Rhen threw another bone into the urn before answering, “Practice.”
With a nod, Andres motioned for his wife to rise. She stood up and walked over to him, taking off his cape and military shoulder and breast plates. She handed his armor to a slave, who whisked it away. Leaning forward, she began to rub his back and neck.
“You know,” Andres told Rhen. “Your mother and I were thinking that you and your wife could move into the south side of the castle. I know you’ve always preferred that section.”
“Thanks,” Rhen said indifferently, throwing a bone towards the urn. “After school is finished, we’d love to move into the south side.”
Andres hesitated before saying, “Haven’t you finished your surveillance yet? You just need to determine the extent of the Thestran’s forces and powers.”
Rhen gave Andres a crooked smile and lied, “Not yet.”
Andres considered his words and said, “I don’t care anymore. You’ve done enough. You will not be returning to Thestran.”
Rhen’s arm paused in the air. Turning towards his father, he said, “Excuse me?”
“It’s in Surpen’s best interest for you stay here. You know you can’t trust the Thestran Royal Family. They’re dangerous. They hate Surpen, and they’re jealous of all we have. Eventually, they will try to conquer us, you know that. We’ve had countless oracles predict this. You cannot return to Thestran.” There was a finality to his voice.
Rhen smiled. He turned back to the urn. Without speaking, he continued to throw bones at it. Andres wasn’t sure what Rhen was thinking, so he continued, hoping to draw him out. “I’ve made up my mind Rhen. The only time you’re allowed back on that filthy planet is when we’re at war with them.” He leaned to his left as his wife continued to massage his shoulders. Rhen didn’t respond, so Andres assumed he agreed, which pleased him, since he had thought the two of them were going to argue over this. With a cruel smile, Andres said, “I can’t wait to see their faces when you’re blowing up their castle and crushing in their skulls. That beastly woman I’ve had to negotiate with for years,” he laughed. “She won’t know what hit her.”
“You mean my mother?” Rhen asked.
Orpel gasped as Andres jumped to his feet. “What did you say!”
“My mother?” Rhen repeated, giving his father an innocent look.
Andres caught sight of the twinkle in Rhen’s eye and laughed. “Oh, you had me for a moment. I thought you might actually,” he waved his hand in a dismissive gesture towards Rhen. “Never mind,” he said, sitting back down on the bench.
Rhen threw a new bone at the urn and missed. “I’m not debating the issue of school with you father.”
Andres misunderstood his meaning and said, “Good. I’m glad you’ll stay. I had thought we were going to fight about this. I’m happy to see I was wrong.” Orpel returned to rubbing Andres’ shoulders. He dropped his head down, enjoying her massage.
For a while, the only sounds in the room were the bones as they hit Rhen’s brass urn, and Andres’ grunts of pleasure as his wife eased his aching muscles.
“Vivist’s Tail!” Rhen said, startling everyone. He jumped to his feet. “Twenty in the pot. I’m good to go.” He turned towards Ceceta and gestured for her to stand. “Come,” he ordered. Pointing at William and Sage, he said, “You.” He turned and pointed at Kate, James and Henry, “You, and…” he nodded towards Lilly and Rachel, “You. Escort my wife back to the Thestran University. Use our main portal to go to the Thestran palace. She will show you how to proceed after that.”
“Stop,” Andres shouted. He rose from his bench so fast that he knocked his wife over backwards. “What the hell do you think you are doing? I thought we had an agreement.”
Rhen stared at the soldiers he had just spoken to. “I gave you a direct order. Move out!” he hollered. At once, the Thestrans escorted Ceceta out of the room. Rhen pointed at Reed and Charlie. “You two are with me,” he said, turning to walk out of the room.
“Halt now, boy!” Andres screamed while bits of spit flew from his mouth. “If you go back to that school, I will arrest you.”
