The Quest (Sanshlian Series Book 1)

by Dani Hoots

  “Hey, man who said he kept his emotions to himself, you’re staring. Is she your girlfriend?” I inquired.

  He turned back sharply. “She’s Rik’s wife.”

  “Oh. So she’s your affair.”

  He glared at me as he pulled out his TG-1 and pointed it at me.

  “Whoa,” I said. “I was just making a joke. You don’t have to shoot me. Although, that kind of proves I’m right when you act so rashly.”

  Ignoring my statement, he gestured with the gun. “I am unbinding you from this chair but if you try anything I will shoot you.”

  “Oh, that’s what the gun’s for. I thought you said you had to keep me alive though.”

  “Didn’t say I wouldn’t kill you if you try to escape. But if you try to endanger the ship, I will make it so you can’t walk for a while.”

  “And you think shooting me in the leg will solve your problems? Doesn’t matter anyway, you don’t need to worry about me trying to escape. I’m not going anywhere, not until I know what my brother wants. Besides,” I lifted up my unbound hands. “I got out of these a while ago.”

  “Honesty, that’s interesting. Maybe a little on the unnerving side, but still interesting.”

  “Thought a level headed man like you might appreciate it. I am always honest. No reason not to be. The truth is more effective than lies,” I explained as he cut the rope that bound my ankles. David kept the gun leveled on me the entire time. Before leading me out of the dining area to join Rik he bound my wrists behind me and rammed the barrel of the TG-1 into my side.

  “Just in case,” He whispered in my ear.

  “You really think that would stop me?”

  “Slow you down at least,” he led me out into the hallway.

  The hallway ran up the middle of the ship, leading all the way from the engine room to the bridge. Everything else lay in between. The medical room was diagonally across from the dining area that we had just been in. I took a quick glance around. Five crew quarters made up the rest of the rooms. I figured only four crewmen were on board but there could be more. I would determine that later, right now I needed to find out exactly what Rik wanted.

  Entering the medical room, Rik sat up in one of the medical beds. He looked quite a bit better than before, which surprised me.

  “How are you even sitting up, let alone functioning? I saw you before the intrusion, you were barely alive. How long have I been out?” I inquired.

  He motioned for the rest to leave. David obeyed. His wife stayed a moment longer but left with him.

  “You’ve been out for a day now. Since you came along with your unusual tactics to get people to talk, the advances for the P.A.E. in the medical field have improved tremendously,” he said with great effort. He may have looked better but he was still struggling to talk.

  “That’s interesting. How do you finance that?”

  “We have our sources. But that isn’t important,” Rik shifted a little in his chair and winced from the pain he still possessed. “You’re probably wondering why I went to all this trouble to capture you.”

  I nodded. “The question has crossed my mind, yes.”

  Rik grinned. “I need you to locate something for me. Something only you know the location of.”

  “Oh, and what’s that?”

  “The key. Where is it?” he went straight to the point. No roundabouts, no small talk, just flat out said what he needed from me.

  “The key? What key?” I asked as if I didn’t know.

  “The key Father gave us both that night, the night we got separated. He told us to keep it close. Don’t you remember?”

  I was right, that was the key he wanted. “I remember, but why do you want it? Father never told us what it opened. Besides, finding it would be like trying to find a needle in a billion haystacks. The universe is big, Rik, what are the odds of really finding what it opened?”

  “No, I figured out what they open, but both keys are needed. I need yours.”

  “Really? That’s interesting.” I thought about this. This was working to my favor. He wasn’t blindly looking for something; the mission would be shorter than I thought. “But what if I told you it was on Anosira? We would have to go back.”

  “It isn’t on Anosira.”

  “And you know this how?”

  “Because,” he lifted up an object. Father’s pocket watch. I felt my pocket but nothing was there. They took it off of me when I was out cold. “It would have been in your pocket with this.”

  “That’s mine, give it back,” hands still bound, I motioned with my head to put it in my jacket pocket.

  He placed it in my pocket. “So you do still care about him. I was beginning to wonder.”

  “I never said I didn’t. I just don’t let the past affect my present.”

  “And that is where you and I differ, Arcadia. I let the past affect the present. I want revenge for what happened. You should too,” he coughed harshly.

  “I tried that whole revenge-wanting-lifestyle. It didn’t work for me. I found it easier just to let go,” I explained.

  “For some reason I don’t believe that,” he said. “I need that key, Arcadia,” his voice became stern.

  “Are you really trying to threaten me, Rik?”

  “I need that key. You have no idea.”

  I shrugged. “So? How does that affect me? Do I get to stay with you? I mean, what does it even open?”

  “I’m not telling you that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t trust you,” Rik stated as a fact.

  “I won’t tell you where it is unless you tell me what it opens.”

  He thought for a moment and considered what to tell me and what not to tell me. “It opens a room I stumbled across. I have reason to believe it contains information on Sanshli. It won’t open unless I have the other key.”

  “You’re really going after this?” I exclaimed. “That legend? That myth? You’re insane!”

