the upstart Queen to form the Convention. The two groups refused to trade with each other and were continually fighting over trade routes and territories.

  Rhen wondered what his Dad had planned for tonight. He couldn’t possibly expect Rhen to rally his men to fight Kate. They’d surely lose. Why hadn’t his Dad invited James, the current ruler of Thestran, to dinner? They could’ve kidnapped James and held him for ransom. No. That wouldn’t have worked either. If they’d taken James, the Queen Mother would have arrived at their door, powers blazing, to get him back.

  Rhen flexed his feet. He couldn’t figure out his Dad’s plan. How would inviting the Thestrans to dinner put Surpen in a position to conquer Thestran’s Council? It didn’t make any sense. Loreth was probably feeding lies to his Dad, telling him to poison Queen Kate or something.

  Rhen fisted his hands at the thought of Loreth. By God, he hated that man. He was always getting between Rhen and his Dad. Rhen had asked his Dad repeatedly to get rid of Loreth, but his father never listened.

  Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Rhen savored the sweet scent of the dry air in the underground room where he was sitting. Above him, he could hear the loping sounds of the Surpen Beasts of War playing in the fields. Rhen imagined himself sitting on the back of his Beast as the animal flew off into the sky. He loved the rough, bumpy tan and black hide of the Beasts and their oval snouts. Jet had mentioned that the Beasts looked like Thestran’s dragons, which made sense, since they were distant cousins.

  The soft rhythmic sound of boots on the dust-covered tiles in the outside corridor tickled Rhen’s ear drums. He
could tell that it was Bosternd. His second-in-command was looking for him. Rhen heard a fingernail tapping on metal and groaned. “Stupid locating device,” he mumbled. He never should have given it to Bosternd.

  A few seconds later, Rhen saw Bosternd’s flare light as it passed by the open stone doorway to the darkened room where Rhen was sitting. He heard Bosternd approach then turned his head from the room’s entry way when Bosternd’s light grazed over his seated form. Dust particles danced in the air around him as the flare light landed on him. Without speaking Bosternd extinguished his light, tucked his locating device into his pocket and put his hand on the side of the wall. With care he maneuvered around the room, using his hand as a guide. Bosternd stopped about three feet from Rhen, turned his back to the wall and slid to the ground to sit beside Rhen.

  Rhen listened to the sound of Bosternd breathing. He could smell the remains of Bosternd’s lunch on his breath.

  “I heard what Andres and Loreth are doing. Is it true you petitioned to leave, but they won’t let you?” Bosternd asked.

  “Yes,” Rhen answered.

  “I’m sorry,” Bosternd said. When Rhen didn’t respond he continued, “Have you spoken to Ceceta? I’m sure she’s equally upset.”

  Rhen sighed before answering. “No, not yet.”

  “You should ask your father to excuse her from this evening’s meal. I’m sure she doesn’t want to be reminded of her birth family,” Bosternd said.

  “You’re right,” Rhen agreed. He felt his body reacting as he thought about his wife and glanced towards Bosternd.

  Bosternd smiled in the dark, forgetting Rhen’s abilities. “What’s so funny?” Rhen asked.

  “What would our enemies say if they knew Surpen’s Military Commander was hiding in his own underground headquarters?”

  “I’m not hiding,” Rhen protested. “I’m thinking in the only quiet place there is on Surpen. If I were in my office, the other generals would be interrupting me.”