Rhen marched over to his Dad. Andres was shaking with rage. He reached out to put his hand on his Dad’s shoulder. He knew his Dad loved him. Perhaps if he told him how he felt about school his Dad would agree to let him stay. He’d been running out of ideas for his reports anyway. “Dad, come on, let’s not fight anymore. You know I’m your obedient son. I will do anything you want me to do. I will fight any war you want me to fight. I will turn the men to your will. I will follow Debrino’s Codes. I will back you until the end of time,” he paused to see if his Dad was listening. “But this, I need this. I need to return to this school. I can’t explain why. I don’t understand it myself. But I do know that if I don’t return, I’ll never be happy here. I wish I could explain it to you, but I can’t. You have to trust me. You have to know that I am Surpen and nothing will ever change that.”
Andres’ shoulders dropped and his mouth curved downward. He knew he couldn’t force Rhen to stay. The soldiers would never arrest him, and if he ordered his guards to arrest Rhen, there would be a civil war. He decided to try another tactic. In a forlorn voice, he said, “If you go back, they’ll try to change you. They’ll turn you away from Surpen. They’ll start with small things and then it will get bigger and bigger. They’ll trick you, to make you one of them. Will you still be my son if you go back to that school or will you turn to Thestran? Will I be able to count on you or will you turn your back on me?
Rhen didn’t understand his father’s confusion. He’d just told his Dad that he would support him no matter what. “Dad…”
“War is inevitable son and you’re the deciding factor. Will it be Thestran or will it be Surpen? How do I know you’ll stand by my side when the time comes? How do I know you’ll take our men into battle with the intention of winning? How do I know you won’t turn on me?”
Rhen reached out and hugged his Dad. As he held onto Andres, he said, “Never question my loyalty. I will never leave you. I will never betray my Surpen brothers. You can always count on me.”
Andres struggled in Rhen’s grasp, so Rhen released him. The Surpen King waved his hand to dismiss Rhen. It was clear he had heard enough. He didn’t believe Rhen.
“I suppose it’s too much to ask for your blessing?” Rhen asked.
Andres glanced up, his bushy, black eyebrows raised in surprise. Rhen thought his Dad might say something, but instead, he turned and marched out of the room.
Feeling disappointed, Rhen motioned towards Reed and Charlie. “Follow me.”
They walked through the castle until they reached a dark passageway that led to a heavy, metal door. Rhen stopped by the door and turned to face them. “First, I want to apologize to you for the way I behaved back there. Normally, Dad and I never fight. I was mad at him for choosing Narseth to perform my punishment.” He shook his head adding, “On the bright side, at least it wasn’t Aul. Secondly, my rank has dropped by four stations. There are a few top generals, who abuse their position. As a lower soldier, I am not allowed to… rebuff them. Do you understand?” Reed and Charlie stared at him. They didn’t understand. Sighing Rhen continued, “I don’t know how much you know about Surpen men or Surpen’s military, but I will need you to…” he hesitated, feeling awkward.
“What?” Charlie asked.
Rhen pulled some additional military stripes from the pocket of his tunic. He added them to both Reed and Charlie’s uniforms, explaining, “Charlie, if a General, with the same number of bars that you have, approaches me and well, if he looks suspicious… I need you to mark me as yours.” Rhen couldn’t believe he was asking for their help. But, he needed it. It had been years since he had held a low rank, and he wasn’t willing to face its ramifications again without some sort of assistance.
If the Thestrans hadn’t of followed him to Surpen, he would’ve asked one of the Genisters for help, but their help always came with strings attached.
Rhen still hadn’t figured out what the Thestrans wanted from him, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be as bad as what the Genisters demanded.
Rhen inhaled sharply and lowered his head. He had just let his mind block slip. If Reed or Charlie had the power to read minds, they would’ve had quite the shock. He and Ceceta were the only ones in the Universe, who knew the Genisters were still around. If he didn’t have pressing matters to attend to right now, he would’ve fallen on the ground laughing, not only at his own stupidity for letting his mind block drop, but also at what the Thestrans’ reactions would’ve been to the news that the Genisters were alive and well.
When Rhen lifted his head, he found Charlie staring at him with an odd expression. A second later, Charlie’s goofy look returned and he asked, “So, what do you mean, you want me to mark you? Like, should I pee on you?”
“No,” Rhen said, feeling exasperated.
Charlie laughed at Rhen’s expression. “It’s okay,” he confessed. “I know what you mean.” Rhen sighed and stepped forward to push the metal door in front of them open.