  “Am I? Father believed in it.”

  “Father’s dead. If you aren’t careful you will be too.”

  “You’ve been having dreams of Sanshli. You can’t tell me you don’t believe in it.”

  I gestured with my hands. “I don’t.”

  “Look, Arcadia, just help me find where the key is and then I will let you go. You won’t have to deal with this anymore. I’ll leave you alone.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “I wouldn’t hurt my only sister.”

  I stared at him. I didn’t know if I should believe him. Yes, I was his sister, but I had caused many of his friends’ deaths and was about to let him die on Anosira. I was one of the leading oppositions to a group he believed in. If he killed me, they would have a better chance of succeeding. All he wanted was the location of the key that he thought would help him find a legendary planet that probably wasn’t even real. But for some reason, deep down, the thought kept gnawing at me. Could it be true? Could all those legends Father told us be real?

  “What if it doesn’t open the room? Or what if there is no information on Sanshli in there? Would you still let me go then?” I questioned.

  “Yes.”

  “You may want to, but are you sure you can keep your men in check? The one called Will really wants to kill me.”

  “I can keep him in check,” Rik’s eyes met mine, as if he didn’t like me questioning his authority.

  I quickly withdrew my accusation when the door to the medical room door slid open to reveal David and Rik’s wife.

  “Rik, you need to rest. You can finish your conversation later,” his wife ordered.

  David grabbed me and started to lead me out of the med room.

  Before exiting, I looked back at Rik. “Garvner. I dropped it before getting captured. Should still be there. If not, then I honestly don’t know where it could be.”

  Rik nodded. “Thank you.”

  “I didn’t tell you to make you happy; I’m doing it for Father.”

&nb
sp; I turned back and let David take me back to the lounge area. The Roz system was about two weeks from Anosira. I had no idea what direction we were heading but we had a long journey ahead of us. Garvner was out of the way from most planets, which helped seclude it from any tourists. No one traveled there unless they really needed to, and I do mean really.

  As we came back to the dining area, David started to bind my arms back to the chair.

  “Is that really necessary? Garvner is two weeks away. I don’t want to have to untie myself from this chair over and over again. That would be a big waste of time, now wouldn’t it? And besides, if I really wanted to escape, tying me to a chair isn’t going to stop me. Especially when there are only four of you on this ship,” I tried to see if my conclusions had been correct.

  He gave me a look. “How do you know there are only four of us on the ship?”

  I was right.

  “Only one of you is guarding me at a time. Rik and his wife are in the medical room. Then you only need one person checking on the navigation systems and engine. Will has engine grease all over himself so I presume that is his job. If you had another person then you would have them help guard me. Believe me, Rik knows that if he could he would have more than one man guarding. And besides,” I nodded at the chairs. “You only have four chairs at this table.”

  “No wonder you are called the Emperor’s shadow.”

  “I have gotten out of situations worse than this. Much worse. All ended very badly for the people opposing me. If Rik holds up his end of the bargain, I won’t do to you what I did to them. If you guys try to double cross me, then you can start to worry.”

  “I don’t understand why you haven’t killed us all and escaped already, knowing your reputation.”

  “My reputation is caused by orders, not by my decisions. This is my decision. I’m curious to see...” I let my voice trail off. I didn’t want to admit that deep down I wanted to know if Sanshli was real. It couldn’t be, but something deep down made me curious.

  I felt David stop as he was tying the ropes that would bind me to the chair, wondering if I was telling the truth. He knew I could escape anytime I wanted to. Reluctantly he took the rope off of the chair and sat down across from me.

  I rubbed my wrists. “Thank you.”

  “The others aren’t going to agree to this.”

  “Don’t blame them. They have no reason to trust me. Speaking of which, Will’s right, you know. I deserve to die for all the things I have done. I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to kill me,” I pressed for further information.

  David leaned back in his chair. “As you said earlier, everything you do is under orders. I can’t blame you for his death, nor can he.”

  A trusting man always made for an easy mark. Trustful men were almost as easy as revenge-seeking men to predict. Maybe this mission would be easier than I thought.

  “Just because I say I follow orders doesn’t make me any less innocent,” I grabbed the stack of cards that were on the table. “Play a game?”

  “Aren’t we already?” David watched as I began to shuffle.

  I smiled as I dealt the cards.

  Chapter 7

  Four days had passed since I was captured by my brother. He still lay in the med room, healing from the torture that had been given to him by Tom. I got to stay in the dining area with David. He was the only one who guarded me since I had talked with Rik. I don’t think David wanted to leave me with Will again and Rik’s wife, whose name I found out was Amanda, still tended to Rik’s injuries. That left him and only him.

  I still didn’t understand why he trusted me, but he did. I had always made fun of men like him, too trusting of the universe and never understanding the true evil that was encased in everyone’s hearts. People couldn’t be trusted and that was why I had always worked alone. The only person I ever trusted was myself. I learned too much of the nature of the universe over the years since I have been away from Garvner.

  Every once in a while, Will or Amanda would come into the dining area for food and drinks. Will would usually glare at me silently, which I would ignore. At first I would glare back, but I eventually got bored with it. Amanda, on the other hand, wouldn’t even give me a passing look. She ignored me completely, fiddling with her clothes as she grabbed a snack. I found this to be interesting and every time she came in, I would examine her. I wanted to know why she hated me so much that she wouldn’t even give me recognition after I had talked to Rik.

  David and I passed the time playing cards and talking of the different missions we each had been on. I played along, bored out of my mind and not really caring what I told him. It wouldn’t matter in the end. I tried to stay away from talking about ones that involved the P.A.E., since he knew the outcomes of those.

  “So most of your missions you were on your own?” David tried to start up another conversation.

  “Yes. It’s rare for me to ever partner up on a mission. If I do, it is usually with a general but even that is rare,” I examined the cards I had in my hand, debating what next card I should call.

  “Don’t you get lonely being by yourself?”

  “No, I prefer solitude. It suits me. Other people get in the way of the mission. They ask too many questions and sometimes you never know what they are going to do. Besides, I like improvising too much. They can never follow along. Fives?”

  David and I were sitting at the table, playing cards once again. We were playing an old game called “draw.” We were each dealt seven cards and would swap turns calling out a card, between one and ten, and if one of us had that card we had to give it up. If one of us didn’t have the card, we had to draw from the stack of cards on the table. Once one of us had all four colors, red, black, blue, and yellow, of a number then we could place it down. Whichever us had the most groups after all the cards were played won. So far I had won three times and he had won five and there were two draws. I never cared for cards, but it passed the time.

  He shook his head. “Draw.”

  I drew a card. It was a three. I placed it in my hand and turned back to him. It was his turn now.

  “How did you guys succeed in capturing me on Anosira, let alone even landing?” I asked.

  “Planning,” David began. “Lots of planning. This ship belonged to one of the rich scums that had a vacation home on Anosira. Dressed as him and jumped through a few hoops and were cleared for landing. Threes?”

  “Damn,” I pulled out the card from my hand and flung it to him. “How did you know I just pulled it?”

  He grabbed the card. “Lucky, I guess.”

  “And you made sure to put up a Second Republic flag as soon as you could?”

  “Of course.”

  “What about getting into the palace?” As if I didn’t know.

  “We found old layouts of underground tunnels that led into the lower levels of the palace. They had been forgotten for all these years. Originally they were used during the war between the Empire and the Second Republic two hundred years earlier. We prayed that they weren’t being used any more. Used them to get in and get you two out of the palace.”

  “You are lucky with a lot of things then,” I remarked as I thumbed the edge of my card.

  “I know.”

  I bit my lip, thinking of what card to ask for next. “Where did you find those plans?”

  “Stuffed in an old book in the deep basement of the Second Republic Library on Valle. They were dusty; no one had seen them since the war.”

  “How long have you been planning this kidnapping?”

  “Oh, a few months now. We had to make sure everything was in place.”

  “I bet. How long has Rik known that I was alive?”

  “I don’t think he ever thought you were dead, he just didn’t have a clue as to your whereabouts,” David explained as he tapped the cards with his thumb. “He and John searched but they never found a clue to where you had gone. Then one day, after years of wondering, your name started to appear in rumors. Your firs
t name, that is. You changed your last.”

  I nodded. “So I couldn’t get traced back to Garvner or the Kamps.”

  He looked up from his cards. “So you were sent to the Kamps.”

  “Rik didn’t tell you?” I questioned. I figured he told them when I was out.

  “No,” he gestured to my hands. “But I did notice you don’t take off your gloves. I thought maybe that was why. It explains why you disappeared as well.”

  “Get on with your story.”

  “Right. Anyway, we heard stories of you, the shadow, and how you massacre those who go against the Empire. Rik was devastated. He didn’t believe it was really you at first. He didn’t want anything to do with you, not after what you had become.”

  “Then he started to get dreams,” I added.

  “So he did tell you about those.”

  “Yes, he said someone was telling him to find me.”

  David nodded. “Yes.”

  “Why?” I questioned.

  “To find Sanshli.”

  “You don’t really believe that do you?”

  He shrugged.

  “You had your chance to kill the Emperor,” I changed the subject. “Why didn’t you take it?”

  “Killing the Emperor won’t stop someone just as bad from taking his place again. With Sanshli we can go back and restore the Second Republic before the Empire even came into existence.”

  I looked him squarely in the eyes. “Are you sure about that?”

  Abruptly, the door to the hallway opened and Rik entered, limping. He placed his hand against the wall for support. Bandages covered his exposed skin. He looked better but still far from normal.

  “Rik, what are you doing up? You should still be in the med room,” David hurried to his side.

  “I’m fine. Please leave us,” Rik ordered.

  “But,” David began.

  “Now,” Rik repeated with a more demanding voice. David nodded and left us alone.

  Rik took David’s seat. I watched him as he picked up the cards, looking at what David left. “Whose turn is it?”

  “Mine. Fours?”