Reed put his hand on the metal door behind Rhen, to keep it open, and realized this had been the first door they had encountered in the Surpen Castle. There weren’t any other doors or windows, just open doorways and arches. He wanted to ask Rhen why, but decided it’d be best to ask the question back on Thestran.
They followed Rhen across an attractive courtyard, down a stone pathway, through a guarded door in the outer wall that surrounded the castle and then out onto an enormous field. Everywhere they looked, they saw soldiers, thousands and thousands of soldiers. Reed couldn’t help himself from whistling with appreciation at the enormity of Surpen’s military force. Rhen smiled at him and said, “Thanks.”
When the soldiers spotted Rhen, they cheered and waved flags in his honor. Rhen raised his hand to acknowledge them, continuing across the field, down a small hill, towards a door located in the side of a rock cliff. When they reached the non-descript metal door in the cliff, two soldiers, who were guarding it, saluted Rhen. He nodded to them and stepped forward to open the door. Reed and Charlie were about to follow, but the Surpen soldiers put out their hands to stop them. “They’re with me,” Rhen told the guards. The soldiers dropped their hands and stepped back to allow Reed and Charlie to enter.
When Reed and Charlie walked through the door, they were startled to find themselves in a large, well lit room. The room was painted a brilliant, blue color and there was a mosaic of Andres, made from precious stones, on the floor. It was noisy and there were people bustling about. Placed evenly around the room were wooden desks with soldiers sitting behind them. At each desk were two chairs, many of which contained Surpen civilians, who were talking to the soldiers or filling out paperwork. At the sight of Rhen, the soldiers stood up to salute him and the women bowed down before him. Rhen saluted in return and crossed the room, entering one of the seven dark passageways that led out of it. “Civilians come to us to resolve any issues they might be having,” Rhen explained to Reed and Charlie, walking into the darkness.
Reed put out his hand to feel the cool, stone wall. There was a lighted room ahead of them. “Is this your headquarters?” he asked.
Rhen stopped short. “No,” he said, before chuckling. He was having fun with the Thestrans. He had already toured their military headquarters. One day, when Ceceta was taking Math, he had turned himself invisible and flown over to the Thestran Castle to inspect his competition. What he had seen there had made him throw his hands up in disbelief. The Thestrans were totally unprepared for invasion. Their headquarters was nothing more than a glorified doghouse. It’d be good for Prince Reed to see how a real military force operated.
“No, way,” Charlie said. “So, this is where Surpen plans its maneuvers and decides how to attack?”
“I never said that,” Rhen said, giving Charlie a friendly smack on the arm.
They walked through several rooms painted in bright colors and down multiple dark passageways. Whenever they passed soldiers, the men always greeted Rhen with warmth.
“It’s a maze,” Reed said, realizing he was completely lost after they made their seventh turn.
“Yes,” Rhen confirmed. He turned down a small, unlit corridor. They heard men’s voices in the distance: “If we kill him, Rhen will be able to install the changes our society needs,” “How do we know Rhen won’t continue the current regime’s policies,” “Rhen is the true ruler, he’s the stronger of the two,” “The King should die for what he did to Rhen.”
Reaching the end of the corridor, Rhen pushed aside a dark purple, velvet curtain and stepped out into a room. The room was hazy from the smoke of the men’s cigarettes. Several Surpen generals were sitting at a round table filled with war plans. On the walls hung maps of solar systems, and underneath them, were wooden bookcases filled with books that had the names of the planets Surpen had conquered. On the far wall was a white, ceramic sink with a multitude of glasses around it. The generals in the room were in full uniform and carried two swords in their weapons belts. Their collective grey eyes swiveled towards the entrance where Rhen stood.
Bosternd was the first to recover from the surprise of being interrupted. “Rhen,” he shouted. Jumping up, he knocked over his chair in his rush to embrace his friend. Reed and Charlie saw the warmth in Rhen’s eyes for this tiny general who ran towards him. The two men embraced, slapping each other on the backs and laughing.
Bosternd was a handsome Surpen. He had a Surpen’s grey eyes, black hair and a strong jaw line. He was also quite short, which Reed and Charlie found interesting. For a short man to be in charge of Surpen’s military, it could only mean that Bosternd was deadly in combat.
“Oh, sorry,” Bosternd said, after he had slapped Rhen’s back for the fifth time.
“It doesn’t hurt,” Rhen told him. He reached over to tap Bosternd’s head. “I’ve already healed.”
The other generals were waiting for their chance to greet Rhen, so Bosternd stepped aside, allowing each of the remaining generals to greet their Prince. Reed and Charlie learned, from their greetings, that these men were Rhen’s good friends. He had grown up with them. They had fought in countless battles together and trusted each other. They were also the brains of Surpen’s military force.
A tall, large-headed soldier approached. Reed and Charlie recognized him as the one who had barred them from entering Surpen earlier. When he stepped forward to hug Rhen, he brushed a tear from his eye. Rhen laughed. “Watch it Nk. Or we’ll have to kill you for being weak.”
“I thought you were going to die,” Nk told him with a haggard voice. He pulled Rhen into a tight embrace before moving to the back wall to get control of his emotions.
“Like that could ever happen,” Rhen tossed out in a casual manner, hoping to make Nk feel better. The other generals nodded in agreement.
The room grew quiet as the generals waited for Rhen to explain the presence of Reed and Charlie. Rhen shrugged his head in their direction, pulling out a chair. “They’re friends from Legion 437. You can trust them.”
“I’ve never met one of Rhen’s Legion 437 before,” one of the generals said. “We owe our victory over three planets to you men. Thank you.”
“Yes,” Bosternd said. He raised his glass to salute Reed and Charlie. “Nice job on Yentar and Tgarus boys. We were in trouble until you came along. Thank you.”
The other generals lifted their drinks as well, to salute Reed and Charlie, who were standing at attention on either side of the doorway. Reed and Charlie nodded in response.
Now that their presence in the room had been explained, everyone relaxed and the generals started to tease Rhen about going to school on Thestran. “What? Isn’t our educational system good enough for you?” said a small general named Ngi, who was sitting next to Bosternd.
“How would he know,” said another general. “He never did attend our Academy.”
“Yeah,” said another man, from across the table. “Only spec
ial schooling for the king’s son.” A few of the generals chuckled.
Gazing into his metal cup, Rhen said in a solemn voice, “Yeah, special schooling. It was real special.” He accentuated the word ‘special’ in an odd way that made Bosternd frown.
“We know the real reason why you’re going to Thestran, Rhen,” Ngi teased. “You want to taste some Thestran women before the war.” Several of the generals hooted with approval.
“Yeah, before they become submissive like Surpen women,” another general joked.
“So, how do they taste?” Authe, the general sitting beside Nk, asked.
“We’ll find out soon enough,” Nk mumbled. “The King is itching to attack Thestran and gain control of her Council.”
“He’s wanted to attack Thestran ever since you joined our forces,” Bosternd said, looking at Rhen.
“Maybe he thinks your Thestran family wants you back,” someone said.
Rhen shrugged. “Who knows? But, he won’t be attacking Thestran any time soon.”
“Do they?” Bosternd asked out of the blue. Rhen looked at him with one eyebrow raised. “Do the Thestrans want you back?” Bosternd clarified.
“No, way,” Rhen laughed out. “Like they’d want the likes of me at their fancy social gatherings.” He chuckled at the idea as the others chimed in: “A little more blood with your tea sir?” “Biscuit or brains, sir?” “Can I check your bloody swords at the door or will you be wearing them inside the ballroom sir?”
“Bosternd,” Authe said after the men had stopped laughing. “Why would you think the Thestrans want him back? They dropped him off when he was eight and didn’t return to see him again until just a few months ago.”
Reed and Charlie raised their eyebrows. Their parents had told them that they had visited Rhen during the holidays while he was on Surpen. Although they now knew that Rhen had been abducted, they were still under the impression that their parents had visited him upon occasion.
“Remember that retired Queen’s reaction, when she saw you again for the first time?” one of the generals asked with a chuckle. “I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head, and her husband, oh God, he was a trip.”
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